Technique: Windows
Wherein I teach you a technique for adding windows to your battlemaps.
Buildings get dreary if there isn’t any way for light to enter their rooms. Add some windows!
This post describes a technique for adding windows to walls for use in battlemaps. Windows are constructed with multiple layers: the walls, the windows themselves, and the window sill at a minimum, and there’s a gradient to design to apply on the windows.
How to Add Windows in Walls
- Figure out where you want to put your window.
- Make a hole in it (see Photoshop Shapes and the Pen for how to do this).
- Create a new layer called “Windows” above the Walls layer.
- Draw the shape of your window using the Rectangle Tool. Set its color to something light (
#dddddd ). Don’t set the window all the way to the edge and make sure it’s much thinner than the walls. - Create a new layer below the Walls layer and call it “Lower Wall”.
- Using the Rectangle tool, draw a shape that reconnects the walls below the window. Give it the same color as your walls (probably also
#222222 ). - Apply the same style to Lower Wall that you did to Walls.
- Edit the layer effects on Lower Wall and add a Color Overlay thus: Color:
#222222 , Blend Mode: Multiply, Opacity: 50%. - Apply a Gradient Overlay to the Window layer:
- Set the Blend Mode to Color
- Set the Opacity to 55%
- Set the Style to Linear
- Set the Angle to 90 degrees
- Set the Scale to something around 25%.
- Enable “Align with Layer”.
- Double click on the Gradient to edit it thus:
- Set the color on both ends to a light blue (
#9ccaf4 ). - Set the opacity on both ends to 0%.
- Click anywhere on the Opacity side of the gradient editor and add a new opacity point at a Location of 25%. Set it’s opacity value to 100%.
- Do this again but set the Location to 75%.
- Click “Okay”
- Set the color on both ends to a light blue (
- Click on the Window layer and drag the gradient to where you want it to be while the Layer Styles dialog is still open.
- Duplicate the Gradient Overlay a couple more times and drag them into place. Feel free to play with the opacity of the Gradient Overlay.
- Lower the fill opacity of the Window layer to 60%.
- Add a Stroke: 1 pixel inside,
#222222 set to Multiply at 60% opacity.
That’s pretty much all there is to it. You can get fancier with it (add hinges, handles, moulding, etc.) or change the way the walls draw away from it.
