Symbols in CC3+ comes with a lot of advanced functionality beyond simply placing down an icon in your map. One of of the entries on that list is symbol attributes.

Symbol attributes are text entities that are embedded into the symbol, but allow the user to set their value when placing the symbol. This allows a single symbol to have a kind of dynamic content. this can be used for many purposes; one of the more common one is for scale bars. By default, most scale bars in CC3+ are designed to be 100 miles or feet long. But instead of hard-coding the number 100 in the symbol, the scale bars use attributes, so if you need a shorter scale bar, you can just place it at 0.5 scale and type 50 as the attribute value. This means you only need to define a single symbol, and it can be used for multiple scales, instead of having a small fixed set with common values. The text you enter becomes part of the symbol, so it will follow along if you move the symbol around.

Other uses for attributes are placeable signs with user-defined text, modern military unit counters with identification text, and much more.

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Do you think cities, towns and villages are not enough to adequately depict the glory and splendour of an alien hive civilization? So do we! So Mike has drawn more structures from temples and workshops to brood halls and ruins and we’ve done a second set of hive settlements from them. We hope you enjoy them.

To download the latest free symbols go to your registration page and on the Downloads tab, click the download button for Campaign Cartographer 3 Plus. Mike’s new symbols are the last link in the list. All the content of the current year (January to October 2024 so far) is included in the one download.

You can always check the available monthly content on our dedicated page.

Do strange and alien civilizations exist in the lands you are mapping? Do hives of insectoid creatures dot the wasteland of your world? Then use this month’s free symbols by Mike Schley to put them on the map!

To download the latest free symbols go to your registration page and on the Downloads tab, click the download button for Campaign Cartographer 3 Plus. Mike’s new symbols are the last link in the list. All the content of the current year (January to October 2024 so far) is included in the one download.

You can always check the available monthly content on our dedicated page.

Previously in this series, we have developed a set of tiles which we can use to build a space station of any size. Sure, more variation would have been nice, but the four tiles we made are actually enough for any size space station, as long as we accept that it has to be shaped like a rectangle. The previous articles should have given you the information needed to make more tiles though, such as making an inner corner to complete the set and allow for a more complex shape.

Last time, we did look at how to export and print the tiles. Printed tiles could be assembled on the fly at the gaming table, while the exported images are great for combining in just about any program, like an image editor, a Virtual TableTop, or even CC3+ itself. And this is what we will be focusing on in this article, how to use the tiles in CC3+. There are two options here, either we can import the images we exported as symbols and use those, or, instead of exporting our tiles in the first place, we could create symbols directly from the tiles themselves. This latter option gives us some interesting options we will look at in the next installment, but today, we’ll look at creating bitmap symbols.

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Mike Schley continues on his trip around the world and through the ages with the latest set of free monthly symbols. This time we stop in Mesoamerica with symbols depicting the iconic temples and plazas of those cultures. Marvel at their cities and towns and gape at the beauty of their architecture.

To download the latest free symbols go to your registration page and on the Downloads tab, click the download button for Campaign Cartographer 3 Plus. Mike’s new symbols are the last link in the list. All the content of the current year (January to August 2024 so far) is included in the one download.

You can always check the available monthly content on our dedicated page.

You thought last month’s Viking-style symbols were great, but you wanted more? No worries, we’ve got you covered! Mike Schley has drawn longships, workplaces, holy sites, towers and great halls for you to embellish your maps with.

To download the latest free symbols go to your registration page and on the Downloads tab, click the download button for Campaign Cartographer 3 Plus. Mike’s new symbols are the last link in the list. All the content of the current year (January to July 2024 so far) is included in the one download.

You can always check the available monthly content on our dedicated page.

From the Far East we travel into the Utmost North with the latest free symbols by Mike Schley. Here are thriving settlements from walled cities and towns to single farms and huts, from which merchants and raiders may set forth on long sea journeys in their longships and knorrs to bring back the riches of the south, east and west.

To download the free content go to your registration page and on the Downloads tab, click the download button for Campaign Cartographer 3 Plus. Mike’s new symbols are the last link in the list. All the content of the current year (January to June 2024 so far) is included in the one download.

You can always check the available monthly content on our dedicated page.

When you start a new map in CC3+, you’ll find that there is normally 20 or so sheets in a map. One of the main reasons of these is to ensure the correct drawing order, that symbols goes atop the floor and not below it and the floor goes atop the background terrain, and so on. Most tools will select the appropriate sheet automatically to ensure things goes where they are supposed without the user having to micro manage everything.

Obviously, these sheets are named so their purpose is understandable by people so you can know what their purpose is, but there is also some interesting tricks when it comes to sheet naming that can be used with the tools. This is something to keep in mind when you create your own sheets, as following the appropriate way of naming can help greatly.

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The monthly symbols by Mike Schley have been very popular and of course we continue this tradition into the new year. From the isometric city symbols we return to artwork for overland maps for a while, with a fiery first collection of volcanic symbols.

20 new symbols depict active and dormant volcanoes both for land-bound mountain ranges and volcanic peaks rising directly out of the sea, as well as lava pools and fiery chasms leading down into the bosom of the earth.

To download the free content go to your registration page and on the Downloads tab, click the download button for Campaign Cartographer 3 Plus. Mike’s new symbols are the last link in the list. All the content of the current year (only January 2024 so far) is included in the one download.

You can always check the available monthly content on our dedicated page.

Perhaps it’s not a siege that is damaging your city, but a disaster like a great fire? And you want to show the conflagration as it is happening? Then these latest free fire and smoke symbols will come in handy!
20 new symbols depict flames and smoke as they rise towards and darken the skies above. Done for the Isometric Cities style, they can just as well be used on an overland map in the Mike Schley style.

The example maps included with this free content make use of Symbol Set 6 to showcase the symbols in proper surroundings. If you don’t have SS6 installed, you won’t see these, but you can still use the symbols on other maps. Symbol Set 6 – Isometric Cities is available for purchase here.

To download the free content go to your registration page and on the Downloads tab, click the download button for Campaign Cartographer 3 Plus. Mike’s new symbols are the last link in the list. All the content of year two up to and including July 2023 is included in the one download.

You can always check the available monthly content on our dedicated page.