HMMS Documentation - Using Hugin

Accounts & Instances

Hugin is designed to support multiple users, each with their own private games. To that end, a single Hugin installation manages multiple "instances," or separate battlemaps. Each instance is isolated, and can have access rights restricted to specific users. Users are required to log in in order to use Hugin -- however, logging in without a username logs the user in anonymously. New user accounts may be created freely from the login screen. After logging in, a list of each instance accessible to the user is displayed. Users can create new instances, manage existing instances, or just start using an instance.

Implementation Notes

User management tools beyond account cretion have not been implemented yet.
Per-IP and similar administrative management tools have not been implemented yet.

Battlemap

Most interactions with Hugin take place on the battlemap. The battlemap is a 2-dimensional grid that may be scrolled infinitely in any direction. Users may placeand move miniatures around on the battlemap, as well as draw, or interact with it in (nearly) any way that one might interact with a physical whiteboard/battlemap. The battlemap interface has the following features:

Battlemap Grid
Miniatures
Tool Panel
Menu Bar
Grid Coordinates

Miniatures

Miniatures are placed on the battlemap by dragging them out of the miniatures window and onto the battlemap. The miniatures window can be opened from the Windows menu. Miniatures can be added to the miniatures window by clicking on the Add Miniature button. You must specify a complete URL to the image file to be used; Hugin does not currently support uploading miniatures. It is possible to delete a miniature by clicking on the Delete Miniature button after first selecting a miniature. Double-clicking on a miniature on the battlemap brings up the miniature options window for that miniature. Available options include miniature size (sizes available correspond to standard d20 size categories), miniature name (the name appears in the lower right-hand corner of the miniature, and an option to delete the miniature from the battlemap. All miniatures may be deleted from the battlemap by selecting Delete Miniatures from the Cleanup menu.

Tools

Tools may be selected from the Tool Panel. Options for the currently selected tool are displayed below the tools themselves.

Move (Hand) Tool

The move tool moves the battlemap; The battlemap may be moved infinitely far in any direction. The hand tool has no additional options.

Drawing Tools

The following tools allow users to draw directly on the battlemap. As indicated below, some of these tools use a thickness/brush size option, and some use a color option.

Eraser: Free draw to erase portions of a drawing. Options: Adjust eraser size
Pencil: Free draw lines on the battlemap. Options: Adjust line thickness, Adjust line color.
Line: Draw a line between two points on the battlemap. Options: Adjust line thickness, Adjust line color.
Spray: Free draw regions of color on the battlemap. Options: Adjust brush size, Adjust fill color.
Square: Draw a filled square on the battlemap. Options: Adjust fill color.
Circle: Draw a filled circle on the battlemap. Options: Adjust fill color.

All drawings on the battlemap may be erased by selecting Erase Whiteboard from the Cleanup menu.

Measurement Tool

The measurement tool allows users to mark out regions of the battlemap and share these regions with other users. The type of region is selected as a tool option. Available region types include:

Line: A point-to-point line with a width of precisely 1 square. Note that this does NOT meet the d20 definition of a line.
Circle: All grid squares contained within a fixed radius of a specified grid intersection, counting diagonal movement as 1.5 squares. This meets the d20 definition of a circular region.
Cone: All grid squares contained in a cone angled in any of the 8 cardinal directions. This meets the d20 definition of a conical region.

One zone may be placed at a time. Once a zone has been placed, its color may be changed, and it may be shared with other users by assigning the zone a name and clicking on the Share button on the toolbar. Shared zones appear in the shared zones window, which may be opened in the Windows menu. Here, zones may be deleted, renamed, or selected -- selecting a zone highlights it on the battlemap.

Backdrops

Battlemaps saved as graphics files (GIF,PNG,JPG,etc...) may be imported and displayed via the Backdrops window in the Windows menu. Choose "Create Backdrop..." or double-click on an existing backdrop in the list to open the backdrop editor. In the editor, you may adjust the scaling and placement of the battlemap. Note that the x and y offsets are given in terms of battlemap squares (e.g., to place the upper-left corner of the backdrop at the upper-left corner of square (12,3), set the x-offset to 12 and the y-offset to 3).

Fog of war has not yet been implemented, but drawing tools are applied on top of backdrops. We suggest using a black rectangle and the eraser tool in the meantime.

Save/Restore

The Save/Restore window can be accessed through the Windows menu. Here, users can save copies of existing map layouts -- minis, whiteboard, zones, and other map properties for future use. Restoring state will overwrite everything: all miniatures, whiteboard drawings, etc... will be replaced with the saved version.

Initiative Tracker

The Initiative Tracker is a utility designed to support the d20 combat system by allowing users to roll, modify, and keep track of a combat's initiative order. The initiative tracker module may be accessed from the Windows menu.