🗺️ Cartographer: overview

The Cartographer is GameMasterBuddy's tabletop map editor: a tool you open in the browser (/strumenti/battlemap) to draw top-down battlemaps — floors, walls, rooms, objects, lights — and then use them at the online Table. It runs entirely in the browser and is free: drawing, painting, placing objects and saving cost no credits. The only part that uses credits is the Stamp Studio, because it generates new images with AI. This page explains what it is, how to set up the sheet, how the workspace is laid out and what the typical workflow looks like. The hands-on details of each individual tool (brush, shape, line, room) and of the lights are in the linked pages.

What it is and how to open it

The Cartographer is a top-down canvas (seen from above, like a floor plan) on which you build the map in layers, Photoshop-style. Everything you draw stays editable: you can undo, move, delete and reorder.

To open it, go to the Tools section of the app and pick the Cartographer (at the top the page is called Cartographer (preview)). The first time you don't start on a blank canvas: the sheet-setup window opens first.

The maps you create are saved to your account: you find them again every time you return, and they become available in the online Table, where you project them to your players. Important: the walls you draw (the border of rooms and closed shapes) aren't just graphics — they're the geometry the Table uses for vision and for shadows. Well-closed walls = correct vision at the table.

Setting up the work sheet

When you create a new map the Set up the work sheet window appears. Here you decide the size of the map in squares (each square = one grid cell, i.e. 1 inch / 5 feet in the RPG). You have three ways to define it.

Ready paper formats (A4 / A3)

At the top there are four preset buttons:

• A4 Landscape and A4 Portrait
• A3 Landscape and A3 Portrait

These are the most common Sheet formats. Landscape puts the long side across the width; Portrait puts the long side in the height. One click immediately sets Columns and Rows: it saves you from typing them by hand.

TV grid (real 1-inch cells)

If you play on a television laid flat on the table, use the 4K TV (inches) block: type the diagonal of the TV and press 1-inch grid. The Cartographer computes a full-screen grid with real 1-inch cells, perfect for placing physical miniatures on top. Next to it you see a preview of the resulting size (e.g. 48 × 27).

Free format (Columns and Rows)

Under Free format (squares, max 32×32) you set the exact size yourself:

1. Type the number of Columns (width in squares).
2. Type the number of Rows (height in squares).
3. Alongside, a label shows the chosen size (e.g. 24 × 18) and below it a visual preview of the sheet's proportions.

The maximum side is 32×32 squares: that's the allowed Size in squares. You can combine methods — for example start from an A4 preset and then tweak Columns/Rows by hand.

Name and start

• In the Map name field (placeholder "Map name") type what you want to call it. You can also leave it for later and rename it from the header.
• Press the gold Start drawing button to create the sheet and enter the editor.

On the side of the window is the Your maps panel: the list of maps you've already saved. Clicking one reopens it instead of creating a new one; the ✕ deletes it (with a confirmation). If you haven't saved anything yet, it reads "No saved maps".

How the workspace is laid out

Once inside, the screen is divided into five areas: the header at the top, the toolbar on the left, the active tool's options panel, the canvas in the center, the Layers panel on the right, and a service bar (footer) at the bottom.

The toolbar (on the left)

It's the vertical column of icons. Each click selects a tool and changes the options panel. In order, from the top:

• Select — the arrow: click to select painted tiles, stamps, rooms, lines, texts and lights, then edit them with the handles and the panel. It's the "resting" tool.
• Stamp — places objects (stamps) from the library: you click on the map and "stamp" the image (a table, a tree, a crate…).
• Blueprint — composes and places blocks of several stamps saved together (e.g. a whole furnished room) as a single reusable piece.
• Stamp Studio — opens the studio that AI-generates a new top-down stamp from a description (this is the credit-using part), with tools to cut it out and clean it up.
• Brush — freehand paints the terrain with colors or textures (grass, stone, sand…), with tips and dynamics.
• Shape — stamps a filled geometric figure onto the terrain: rectangle, ellipse or polygon.
• Line — draws a strip of texture along a path (roads, rivers, borders), by brush or by points.
• Room — draws a room: wall around the perimeter + floor inside, with doors and cut operations. This is the tool that generates the geometry for vision.
• Light — places light sources on the map (torches, candles, spots, sun…) that illuminate and cast shadows from the walls.
• Atmosphere — places nothing: it adjusts the scene's global settings (night tint, sun, general shadows). It applies to the whole map.
• Nodes — edits the curves (Bézier nodes) of an already-drawn Line: you reshape and adjust it.
• Text — writes labels on the map (room names, notes), with bold, italic, outline and color.
• Mask — paints clip areas that hide/show portions of an object (useful, for example, to tuck objects under the walls).
• Eraser — erases terrain painting, with the same tips as the brush.

A divider separates the first four tools (which work with objects: Select, Stamp, Blueprint, Stamp Studio) from the painting ones (Brush downward).

The options panel (next to the toolbar)

Right of the toolbar is the options panel: its content changes with the active tool and shows its controls (size, opacity, tip shape, texture, etc.). It has the tool's title at the top and, often, a hint line at the bottom explaining how to use it. Many tools also show a horizontal options bar above the canvas with Recent, the ＋ Library button and the texture/stamp Favorites.

The canvas (in the center)

This is the actual map. When a tool has handles (for example a selected stamp or room), you find them on the element's borders to resize and rotate. Around the canvas, if you turn on the rulers, the two Rulers appear (top and left) with an indicator of the cursor's position.

The Layers panel (on the right)

The Layers column lists the map's layers, from the topmost (at the top of the list) to the bottom. For each layer you have:

• Show/hide — the eye: turns the layer's visibility off or on.
• Lock — the padlock: protects the layer from accidental edits and selections.
• Up / Down — move the layer in the order (whoever is higher covers whoever is below).

At the bottom there are three buttons to add layers:

• ＋ Terrain (▦＋ icon) — a new terrain layer to paint on.
• ＋ Objects (◆＋ icon) — a new object layer for stamps, texts and blueprints.
• New group (▤＋ icon) — a folder that groups several layers.

The footer (service bar at the bottom)

At the bottom you find the cross-cutting commands, always available:

• Select: the selection filter — turns on/off which categories are selectable (Rooms, Lines, Objects, Texts, Lights); All re-enables them.
• Undo and Redo — the back/forward steps in history.
• Center view — brings the framing back to show the whole map.
• Snap to grid — the magnet: snaps what you move to the grid. With Snap on, the two 9-point pickers appear (Object anchor point → Grid cell point) to decide which point of the object snaps to which point of the cell.
• Rulers (▛) — shows/hides the rulers; next to it you choose the Ruler subdivisions (Cells, 1/2, 1/3…).
• Precision (✛) — projects a crosshair and 45° lines from the cursor across the whole canvas, for precise alignments.
• Animations (▶ / ⏸) — starts or pauses the animated light effects (flicker, texture scrolling…).
• A GPU selector (100% / 75% / 50%) to lighten rendering on slow machines.

Navigation commands

Moving around the canvas is independent of the active tool:

• Pan the view: hold the middle mouse button and drag, or drag the canvas itself. It works from any tool.
• Zoom: turn the mouse wheel; the zoom follows the cursor.
• Quick select: the right mouse button immediately selects the element under the pointer — painted tile, room or line — even while you're using another tool.
• Undo: Ctrl+Z steps back (and there's Redo to redo).
• Resize/scale: with a tool that has handles, the wheel over the element changes its size or scale.
• Center view: the Center view button in the footer brings the whole map back into view.

The Layers concept

The map is made of stacked layers, as in an image editor. There are two kinds of layer:

• Terrain — this is the layer where you paint: Brush, Eraser, Shape and Line (in Terrain mode) bake the painting here. If you have several terrain layers, painting always goes to the active terrain layer (the one selected in the Layers panel): always check which one is active before painting, or you risk painting on the wrong layer.
• Objects — this is the layer where the non-destructive, movable elements live: stamps, texts, blueprints. Each remains its own object, selectable and editable at any time.

Rooms and object-lines belong to a layer and sit below the objects of the same layer. The order in the list matters: whoever is higher covers whoever is below. Use Up/Down and the Bring forward / Send backward buttons (in the selection panel) to arrange what sits in front of what.

The typical workflow

A proven path from start to finished map:

1. Set up the sheet. Choose format and size in the Set up the work sheet window, give it a name and press Start drawing.
2. Lay the base. With the Brush (or Shape/Line) paint the base terrain on the terrain layer: grass, stone, dirt, water. Use Fill to cover the whole layer in one go.
3. Build the rooms. With the Room tool draw the spaces: the perimeter becomes wall, the inside takes the floor. Open Doors where needed. Remember: these walls are the geometry the Table will use for vision.
4. Trace the paths. With the Line add roads, rivers, trails, borders.
5. Furnish. With the Stamp stamp furniture, trees, crates and details from the Library; group into Blueprints what you reuse. If an object is missing, generate it with the Stamp Studio.
6. Light it. With the Light tool place torches and sources; with Atmosphere adjust the night, the sun and the global shadows.
7. Label it. With the Text add names and notes.
8. Refine. Adjust layer order, shadows, opacity; use Undo without fear.
9. Save and export. Press Save in the header. From there you can Export PNG or send the map to the online Table with Project.

You don't have to do everything at once: the map is saved to the account and you pick it back up whenever you want.

The header (map commands at the top)

The bar at the top gathers the map's main commands:

• Cartographer (preview) — the tool's title.
• The N×M button (e.g. 24×18) — shows the current format; clicking it reopens the sheet window and the list of saved maps.
• The Map name field — to rename on the fly. A • dot next to it signals "Unsaved changes (auto-saved)".
• Save — saves the map to the account. When everything is saved the button reads "Saved".
• Export PNG — downloads the map as a high-resolution PNG image.
• Player view (🖥) — opens the view meant for the players.
• Project (📽) — sends the map to the online Table to show it to the group.

From here on, for the fine workings of each tool (brush tips, dynamics, shapes, curves, rooms and doors) and of the lights and export, see the linked pages.