Tjoek's A&A Anniversary OOB Map file (Updated March 23rd)

[General 6 Stars]

@P@nther:

@Young:

@P@nther:

@Nowhere:

Has anyone actually printed this map? Maybe its just me, i dunno, but it seems subdued/pixelated compared to the Adobe Maps of Dedo and Imperious… but i could totally be off base or maybe i need glasses?

How did you print it? The png provided has 150 ppi.

I looked into printing it this week, they said the file was huge and they converted it into a JPEG for me… also working on a couple tweaks before printing, I’ll share when I’m done.

Indeed, tweaking it is the point.
The image has 17776x9162 pixels. At 150 dpi this would be a print size of 118,5 x 61,1 inches.
So to print it at reasonable sizes you need to either scale it (enhance dpi) or resize it (change horizontal/vertical amount of pixels) - or do a combination of both.
Depending on how this is done quality issues may occur - additionally to a possible jpg-quality-loss.

I am curious how it worked for you.

Yes the right size for me 118 x 61

Any way my printer just reformat ( maybe wrong word ) it to the size I wanted. So when I got my map made too 4 x 8
It took him and hour to redo the size.

[2Huskies]

I’ve never printed a game map before, but I am excited to start doing this, starting with Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition. With this file, if printed on vinyl at about 3 ft by 6 ft there anything I should know or processes I should take to get a clean, clear print?

[Panther]

@2Huskies:

I’ve never printed a game map before, but I am excited to start doing this, starting with Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition. With this file, if printed on vinyl at about 3 ft by 6 ft there anything I should know or processes I should take to get a clean, clear print?

This size can be achieved without modifying the pixel count and without quality effects simply by scaling: enhance dpi from 150 to 250.
While keeping the pixels at 17776x9162 this - when printing with 250 dpi  - results in an image size of 71,1x36,6 inches, so approximately 6x3 ft.

This is an easy task for your image manipulation software.

However, I am not a printing expert - so others hopefully add their knowledge regarding the printing aspects.

[bgugs]

The guy I went through in Seattle just asked for the image and the dimensions I wanted and he handled the rest. Not sure where you are located but I would highly recommend this guy to anybody. I will use him once I am done with my custom map

[Nowhere Man]

I guess what i’m asking is this file going to give you a basically perfect reproduction of the OOB map, just on your material/size of your choice without looking pixilated or color saturated/faded?

YG, i’m really curious to see your results and/or modifications.

I’ve played every version of A&A from Classic to 1941 through Global… out of all, (for me and my friends) we’ve settled on Anniversary as our game of choice… not that we don’t like Global (we do), it just takes up too much of the time we’re willing to give and we all enjoy the balance of Anniversary for both gameplay and time investment… having said that, we are looking to print the best possible map for our group… and we’re all debating on which one is the best (we can’t decide)… we like the work of Imperious and Dedo, as well as possibly going with a reprint of the OOB map such as on here… we just need a nice bigger map than OOB… so we’re taking our time to find THE PERFECT map for us, and hoping to see results of what other people have chosen for AA50.

[Imperious Leader]

I think the minimum DPI should be 300 and to convert to jpeg due to memory issues will make the image unsustainable for any printing. I hope the work can be redone is another format to avoid the pixilation problem.

But you know my map redo is 100% vector, no image loss at any scale!

[Nowhere Man]

@Imperious:

But you know my map redo is 100% vector, no image loss at any scale!

I really like your map Imperious!

[Tjoek]

I just returned from a week long skiing trip, so this is a short reply to hopefully answer some of the questions.

The scan has been created with 400 dpi. Knowing that 250 dpi is the limit for high quality print work, you can easily enlarge the print to 1.5 times the size of OOB. (roughly 71.1 inch by 36.6 inch)

Even a dpi of 200 might hardly be noticeable during game play so you could go to twice the OOB size. (88.9 inch by 45.8 inch)

@Imperious Leader: the file really is PNG. The pixel effect you see in the file is scanning noise which is created by the scanner. And saving it as PDF helps nothing in my case, given the fact my file is PNG already which is a lossless compression.

[Tjoek]

@P@nther:

@2Huskies:

I’ve never printed a game map before, but I am excited to start doing this, starting with Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition. With this file, if printed on vinyl at about 3 ft by 6 ft there anything I should know or processes I should take to get a clean, clear print?

This size can be achieved without modifying the pixel count and without quality effects simply by scaling: enhance dpi from 150 to 250.
While keeping the pixels at 17776x9162 this - when printing with 250 dpi  - results in an image size of 71,1x36,6 inches, so approximately 6x3 ft.

This is an easy task for your image manipulation software.

However, I am not a printing expert - so others hopefully add their knowledge regarding the printing aspects.

You are right P@nther, the files is limited by it’s pixels simply because it’s a scan of the original which has a limited pixel resolution. In this case it was scanned with 400 pixels per inch to keep file size reasonable and be able to enlarge the file to roughly twice the size of the original map.

[Tjoek]

@Nowhere:

Has anyone actually printed this map? Maybe its just me, i dunno, but it seems subdued/pixelated compared to the Adobe Maps of Dedo and Imperious… but i could totally be off base or maybe i need glasses?

At what size do you want to print the file? As per my last response you should be fine around 80 inch wide. But you can easily make a test print of a small portion of the map at the number of pixels per inch you want to go for to see the effects of enlarging the file.

Let me know if it helps if I create a few files of different enlargements that are small enough to print on a standard A4 or Letter page. Then you can see for yourself. Do know that colors will always differ between your home prints and professional print equipment.

[Tjoek]

@Imperious:

I think the minimum DPI should be 300 and to convert to jpeg due to memory issues will make the image unsustainable for any printing. I hope the work can be redone is another format to avoid the pixilation problem.

But you know my map redo is 100% vector, no image loss at any scale!

Imperious Leader, I just looked at your map and to be honest your map is NOT 100% vector. Yes your borders, roundels and country names are vector and will be crisp and clear no matter the size it’s being printed in. But the background of the countries is still a so called raster image just like my map file. To be honest to the community your raster image measures 6074 by 3242 pixels which is far less then mine 17776 by 9162 pixels.

So your map will not scale to any size perfectly, but I have to admit the borders, roundels and names will look more crisp then mine with sizes over twice OOB, due to the vector elements you’ve added. But the background of your countries will not.

[Nowhere Man]

@Tjoek:

@Nowhere:

Has anyone actually printed this map? Maybe its just me, i dunno, but it seems subdued/pixelated compared to the Adobe Maps of Dedo and Imperious… but i could totally be off base or maybe i need glasses?

At what size do you want to print the file? As per my last response you should be fine around 80 inch wide. But you can easily make a test print of a small portion of the map at the number of pixels per inch you want to go for to see the effects of enlarging the file.

Let me know if it helps if I create a few files of different enlargements that are small enough to print on a standard A4 or Letter page. Then you can see for yourself. Do know that colors will always differ between your home prints and professional print equipment.

Due to the limited playing surface we have, we’re looking only to print a map roughly 57" [wide], maintaining aspect ratio… we’d take it to a professional printer for either show floor or outdoor banner vinyl.

Simply looking for something as bright and clear as the OOB map would be fine (but printed so we can roll it up and have a seemless gameplay experience).

Would your map work for this, or would we need something altered or a different map alltogether?

[Tjoek]

That should be no problem, but please wait a few more days for a new file to be released as I’m doing some rework on the colours and brightness of the map. As well as some other small changes that YG asked me to do.

[2Huskies]

@Tjoek:

That should be no problem, but please wait a few more days for a new file to be released as I’m doing some rework on the colours and brightness of the map. As well as some other small changes that YG asked me to do.

Hi Tjoek,
By chance are you planning to do any work as far as enhancing the border colors in the Soviet territories to make them stand out more, which was part of my original request earlier in this thread? If not, I know someone who may be able to help me with his Photoshop software, but I’ll have him wait for the new file at this point. I look forward to seeing the new file and your new enhancements!

[Nowhere Man]

@Tjoek:

That should be no problem, but please wait a few more days for a new file to be released as I’m doing some rework on the colours and brightness of the map. As well as some other small changes that YG asked me to do.

No problem waiting… though you might want to post your new map in the AA50 forum instead of customizations (just make sure to announce it in this thread to)…

By all means, i’ll be waiting.

[Tjoek]

@2Huskies:

Hi Tjoek,
By chance are you planning to do any work as far as enhancing the border colors in the Soviet territories to make them stand out more, which was part of my original request earlier in this thread? If not, I know someone who may be able to help me with his Photoshop software, but I’ll have him wait for the new file at this point. I look forward to seeing the new file and your new enhancements!

Sorry I forgot about your message when the thread went into the quality / resolution discussion. With the colour and contrast corrections I’m currently working on I believe the borders should be more visible so please let me know how the file looks when it’s finished later this week.

[Nowhere Man]

Any chance when you’re done updating the changes to the AA50 map you can pop out a 2nd version with optional corrected roundels for Germany and Italy? It always bothered me they removed the historical emblems those countries used for more PC ones, all the while, we can get the correct roundel control markers from HBG (ty HBG)… I would just love to have my roundels (that our group already has and uses) to actually match what’s on the board… I mean not only did they remove the Fascist Italy roundel, but they replaced Italy’s roundel with Iran’s roundel… how annoying!

Anyways, if it’s possible to have these on a 2nd map option… or perhaps at least make a descent to-scale transparent background PNG with the correct roundel so we can pop it on there ourselves before taking it to the print shop?

Something like what HBG uses would be awesome (if you could be so kind). Our group can’t be the only one that uses these roundels from HBG.

P.S.
I don’t know your country of origin, so if you’re from Germany, you don’t have to explain German law, just pretend I didn’t even ask, I can respect that.

[Tjoek]

@Nowhere:

Any chance when you’re done updating the changes to the AA50 map you can pop out a 2nd version with optional corrected roundels for Germany and Italy? It always bothered me they removed the historical emblems those countries used for more PC ones

Please know that the German roundel is the correct one from an airplane roundel perspective. If you want to display the flag of Germany during the war you’re right about the change.

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts I will create a version with the correct Italian roundel (the black and white one), but personally I don’t feel much for adding the German flag on the board. Simply because in my opinion the symbol should be left in the past. Furthermore it’s the flag and in my opinion you should change the other nations to their flags as well and it’s easy enough to add to my map file yourself.

BTW I’m not from Germany, but the Netherlands is next to it.  :lol:

[Tjoek]

I’ve finished colour balancing the first map file which still contained to much red and green and looked a little dull.

At the same time I’ve done two important changes suggested by Young Grasshopper and his print shop:

• I’ve added a white boarder to the map, which was a great suggestion from Young Grasshopper. This helps when cutting the map after printing so that you can be sure nothing of the real map has been cut off. The boarder is 1/4 inch wide when printing the map on 400dpi.

• I’ve slightly filtered the map file to reduce the scanning noise and enhance the textures on the map

The link in my original post now points to the new file, but to give you a comparison between the two versions, see the smaller images below.

Please let me know what you think of this colour enhanced version!

[Young Grasshopper]

Fantastic work Tjoek… sincerely an amazing contribution to the community.