Questions from a newb

**Kilo11** · October 31, 2018, 05:53 AM

Hey artists and staff,

I'm new to this area of TWC and would like to stick my head up here (cause why not

) but before I post anything I wanted to get a little feel for how things are done over this way. I didn't find a FAQ (if there is one and I'm just too dumb to find it, please point me in the right direction), so I figured I'd just ramble out my questions here.

1. It seems like the personal workshop for people here is located on the Graphics Workshop main page. Is that correct? Like, if I want to put things out there I should just make myself a single thread for my works on that forum?
2. I am not really a graphic artist and that's not what I'm making. I started making maps for my own AAR, and then realized it might be handy for others if there were blank maps of a high quality available for use here on TWC. So that's what I'd be posting; maps of different areas with different details included, and layered GIMP files for people to download and work with themselves. Is this the right place for such things?
3. The maps and .xcf files (GIMP files) are pretty large and some cannot be linked here on TWC due to size, and the rest I wouldn't want to upload directly because I don't want to hog too much of GrnEyedDvl's storage. Do contributors here have any suggestions for good sites where you can upload both images and files? Talking to Cookiegod he suggested Dropbox or Googledrive, but I thought I'd crowdsource other suggestions as well. Importantly, I really want to be able to have links for downloading the GIMP files, as those would be most useful for people wanting to edit maps for their own AARs.
4. Are there other things I should know or watch out for that I have forgotten to ask?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions, and I'll be looking forward to throwing around some things on this branch of the fora!

**Lifthrasir** · October 31, 2018, 02:22 PM

I'll try to answer to your enquiries

1. Yes. Basically and so far, 1 thread as workshop per member.
2. It depends. If these maps are specifically dedicated for mods, then the games' Workshops are more relevant. If they are for any kind of use, then this is the right place. Regarding the 2nd option, if you think that it might help mappers for mods, you can link your workshop in your sig or in posts where necessary.
3. You can post previews of such big maps in your workshop. For download, you can also use Mega. There are probably other sites of that kind.
4. Not that I can think about now. Anyway, I'm at your disposal for any future question that may come

**Kilo11** · November 01, 2018, 09:09 AM

Thanks for the info Lifth. Regarding #2, the maps *might* be of help to modders, but my intention is for them to be of use for AAR writers looking for some detailed maps of different regions. If modders can also make use, then all the better. Either way, I was definitely planning on linking them in my sig though, so that everyone can find them easily.

**Kilo11** · November 14, 2018, 02:40 AM

Originally Posted by Lifthrasir

3. You can post previews of such big maps in your workshop. For download, you can also use Mega. There are probably other sites of that kind.

Hey Lif,

How does one go about linking previews to the map images in a post? I have been playing around with trying to link the maps and the GIMP files, but so far am not having any kind of thumbnail pop up, and I can't for the life of me figure out how one sets up a preview of a pic. Any help would be very much appreciated, as I'd like to try to get my map-shop up and running sometime soon.

**Commissar Caligula_** · November 14, 2018, 02:48 AM

What kinda preview do you want?
You could just post a link to the entire image, and upload it to something like Imgur.
Or you could make a smaller size one, post that, but add a url to it that redirects to the bigger sized original, and when you hover over the smaller one it says something like "Click me".

**Lifthrasir** · November 14, 2018, 05:14 AM

I might be wrong but is a huge pic not supposed to be "resized" to appear entirely among these forums

**Commissar Caligula_** · November 14, 2018, 05:45 AM

AFAIK, the only rule is nothing bigger than 2mb but its not really strictly policed is it?

**Kilo11** · November 14, 2018, 06:42 AM

Well, part of what I've been thinking about is that I don't want to use up a pile of the storage/memory/bandwidth of the TWC. I don't know how internet storage really works, but I am pretty sure that uploading a bunch of large images here takes space that I'd rather not burden this site with, especially as the GIMP files will have to stored somewhere else anyway (some of them are too large to be uploaded at all here). What I plan to be doing is making high-quality base maps that AAR writers or possibly modders could use for their own purposes, and so eventually there will be a lot of images.

One thing I could potentially do is just upload one image here that "gives a taste" of how the map looks, and shows what areas that particular map covers, and then leave everything else just as links the Googledrive where I plan to store everything. Do you guys think such a strategy would be reasonable?

**Commissar Caligula_** · November 14, 2018, 03:30 PM

Heres two suggestions. Note that Flickr (which I use to have my photo albums on) only lets you upload 1,000 images.
Imgur lets you upload as many images as you want, but I don't like it for long-term storage.

Little image links to big image

Photo Albums

**Kilo11** · November 15, 2018, 12:02 AM

Thanks for the suggestions Caligula. Both are certainly good ones. I am not sure I want to spread my things across multiple hosting sites (and I know I need something like Googledrive for the GIMP files anyway), so I'll probably go for something more akin to your first option. And I found the "preview" thing I had in mind by hunting through some threads for empire progression until I found someone who had put their pic into a preview box like that. The code I was looking for is:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]IMAGE-ID[/ATTACH]

I think I might try to start the map thread today then. When I do get it done I'll probably let you guys here know, in case either of you would be kind enough to look over there and see if it all looks alright, and if the maps can really be downloaded. Thanks for all the help so far though.

**Kilo11** · November 16, 2018, 02:55 AM

So, I am almost ready to post the first couple things and get my mapping workshop going, but I have a final question for you more experienced gents.

I plan on having some tutorials mixed in with the maps, and having the workshop serve as a resource for others, and not really as a showcase for my own work. Is it acceptable for me to tag the thread as a [Tutorial]and a [Resource]? In fact, is it even possible for to be tagged as both things?

**Lifthrasir** · November 16, 2018, 03:42 AM

You can't add a prefix ito your thread title in the GW.
You can do it in the Tutorial & Resources sub-forum but it will be one or the other, not both.
If you want to add a "real" tag (bottom of the thread - appears like a blue symbol on the threads list), you can name it as you wish.

Hope it helps

**Kilo11** · November 16, 2018, 05:03 AM

Thanks Lifth! That does indeed help. Most of the stuff I want to post in the first run is almost finished, so hopefully I'll start the workshop for my stuff in the next couple days. When I do I'll drop a message here to let you and Caligula know, and maybe you guys could have a look, see what you think (and also maybe check if the links to the external sites work

). Until then, you take it easy!