ID:1673525
 
(See the best response by Pirion.)
The post I'm referring to can be found here: http://www.byond.com/forum/?post=1620724

I really found this Snippet useful, but I don't quite understand Ter13's explanation of an "atlas."

"...Use an atlas, ya dingus!

What you want to do, is paint an atlas on your map somewhere, that you can drag around with you while you work. Here's mine..."

Could someone explain to me how exactly an atlas works, and how to "paint" one on my map?

It looks to me like on his atlas, there are rather large turf objects. Am I to understand that by using the technique he describes, I can place multi-tiled objects on the map with essentially one click?

Any clarifications would be greatly appreciated.
Best response
This is the atlas:



You create the icons that you're going to use on the map and place them in an empty area (close you where you're working). You can then select all these tiles and move them by dragging them as you change your work area.

With it, you can copy specific pieces from it (using ctrl+c, ctrl+p) and retain all settings from those instances. You can copy multiple turfs at the same time or single turfs from this atlas.

Pretty much it saves you from having to look through the instances/trees of each node to find the tiles you're working with.
In response to Pirion
Don't forget the Ctrl+Shift+Left Click shortcut that Ter13 mentioned that will make the object you click be the object you are now painting with. Essentially like clicking it in the object tree, but you're just taking it off the map instead.
It's not one big icon, it's a bunch of individual tiles.

You can place large icons on the map with one click, but generally this isn't used for turfs. There's no automatic turf joining in the map editor, which is why Ter's atlas is necessary.
Wow, now I understand. Thanks guys!

I'm glad I read/learned about this now, as opposed to after having spent days/weeks creating a vast world.