Creating a deckplan

Starting a deckplan

Click New $image\ebx_850623066.gif$

Select Cosmographer Deckplan, and choose a suitably sized Cosmographer template.

Click on the "Clear here to set ship name" to enter a name for your ship.

Drawing the Hull

To make sure you are on the HULL sheet, click HULL at the bottom of the template, or go to Cosmographer Menu >> Active Deck >> Hull.

Click Hull $image\hull16.gif$ to use the default hull drawing tool, or pick a color and use one of the other Hull drawing tools.

If you prefer, you can create a hull shape using drawing buttons, then click Apply Fill to Selection $image\changedt16.gif$

Drawing each deck

Pick a Deck

The hull remains visible because it is useful to see the outline it provides. You can turn off the hull at any time by clicking Dialog and then clicking the H in the box next to Hull.

Floorplan

The Deck Surfaces tools are for making prettier deckplans. You need to outline these with hand-drawn bulkheads. Use Cosmographer Menu >> Textures >> Hide Deck Textures when they’re not needed.

Interiors

To work on interiors, it is often preferable to drop to a lower snap value. Go to Snaps > Grid Settings then edit the one that appears. Change the # of snaps to 4 or 8. Any factor of 2 works best here (2, 4, 8, 16, etc).

Pick a deck to work on from the indicator at the bottom of the map.
Choose a color for the deckplan floor.

Click Deckplan $image\deck16.gif$ to use the default deckplan fill, or right click to see a selection.

$image\ebx_827606966.gif$ Passageways

$image\ebx_1565056515.gif$ Up and Down

$image\ebx_451950349.gif$ Wall Features

$image\ebx_-948025645.gif$ Command Stations

$image\ebx_-884779364.gif$ Engineering Systems

$image\ebx_-360065086.gif$ Weapon Systems

$image\ebx_-947935871.gif$ Pipes and Cables

$image\ebx_-339785159.gif$ Furniture

$image\ebx_53645052.gif$ Medical Systems

$image\ebx_-1330711214.gif$ Cargo

$image\ebx_-1948978785.gif$ Personal Items

$image\ebx_476079361.gif$ Space Geomorphs

Adding Symbols

Click deckplan symbol buttons, and add appropriate symbols.

Connecting Symbols

You can spot connecting symbols because they have a "C" in the symbol window.

$image\ebx_1338070109.gif$

Connecting deck symbols are generally based around a 5’ grid, so enable 5’ grid before using.

Where appropriate, there are end pieces and "join" junction symbols before or after the connecting symbol.

Ari’s Neighborhood by Allyn Bowker

Ari’s Neighborhood was created using City Designer 2 city tile symbols that were edited from their original version using the techniques described in Converting an Existing Symbol to Shaded Varicolor on page 75.

Cosmographer Pro introduces connecting symbols. These are symbols that automatically join together to create complex objects.

Passageways $image\ebx_827606966.gif$ contains connecting deck symbols for ramps, access-ways, walkways, corridors, railings. Corridors come in two varieties – curved or square bends.
Pipes and cables $image\ebx_-947935871.gif$ contains pipes, cables, bulkhead fittings.
Weapons $image\ebx_-360065086.gif$ contains torpedo and missile tubes.

The Engineering Conduits draw tool $image\conduits16.gif$ can be combined with Engineering Systems $image\engineering1-16.gif$ symbols to create power networks