Hello all!
A recent Roll20 update included a new integration for Universal Virtual Tabletop (UVTT) importing! If you are (like me) just now discovering UVTT files, they're effectively a way of allowing mapmaking programs (like dungeondraft!) to export map images alongside foundational scene information for VTT like walls, doors, windows, and light sources.
This is so very exciting to me because:
a) I'm historically not the best at setting up scenes in virtual tabletop and am hesitant to take time to learn new platforms
b) but I know how to use dungeondraft!
c) the universal quality of this file type means they can be used in Roll20, Foundry, and other tabletop platforms with minimal accessory prep work
I have already developed the UVTT files for the example maps from Furniture Assets 6-10 and patrons are free to download them here:
Furniture Assets 6 Example Map UVTT
Furniture Assets 7 Example Map UVTT
Furniture Assets 8 Example Map UVTT
I would love it if you could:
confirm for me that these work for you (installation instructions below)
provide any feedback you may have
let me know if there's any functions in UVTT that I'm not taking advantage of! As far as I know it covers only walls, doors, windows, and lights, but would love to take full advantage of anything else!
UVTT Installation Instructions
Roll20
Due to the aforementioned new update, all you need do is click on the 'Page Menu' (folder icon in the top right) while inside your game and the above submenu will drop down. Select "Upload Background", select the UVTT file, a voilà! The map and its accompanying scene information will automatically import into your pages, ready to go.
Note: from what I can tell, DD's lights automatically import with a 'color' ascribed to their light that doesn't always play nicely with Roll20's interface. If you are getting any rainbow-colored rings around the lights, double click the light, scroll to the bottom of its subpage that appears, and make sure the light color is set to 'transparent'.
Foundry
Foundry requires one extra step beforehand, but afterwards the upload process per-file is much like Roll20's:
In the "add-on modules" tab on Foundry's initial set-up portal, click "install modules"
In the window that pops up, search for the "Universal Battlemap Importer" module (by Moo Man, m42e, and jacquie!)
After installing, launch your game world and under Game Settings > Manage Modules you'll need to activate the newly installed "Universal Battlemap Importer" module
Once activated, when you go to your Scenes tab, you should see a "Universal Battlemap Importer" button at the bottom. Clicking that will launch a subwindow within which you can select the UVTT file.
From my experience thus far, no further tweaking of the settings in that subwindow are necessary, simply uploading the UVTT file will do all the legwork for you
Assuming I'm not overlooking some glaring disadvantage of this tactic and these are well-received by you fine folks, I can envision this quickly becoming my new norm for battle map preparation in VTT.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, enjoy!