Guide›Cartographer (maps)›Layers & tools

Layers & tools

This is the densest page in the Cartographer guide: it covers the heart of the work — the Layers panel (the Photoshop-style stack that decides where each brushstroke lands) and every single drawing tool, with the exact control names as you see them in the editor. Remember the basic commands that always apply, with any tool: middle mouse button or dragging the canvas = pan the view; wheel = zoom; right-click = quick-select (tiles, rooms, lines); Ctrl+Z = undo (there are also Undo and Redo at the bottom); on a tool with handles the wheel resizes/scales the preview. Everything is free and runs in the browser: the only credit-based exception is the Stamp Studio, which generates images with AI. Maps are saved to your account and become immediately available in the online Table, and the walls you draw (the border of rooms and shapes) are the geometry the Table uses for player vision.

First of all: set up the sheet

When you open the Cartographer (or create a new map) the Set up the work sheet card appears. Here you decide the canvas size in squares:

Use a quick preset: A4 or A3, each in Landscape or Portrait.
Or the 4K TV (inches) preset: type the TV diagonal and press 1-inch grid — it computes a grid with real 1-inch cells at full screen (handy for playing with miniatures on top of the TV).
Or set the Free size by hand: Columns and Rows (max 32×32 squares). The aspect preview below shows the sheet shape.
Type the Map name and press Start drawing.

On the right, under Your maps, are all the maps saved to your account: click a thumbnail to reopen it, the ✕ to delete it. A dot next to the title flags Unsaved changes.

The Layers panel

The Layers panel works like an image editor: a stack of overlapping layers, the top one covers those below. There are two natures of layer:

Terrain: a painting layer. You paint on it with Brush, Shape and Eraser; textures are "baked" into it. Its icon is ▦.
Objects: contains non-destructive, movable elements — stamps, rooms, object-lines, texts, lights, blueprints. Its icon is ◆. Every object appears as a sub-row inside its Objects layer.

Creating, naming, ordering layers

+ Terrain adds a new painting layer; + Objects adds a layer for objects.
New group creates a group (icon ▤): drag layers into it to keep things tidy. The ▸/▾ arrow on the left opens/closes it. Delete group removes the container, leaving the layers inside.
Rename: double-click the layer name, type, Enter.
Up (↑) and Down (↓) move the layer in the stack. You can also drag the layer row to reorder it or move it in/out of a group.

Eye, lock, opacity, active layer

On every layer row you find:

Show/hide (eye icon): toggles the layer's visibility.
Lock (padlock icon): protects the layer — you can't paint on it or select anything in it while locked.
The opacity bar below the row: drag from 0 to 100 to make the layer more or less transparent.
The active layer is the highlighted one: that's where you paint. Click it to make it active before using Brush, Shape or Eraser. The panel always reminds you: "choose the active layer in the Layers panel".

Object rows and the sublayer

Inside an Objects layer, each room (▢), line (〜), stamp (◈), blueprint (▣), text and light (●) has its own row with: eye (show/hide), padlock (lock), double-click the name to rename, ↑/↓ for Bring forward/Send backward (the stacking order, i.e. the Sublayer), ⇄ for Move to next object layer and ✕ to delete. Important note on draw order: within the same layer rooms and lines always sit under stamps, exactly as in the engine; lights conceptually sit on top.

Select

This is the tool you use to move, rotate, scale and edit what's already on the map.

Click an element (a tile, a stamp, a room, a line, a text, a light): it appears selected with handles.
Drag the body to move it; drag a corner to scale it; drag the rotation handle above the object to rotate it.
Right-click anywhere = quick-select the element under the cursor, including rooms and lines, without changing tool.
Rooms drag together with the objects on top of them; to confirm the new arrangement press Enter (Finalize).

The "Select:" filter

At the bottom, in the footer, there's the Select: row with the buttons Rooms, Lines, Objects, Texts, Lights and All. They decide what is selectable on the map (active = yellow): if you turn off "Rooms", for example, clicks ignore them and you won't grab them by accident. It applies to both single and multiple selection.

The resize bar (above the canvas)

With an element selected, a bar appears above the canvas with:

Size — an X field and a Y field with −/+ buttons (step 8 px) and a typeable value. In the middle, the padlock 🔗 (linked proportions) / ⛓ (free): click it to link or unlink width and height.
⬆ Bring forward and ⬇ Send backward — the stacking order.
⧉ Duplicate — copy the selected element.
▣ Group (with at least 2 objects selected) — merges them into a single blueprint not saved to the library; ▢ Ungroup breaks it back into its pieces.
💾 Save blueprint — if you've selected a group/blueprint, saves it to the library for reuse.
◐ (with a room selected) — generates a clipping Mask from the room's interior (see below).

When you select a stamp, a text or a room, the left panel turns into the edit panel for that element (the same controls as the tool that creates it): you can retouch every property afterwards.

Brush

The Brush paints textures (or a flat color) onto the active Terrain layer. First choose the layer in the Layers panel, then paint by dragging on the canvas.

Choosing the texture or color

Above the canvas, when the Brush is active, there's the options bar:

Flat color: on the left is a colored swatch (label Color). Click it to pick a color and switch to painting a solid tint instead of a texture.
Recent: the last 4 used textures, ready to re-click. Next to them, the ＋ Library button opens the full browser (see the end).
Favorites: the textures you've starred; the ✕ on a thumbnail removes it from favorites.

The Tip and its shapes

In the left panel, at the top, is the Brushes selector: it shows the current tip (thumbnail + name + ▾). Click it to open the Brushes menu, where you choose among all the official tips, each with a stroke preview:

Round — the classic full tip, soft and uniform stroke.
Square — squared tip, sharp edges.
Soft — feathered tip, ideal for gentle transitions.
Grainy — dense grain, for dirt/sand-like surfaces.
Rough — irregular texture, "dirty" stroke.
Blob — irregular blotches, for stains and splashes.
Ring — stamps an empty ring in the center.
Star — star-shaped tip.
Triangle — triangular tip.
Hexagon — hexagonal tip.
Leaf — leaf silhouette, for scattered vegetation.
Streak — elongated streak stroke.
Wavy — wavy/rippled edge.

In the same menu, under My presets, you find the brushes you've saved yourself (with the ✕ to delete them).

Basic stroke settings

Still in the left panel:

Size (8 to 300) — the tip diameter. As an alternative to the bar, use the wheel over the canvas.
Opacity (5–100%) — how covering the stroke is.
Softness (0–100%) — how much the tip edges feather.
Texture scale (25–300%) — enlarges or shrinks the texture pattern inside the stroke. This is the control you use to "scale a texture": raise it for a bigger pattern, lower it for a tighter one.
Texture rotation (0–359°) — rotates the texture pattern (appears only when painting with a texture, not with flat color).
Fill — fills the entire active layer with the current texture/color in one shot.

Edit brush: dynamics and presets

Next to the Brushes selector is the Edit brush button: it opens the Brush options panel, with a live stroke preview and the dynamics (as in Photoshop/Inkarnate):

Spacing (2–300%) — the distance between one imprint and the next along the stroke. Low = continuous stroke; high = separated imprints.
Scatter (0–200%) — how much the imprints "spray" off the line, for a scattered effect.
Size jitter (0–100%) — random size variation at each imprint.
Opacity jitter (0–100%) — random transparency variation at each imprint.
Reset dynamics — returns these four values to default.
Pen pressure (checkbox): with a graphics tablet, pressure modulates size and opacity. A diagnostic below tells you whether the browser actually receives the pen values ("Pressure detected" / "Pressure doesn't change").

To save the tip with its settings: type a Preset name and press ＋ Save preset; you'll find it in the Brushes menu under "My presets". A dot next to "Edit brush" flags when dynamics are active.

Shape

The Shape stamps a regular patch of texture (or color) onto the terrain: it's decorative and good for flowerbeds, puddles, clearings, texture rugs. (For an outline that acts as a wall, use the Room instead.)

Choose the shape: Rect. (rectangle), Ellipse, Polygon.
If you chose Polygon, set Sides (3 to 12).
Choose texture or flat color in the bar above the canvas (as for the Brush).
Adjust the parameters, drag on the canvas to size the preview (you can move, rotate and scale it), then press Apply to bake it onto the terrain.

The parameters:

Opacity (5–100%).
Texture scale (25–300%) and Texture rotation (0–359°, textures only) — to scale/rotate the pattern inside the shape.
Feather (0–100%) — softens the shape's edge, fading it out gradually.
Jaggedness (0–100%) — deforms the edge with a wave: it's the amplitude of the ripple. At 0 the edge is smooth.
When Jaggedness is > 0, Frequency (1–30, how many waves along the edge) and Phase (0–360°, shifts the position of the waves) appear. With these three controls you get irregular, natural outlines instead of perfect geometric shapes.

Line

The Line lays a ribbon of texture along a path: roads, trails, rivers, frames, borders.

How to trace it

Brush mode: you drag freehand; on release the texture applies along the stroke.
Points mode: you click to lay points (click = corner, click-and-drag = pull the handles for a curved point, Shift = 15° snapping segments); double-click finalizes, Esc cancels.

Terrain or Object

Under Trace as choose:

Terrain — the line is "baked" onto the terrain layer (paint, no longer movable).
Object — it stays a non-destructive object: movable, with its own row in the Layers panel, editable later.

The line parameters

Corners: Rounded or Sharp — how the path corners behave.
Mirror texture ↕ — flips the pattern's direction.
Width (8–300) — the ribbon thickness.
Texture scale (25–300%) — the pattern size along the line.
Opacity (5–100%).
Fade edges (0–50%) — fades the two long sides of the ribbon.
With Fade edges > 0, Edge fall-off (0–100%) appears — the fade curve (sharper or more gradual).
Precision (0–100%, Brush mode only) — how much the freehand is "cleaned up"/stabilized.

There's also a Preview of the ribbon at the bottom of the panel. After tracing, to curve or edit the path use the Nodes tool.

Nodes (editing and curving lines)

The Nodes tool edits an already-drawn Line stroke via Bézier curves.

Click on an existing Line stroke: the nodes (dots) appear with their handles.
Drag the nodes and handles to curve the path.
Click on the line = add a node.
Double-click a node = delete that node.
Alt + handle = break the continuity and create a sharp corner at that node.

While editing, the panel has the same parameters as the Line (Corners, Width, Texture scale, Opacity, Fade edges, Edge fall-off). Close with Done or cancel with Cancel.

Room

The Room is the key architecture tool: it draws a wall around the perimeter and a floor inside in one shot. The wall is the geometry the online Table uses to block player vision.

Drawing the room

At the top are the shapes (icons, the name appears as a tooltip):

Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon — drag to size.
Trace line — click points, double-click to close.
Freehand — draw freehand.

If you use Polygon, set Sides (3 to 20).

Below, the row of boolean operations and tools:

Add — the new shape adds to the rooms.
Subtract — the new shape cuts into an existing room (to carve openings, courtyards, niches).
Doors — door mode: click on the wall opens a 1-cell-wide door, aligned to the grid; drag the dot to move it, the small squares on the sides to widen it, double-click the dot to remove it.
Hand — move/rotate the selected room (with Shift or magnet, rotation snaps to 15°); objects on top follow it. Press Enter to finalize.

The Merge with existing shape checkbox makes the new stroke blend with the room already present instead of creating a separate one.

Wall (the border)

The Wall checkbox toggles the perimeter border. With the Wall on:

Corners: Rounded or Sharp.
Mirror texture ↕.
Width (8–300) — the wall thickness.
Texture scale (25–300%) — the wall pattern size.
Scroll texture (0–100%) — slides the texture along the wall, to line up the bricks in the right spot without moving the wall.
Opacity (5–100%), Fade edges (0–50%) and, if active, Edge fall-off (0–100%).
Block light — marks the wall as occluding (casts shadows and stops vision).

The wall texture is chosen in the bar above the canvas, in the Wall column.

Floor (the fill)

The Floor checkbox toggles the interior fill. With the Floor on you adjust Texture scale (25–300%), Texture rotation (0–359°) and Opacity (5–100%). The floor texture is chosen in the bar above the canvas, in the Floor column.

Room shadow

At the bottom, under Shadow, you can leave the shadow global (it follows the Atmosphere) or tick Custom shadow (override) to adjust it for this room only: On, Shadow intensity, Shadow blur, Shadow distance, Follow the lights (the shadow chases the nearest light) and, if you don't follow, Shadow direction.

Stamp

The Stamp stamps objects and tokens (tables, trees, rocks, furniture, decor) onto the map. Under the cursor you see the ghost: the preview of the next stamp. Click to place it.

Choosing the stamp

In the bar above the canvas are Recent, ＋ Library and Favorites for stamps. In the left panel, when a stamp belongs to a set of variants, you get the large preview with the ‹/› arrows to scroll the variants, the numbered variant grid, the 🎲 Random variant (each stamp picks a different variant) and the ★ to add it to favorites.

Below, My sets: a dropdown to choose a personal set (or Auto set (by type)), the ＋ to create a new one, and the Add/Remove buttons to manage its contents.

The placement parameters

A row of icon buttons controls randomness and mirroring:

🎲 Random rotation (⟳) — each stamp rotates randomly.
↔ and ↕ — mirror horizontal / vertical.
🎲 Random size (⤢) — each stamp changes size; Size jitter (0–50%) then appears to dial in the amount.

Then the sliders:

Tint (−180…180°) — rotates the color hue.
Opacity (5–100%).
Scale (25–400%) — the stamp size.
Rotation (0–359°) — the fixed angle (hidden if Random rotation is on).
Blend — the blend mode with the background: Normal, Multiply, Screen, Overlay; with a blend active, Blend strength (0–100%) appears.
Blur — slightly blurs the stamp.

Stamp shadows are set globally in Atmosphere; each stamp can then override from its own panel (after selecting it).

Retouching a placed stamp

Selecting a stamp with the Select tool, the panel also gives you: ↔/↕ mirror, 💧 blur, Opacity, Scale (up to 800%), Rotation, Bring forward/Send backward, the per-object shadow, Block light (tall object) — because in top-down view you decide what is "tall" and casts a shadow (a boulder yes, a pebble no) — and the Color section with Tint, Contrast, Brightness, Saturation. You also find Clip (to apply a mask) and, again, Blend.

Blueprint

The Blueprint lets you compose several stamps into a single reusable block (a furnished room, a camp, a set of tables).

Press ＋ New blueprint: the map is set aside and a dedicated workbench opens, where the tool rail is reduced to Select and Stamp.
Compose the stamps you want.
Give it a Blueprint name and press Save blueprint: it enters the Blueprint library.

From the library, click a blueprint to "arm" it, then click on the map to place it as a single block; from there you move, rotate and scale it like a normal stamp (with Scale and Rotation in the panel). Each entry has Edit (reopens the workbench) and the ✕ to delete it from the library — copies already placed on maps remain. Alternatively, you can select several stamps on the map and use ▣ Group / 💾 Save blueprint from the selection bar.

Stamp Studio

The Stamp Studio generates an object with AI and gives you the tools to clean it up and prepare it. It's the only credit-based feature (generation consumes credits based on size).

In the chat on the left, describe the stamp (e.g. "an oval wooden table with a red tablecloth") and press Generate: the AI draws it from above on a gray background. Alternatively Upload an image… of your own (max 1024px).
Then refine it with the editor tools:

Cut out — pick the background color with the Eyedropper, adjust the Tolerance and apply: the background gets "eaten" from the edges (option Inside areas too).
Edge erosion — removes N pixels all around the outline to eliminate the residual background halo.
Feather edge — softens the outline, fading it toward transparency over the first N pixels.
Rebuild edge — redraws an outline in the chosen color (with Ring=1 it overwrites the existing border, from 2 up it adds outer pixels), with an Inner fade to blend the pixels toward that color. Used to rebuild edges eaten by the cutout.
Pencil and Eraser for manual touch-ups; the Color eraser deletes only the selected color under the tip, within tolerance, leaving the subject intact.
Selection (Del deletes the area), Hand to pan the view, a control background in checker / green / gray, Brush (size) and a single Color shared by pencil/color-eraser/cutout.

At the end, Save stamp (it ends up under "My stamps" in the Library) or Open in editor.

Text

Text lays a label on the map (room names, notes, numbers).

Click on the canvas: the label is created and the tool switches to Select so you can edit it right away.
In the panel: a text area for the content, Size (8–400), Text color, the Bold, Italic, Outline buttons, the alignment (left/center/right), Opacity (5–100%), Rotation (0–359°), Bring forward/Send backward, the per-object Shadow and Clip (to apply a mask).

Mask

Masks clip objects: they're used mainly to tuck objects under walls (a table that disappears behind a wall). The red area you paint = where the object stays visible.

＋ New empty mask (or generate a mask from a room's interior: select the room and press ◐ in the Select bar).
Select a mask from the list to view and paint it; double-click the name to rename it, ✕ to delete it.
With Add you paint red area, with Subtract you remove it; adjust the Brush (8–400).
To apply it to an object: select the object and choose the mask from its Clip (mask) dropdown (you can use any mask on the map, even from another layer).

Eraser

The Eraser clears paint on the active Terrain layer. It has the Tips grid (the same shapes as the Brush), the Size (8–300), the Opacity (5–100%) and the Softness (0–100%): with low opacity and softness you erase gradually and softly.

The Library (textures and objects)

The ＋ Library button (present in the Brush, Shape, Line, Room and Stamp bars) opens the full asset browser.

On the left, the tree navigator: Style → Macro → Type. Expand with the arrows and click a type to filter the grid. The My stamps entry collects your assets (from the Stamp Studio).
At the top, the toolbar: a Search field, the Group by menu with Material or Tier (groups results by material type or by subscription tier), and the Thumbnail size slider to enlarge the thumbnails.
In the grid, each asset has a star for Favorites: left-click = use, right-click = favorite. Locked assets show a padlock (included in the Base or Pro plans).

Textures come in two natures: tileable (seamlessly tiling, used for floors and fills) and linear/stripe (meant for walls and Line ribbons). The bars above the canvas respect the nature: for the Room, the Wall column draws from the linear ones and Floor from the tileable ones. Outside the Library, your most-used textures stay handy as Recent (last 4) and Favorites. Finally, remember two texture controls that come in handy: Mirror texture ↕ (flips the pattern, in the Line and in the room Wall) and Scroll texture (slides the pattern along the wall to line it up).

Shadows and snap (in brief)

Per-object shadows (override): shadows of stamps, walls and rooms are set globally in Atmosphere, but each element, once selected, can tick Custom shadow (override) and set intensity, blur, distance and direction just for itself.
Snap to grid: in the footer there's the magnet button Snap to grid; when active, the 9-point anchoring appears (Object anchor point → Grid cell point) to match the object precisely to the grid. Also in the footer are Center view, Rulers (with the Ruler subdivisions), Precision (a crosshair and 45° lines from the cursor) and the Animations toggle (▶/⏸) for the light effects.

🗺️ Layers & tools