Shamat : Shadekeep Mapping Tool

Map

Compose

Help

Hotkeys

About

Map Name:

Creator:

Rows:

Columns:

Grain:

Lines:

Zoom: 16px

Outline: 50%

Tools

Active Layer

Materials

Components

Features

Terrain

Symbols

Decor

Megahexes

Outline Thickness: px

Dot Weight: px

Annotations

Hex Coordinates

Shift Map

Backdrop

Backdrop Width

Backdrop Height

Backdrop Horizontal Offset

Backdrop Vertical Offset

Onionskin

0.5

Skin Opacity

Space Map Tools

Under Development

Customise Materials

Material Name:
Red: 128
Green: 128
Blue: 128

Options Panel is Under Development

Contents

Menu Bar

New Map: Start a blank new map using the saved preferences, if any.

Load Map: Load a previously saved Shamat map file.

Save Map: Saves the map as a Shamat map file.

Save Image: Save a PNG image of the map. The size of the image is selected in a pop-up dialog with a size slider. If a Backdrop image is present and visible, it will be saved as part of the image as well.

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Map Settings

Map Name: A custom name for your map. Will be used for the saved Map and Image filenames as well.

Creator: The map author(s).

Prefs: Opens the Preferences dialog where you can set the default values for future map projects. Choices are saved in browser cookies, so if these are blocked or disabled, you preferences will not be saved. If cookies are cleared between sessions, your preferences will be lost the next time you open the application.

Rows: The number of rows in your map grid.

Columns: The number of columns in your map grid.

Grain: Choose whether the grain of the hexes is vertical or horizontal on your map. This should be decided before starting the map, as an existing map will not translate cleanly between the two grains.

Lines: Choose whether the hex grid line weight is proportional or hairline depending on the zoom level. Proportional lines are thicker at higher zoom levels and thinner at lower zooms. Hairlines are always a single pixel thick regardless of zoom level.

Update: Resize the map to the Rows and Columns values. You will be prompted to confirm this change if the new size will trim the existing map.

Zoom: Controls the display scaling of the map grid.

Outline: Controls the contrast of the hex outlines.

The Collapse/Expand icon lets you minimise and restore the Map Settings toolbox.

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Tools

Paint: Fills the active hex on the map on the current Layer with the active Material and Component.

Undo: Undoes the last painting action performed.

Rectangle: Paints a rectangle outline from the start point to the end point.

Area: Paints a filled rectangle from the start point to the end point.

Line Room: Draws a room outline with squares walls from the start point (first mouse click) to the end point (second click). Constrained to strictly horizontal, vertical, and hex diagonal lines.

Solid Room: Draws a filled room with squares walls from the start point (first mouse click) to the end point (second click). Constrained to strictly horizontal, vertical, and hex diagonal lines.

Line: Paints from the start point (first mouse click) to the end point (second click). Constrained to strictly horizontal, vertical, and hex diagonal lines.

Skip Line: Paints every other hex along a horizontal line from start to end. Useful for alternating components to make straight edges.

Zoom In: Increase the visual scale of the map.

Zoom Out: Decrease the visual scale of the map.

Clear Map: Reset the map to a blank state. You will be prompted to confirm this action.

Rnd Map: Generate a random terrain map. You can specify which types of terrains and features will be included.

Rnd Room: Generate a random room map. The rooms will be created using the currently active material. The random generator will try to connect all the rooms by hallways, but you may have to add some further halls manually to connect everything together.

Rnd Tunnel: Generate a random tunnel map. The tunnels will be created using the currently active material.

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Active Layer

Base: Lowest layer of the map. Drawn in the shown Material colors.

Overlay: Middle layer of the map. Drawn in darker shades of the Material colors.

Feature: Uppermost layer of the map. Map symbols are drawn over the other Layers in the Material colors.

Terrain: Symbology for drawing landscape maps. Drawn on the Feature layer.

Decor: Symbology for items and decorations. Drawn on the Feature layer.

Symbols: Symbols that represent additional information or markup for the map. Drawn on the Feature layer.

Annotations: Add letters and symbols to the map to indicate important points. Annotations are drawn over the other Layers in the Material colors.

Megahexes: Add an overlay of megahexes to the map. There are controls for tweaking the placement of the megahex grid. It is always drawn in black.

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Materials

These are simply different color values to help you distinguish your map materials or terrains.

Palette 1: Common materials, useful for major map elements.

Palette 2: Special materials, useful for unique map elements or different color schemes.

Palette 3: Greyscale, useful for monochrome maps and black-and-white printing.

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Components

These are the "paint brushes" for building your map. Multiple components can exist in the same hex, though painting with Whole will obliterate any partial hex components on that Layer.

Components can be drawn on the Base or Overlay layer. Components on the Overlay layer will always appear on top of components in the Base layer. Overlay components are usually drawn in a dark version of the active Material, as well.

Eraser: Remove all components in the selected hex on the active Layer. Material selection is irrelevant.

Whole: Paint the entire hex on the active Layer with the selected Material.

Flat Half: Draws a half hex with the flat side defined by hex vertices.

Point Half: Draws a half hex with the flat side defined by hex side midpoints.

Apex: Draws a hex segment defined by three adjacent hex vertices.

Bulk: Draws a hex segment defined by five of the size hex vertices (counterpoint to the area of an Apex).

Channel: Draw a narrow rectangle whose axis aligns to opposite hex side midpoints.

Junction: Draws half a Channel with a circular terminus in the hex center. Rotate and stack these in a hex to create branching intersections with Channels.

Slice: Draws a triangular wedge defined by two adjacent hex vertices and the hex centerpoint.

Corner: Provides a square corner for vertex-based walls, such as those drawn with the Flat Half.

Wide: Draws a wide rectangle whose axis aligns to opposite hex side midpoints and whose corners are on hex vertices.

Join: Draws half a Wide with a circular terminus in the hex center. Rotate and stack these in a hex to create branching intersections with Wides.

Thin Wall: Draws thin walls to indicate where the hexes on both sides can be occupied. Wall runs parallel to hex side. Pair with Thin Edge for complete structures.

Thin Edge: Thin Edge, along with Thin Wall, is for creating walls where the hexes on both sides can be occupied. Wall runs parallel to hex vertex.

Thin Corner: A squared-off terminator for Thin Wall and Thin Edge lines.

Hex Border: Used to create thick hex outlines and short horizontal Line Room walls.

Rm Side: aka Room Side, this is the vertical side of a Line Room.

Rm Wall: aka Room Wall, this is the long horizontal Line Room wall.

Rm Corner: aka Room Corner, this is the Line Room corner.

Finish: Draws a square corner based on two adjacented hex vertices.

Fl Side: aka Fill Side, this is the Solid Room vertical side wall.

Fl Corner: aka Fill Corner, this is the Solid Room corner.

Pillar: Represents a pillar, pole, or other such structure occupying the hex.

Rotate Left: Rotate the current selected component one step counter-clockwise. There are six total rotation positions for each hex style.

Rotate Right: Rotate the current selected component one step clockwise.

Flip: Flip the current selected component to the opposite side of the hex (equivalent to three rotations).

The Next Palette icon lets you cycle through the different component palettes available.

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Features

These are various symbols that can be added to the map. They will be drawn in the selected Material color.

Features are drawn on the Symbology layer. The Symbology layer is drawn above the Base and Overlay layers. Elements in the Symbology layer are drawn in the order in which they are added, with the most recent element on top.

Eraser: Remove all features, terrains, and symbols in the selected hex. Material selection is irrelevant.

Door: A solid rectangle along one hex side representing a door.

Stairs: A series of rectangles traversing the hex representing a staircase.

Stair: A half-series of rectangles, used in creating staircase junctions that turn within the hex.

Unders: A series of dots representing where a passage runs below a higher passage on the map, in maps that portray layered levels. Also useful as secondary roads/trails in terrain maps.

Under: A half-series of dots, used in creating underneath passage junctions that turn within the hex.

Bands: A solid band to create paths, walls, or other linear features. Also useful as main roads in terrain maps.

Band: A solid junction to connect bands. Rotate and stack these in a hex to create branching intersections with bands.

Shaft: An outlined circle representing a shaft leading between levels of the map.

Spiral: An abstract symbol than can represent a spiral staircase or other feature.

Axons: A solid axial band to create walls and other linear features.

Axon: A solid axial junction. Rotate and stack these in a hex to create complex boundaries.

Half Door: An alternate door shape. Draw matching ones between two adjacent hexes to create an overlapping door effect.

Window: A window graphic to be placed along walls.

Mid Door: A door that spans the middle of the hex instead of an edge.

Mid Wndw: A window that spans the middle of the hex instead of an edge.

Angle Door: A door that runs between opposite hex vertices instead of edges.

Angle Wndw: A window that runs between opposite hex vertices instead of edges.

Thin Door: A door to be used with Thin Wall segments.

Thin Wndw: A window to be used with Thin Wall segments.

Edge Door: A door to be used with Thin Edge segments.

Edge Wndw: A window to be used with Thin Edge segments.

Rotate Left: Rotate the current selected feature one step counter-clockwise. There are six total rotation positions for each hex style.

Rotate Right: Rotate the current selected feature one step clockwise.

Flip: Flip the current selected feature to the opposite side of the hex (equivalent to three rotations).

The Next Palette icon lets you cycle through the different feature palettes available.

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Terrain

These are terrain symbols that can be used to create overland maps. They will be drawn in the selected Material color.

Terrains are drawn on the Symbology layer. The Symbology layer is drawn above the Base and Overlay layers. Elements in the Symbology layer are drawn in the order in which they are added, with the most recent element on top.

Eraser: Remove all terrains, features, and symbols in the selected hex. Material selection is irrelevant.

Water: A series of wavy lines that indicates a body of water.

Mtn Line: Outlined ovals indicating mountains or hilly terrain.

Mtn Fill: Filled ovals indicating mountains or hilly terrain.

Forest: A cluster of filled shapes that indicates forest, jungle or other dense plant growths.

Swamp: Groups of lines suggesting grasses, to indicate swamp, savannah or prairie.

Plains: A series of simple hatched lines that indicate plains or other terrains.

Desert: A scattering of dots that indicates desert or other terrains.

Capitol: A star that indicates a capitol city.

City: A square that indicates a city or other large settlement.

Village: A disc that indicates a village or other small settlement.

Fort: A simplified building shape that indicates a fort, outpost, or other defended encampment of some kind.

Mine: A simplified shovel shape than indicates a mine or other resource extraction point.

Ruin: A triangle that indicates ruins or other abandoned structures.

Interest: A star outline that marks the location of a unique point of interest.

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Decor

This set contains room elements and decorations, as well as traps.

Decor are drawn on the Symbology layer. The Symbology layer is drawn above the Base and Overlay layers. Elements in the Symbology layer are drawn in the order in which they are added, with the most recent element on top.

Eraser: Remove all symbols, features, and terrains in the selected hex. Material selection is irrelevant.

Trap: Indicates a hex containing a trap of some kind (pressure plate, trigger, magic sensor, etc). Different colors can be used to easily distinguish trap types (poison, fire, weapon, etc).

Trapdoor: A door set into the floor that represents a trapdoor or hatch.

Floor Pit: A hole in the floor that represents a pit or open trapdoor or exit.

Tripwire: Represents a tripwire strung across a hex. Might trigger a trap or alarm.

Chest L: Large chest or other container. The latch marking indicates facing, and can also be a lock.

Chest S: Smaller version of the chest decoration.

Key: Indicates the location of key, whether a literal key for a lock or a more abstract sort of key.

Pentagram: Indicates a pentagram or other magical symbol is inscribed here. Useful for TFT's Permanent Pentagram enchantment.

Gate: Indicates a gate or other magical portal exists here.

Light: Indicates a light source on the floor or ceiling (or perhaps hovering in space).

Sconce: Indicates a wall-mounted light source or other fixture.

Rotate Left: Rotate the current selected component one step counter-clockwise. There are six total rotation positions for each hex style.

Rotate Right: Rotate the current selected component one step clockwise.

Flip: Flip the current selected component to the opposite side of the hex (equivalent to three rotations).

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Symbols

These are informational symbols for marking key points on the map.

Symbols are drawn on the Symbology layer. The Symbology layer is drawn above the Base and Overlay layers. Elements in the Symbology layer are drawn in the order in which they are added, with the most recent element on top.

Eraser: Remove all symbols, features, and terrains in the selected hex. Material selection is irrelevant.

Arrow EL: Arrow symbol that points to the center of an edge (E) and is large (L).

Arrow ES: Arrow symbol that points to the center of an edge (E) and is small (S).

Arrow VL: Arrow symbol that points to a corner vertex (V) and is large (L).

Arrow VS: Arrow symbol that points to a corner vertex (V) and is small (S).

Prohibit L: A large "prohibited" or "no" symbol, useful for indicating impassable or hazardous hexes.

Prohibit S: A smaller version of the "prohibited" symbol.

Event: An event marker, can be used to indicate where special events in the adventure take place.

Accent L: Accent symbol that puts an angled line near one side of the hex. Can be used alone or paired with an Annotation to help users in reading the map key.

Accent C: Accent symbol that puts a circle in a hex corner. Can be rotated to any corner.

Accent T: Like the Accent circle symbol, only the shape is a triangle.

Accent D: Like the Accent circle symbol, only the shape is a diamond.

Marker: An map marker, keyed to a corresponding symbol in the adventure guide.

Rotate Left: Rotate the current selected component one step counter-clockwise. There are six total rotation positions for each hex style.

Rotate Right: Rotate the current selected component one step clockwise.

Flip: Flip the current selected component to the opposite side of the hex (equivalent to three rotations).

The Next Palette icon lets you cycle through the different symbol palettes available.

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Annotations

These are character glyphs that can be added to the map to denote points of interest. They will be drawn in the selected Material color.

The blank "space" character at the start of the on-screen annotation keyboard is the Annotation Eraser. Use it to remove annotations from a hex. It appears as a block of horizontal grey lines on the cursor when active.

Shamat version 1.6 introduced annotation pairs, which allow for two adjacent characters in one hex. Each character in the pair can have its own Material color if desired. Attempts to add further characters to a hex beyond the two-character limit will be ignored. Erase the characters if you wish to replace them. Please note that because of this new functionality you can no longer superimpose characters on top of each other in a hex.

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Megahexes

Show: Display the megahex overlay.

Hide: Remove the megahex overlay.

Shift Up: Nudge the megahex overlay 1 hex up.

Shift Down: Nudge the megahex overlay 1 hex down.

Shift Left: Nudge the megahex overlay 1 hex left.

Shift Right: Nudge the megahex overlay 1 hex right.

Square: Draws a "square megahex" grid, which alternates standard megahexes with square megahexes, making gridded layouts easier.

Outline Thickness: Control the thickness of the megahex outlines.

Dot Weight: Control the weight of the megahex dots.

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Miscellaneous

Hex Coordinates: A convenience tool for seeing the coordinates of the highlighted hex.

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Shift Map

Left: Shift the map left. This will move all hexes left by 1 hex in a Horizontal grain, or 2 hexes in a Vertical grain. This is done to retain the relative positions of all hexes. Hexes that are moved off the left edge of the map are deleted.

Right: Shift the map right, by the same amount as a Left shift. Hexes that are moved off the right edge of the map are deleted.

Up: Shift the map up. This will move all hexes up by 1 hex in a Vertical grain, or 2 hexes in a Horizontal grain. This is done to retain the relative positions of all hexes. Hexes that are moved off the top edge of the map are deleted.

Down: Shift the map down, by the same amount as an Up shift. Hexes that are moved off the bottom edge of the map are deleted.

Right (Grow): Shift the map as in a Right shift, while adding additional columns to the map to retain all current map hexes. The number of columns added is equal to the size of the shift.

Down (Grow): Shift the map as in a Down shift, while adding additional rows to the map to retain all current map hexes. The number of rows added is equal to the size of the shift.

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Backdrop

Add Back: Add a PNG or JPEG image as a backdrop for your map. Used to facilitate map tracing in converting an image or drawing into a Shamat map. The image will be saved in the map file, as well as its current scaling and position.

Toggle Back: Show or hide the backdrop image.

Remove Back: Remove the backdrop image from the map. It will also be deleted from the save file the next time the map is saved.

Fit Both: Scale the backdrop image so that its width and height match those of the map.

Fit Width: Scale the backdrop image so that its width matches that of the map. The height will be scaled proportionately to match the image's original aspect ratio.

Fit Height: Scale the backdrop image so that its height matches that of the map. The width will be scaled proportionately to match the image's original aspect ratio.

Toggle Lock: Turn the backdrop lock on and off. When the lock is on the backdrop image cannot be rescaled or removed. This is to help prevent accidental edits once you have the backdrop image how you want it.

Backdrop Width: Adjust the width of the backdrop image. The minus buttons decrease the width by 1, 10, or 100 pixels (larger button is a bigger increment). The plus buttons increase the width in the same increments. The current width is shown in the text box.

Backdrop Height: Adjust the height of the backdrop image. The minus buttons decrease the width by 1, 10, or 100 pixels (larger button is a bigger increment). The plus buttons increase the height in the same increments. The current height is shown in the text box.

Actual Size: Restore the backdrop image to its original pixel dimensions.

Backdrop Horizontal Offest: Shift the horizontal position of the backdrop image. The minus buttons move the image to the left by 1, 10, or 100 pixels (larger button is a bigger increment). The plus buttons move the image to the right in the same increments. The current horizontal offset is shown in the text box.

Backdrop Vertical Offest: Shift the position of the backdrop image. The minus buttons move the image up by 1, 10, or 100 pixels (larger button is a bigger increment). The plus buttons move the image down in the same increments. The current vertical offset is shown in the text box.

Corner: Reset the backdrop offset to zeroes, which places the image in the upper left corner.

Center: Adjust the backdrop offset so that the center of the backdrop is in the center of the map.

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Onionskin

Toggle Skin: Turn the onionskinning (map translucency) on and off.

Skin Opacity: Set the amount of translucency for the map when onionskinning is active.

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Tool Hotkeys

Cursor Left or ARotate Tool Left

Cursor Right or DRotate Tool Right

Cursor Down or SFlip Tool

+ or =Zoom In

-Zoom Out

Megahex Hotkeys

Cursor Left or AShift Megahexes Left

Cursor Right or DShift Megahexes Right

Cursor Down or SShift Megahexes Down

Cursor Up or WShift Megahexes Up

Annotation Hotkeys

Type the letter/number/symbol to select the corresponding Annotation.
Pressing the SPACE bar will select the Annotation Eraser. This is also the blank first button in the on-screen annotation keyboard. The annotation eraser shows as a series of grey horizontal lines on the map cursor.

About Shamat

Shamat is the Shadekeep Mapping Tool. It is a tool for creating graphical maps on hex grids.
It was originally designed for creating dungeon and terrain maps for The Fantasy Trip.

You are running Shamat version
Check for the latest version at Shadekeep

The Fantasy Trip is copyright Steve Jackson Games. No affiliation or endorsement is implied.
As a felicitous side note, shamat means "misadventure" in the Urdu language.

License

This work is protected by, and licensable under, the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

Shamat ©2018-present Howard A. Kistler (keeper@shadekeep.com)
Shamat is copyrighted software but free to use and download. If you rehost the application in either the online or downloadable form, please link back to this original page as well. Do not "wrapper" our own hosted content on your site in an embedded frame or other such mechanism; doing so is a violation of terms. It will also likely break functionality for your visitors.

Shamat: Shadekeep Mapping Tool