Hi David,
Thanks for the introduction and welcome!

Question #1:
AutoREALM treats overlays different than most programs. Instead of
being physical layers (like transparencies, such as Photoshop), they're
logical ones. In hind sight, overlay was a poor choice of terminology
because it is too overloaded, but I didn't really think it through
clearly (obviously). And there's precious little that explains how best
to use them.

The best way to think about it is that every object in the map can be
part of any overlay. So, if you want different "views" of the same map,
it's easy to do that by creating some sets of objects that belong in
some view and not others. As an example: you want several DM maps, one
explicitly for the DM (show everything), one for the players as they
encounter a region (show the towns and little else), one for the players
after they discover a map at a tavern (showing location of secret
stuff). Make four overlays, and place the groups of things in those
overlays depending on what you want to show for each of those
"submaps". The overlay control panel gives you control to add/delete
overlays, place objects in a specific overlay, and hide (or freeze)
features of each overlay.

Hope that helps.

Question #2:
Honestly, I've lost track about where you'd be likely to find a horde of
symbols. Maybe someone else can contribute here. (AR doesn't take up
but a fraction of my time these days...)

--Andy Gryc



> I have a couple of questions, though.
>
> #1 - AR's use of overlays seems to fulfill the role of layers in CC2,
> but in a completely different way that has me baffled. Can someone
> give me a sort of overview on overlays?
>




> #2 - I've found the symbol libraries in the Vault, but is there
> anywhere else good to check out? Same goes for sample maps.
>
>
>
>



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