Gotta say...
by Mitovo · in Constructor · 04/08/2014 (9:05 am) · 7 replies
Though I know it's an older program, intended for versions of Torque that are no longer (officially) supported - for what it's worth - the folks who put Constructor together did some awesome work.
I'm still using it in my "tinkerings and such" with TGEA, and it's a joy to use. Where I find some editors overly-cumbersome to use (Id's 'Radiant' program, for example), or just plain frustrating, obtuse and far too complicated to even set up correctly (QuARK), Constructor is actually *fun*. It's rare to find a 3D world creation/editing tool whose interface and tools was built by people who seem to have thought of just about everything a world builder might need, and then implemented it. So far, anything I've wanted to accomplish, Constructor has provided a way to do.
Getting the assets into the engine is a breeze. Click "Export As TGEA DIF". Add it from the asset window in TGEA. Re-Light the scene. Done. Awesome. That's how an asset pipeline should be, IMO. As direct and un-muddled as possible.
Again, I know it might seem comical to come here praising this software, given the circumstances, but hey... I like to give credit where it's due. And y'all really crafted a fine piece of software. Is it perfect? Nope. But it does its job better than just about any comparable app I can think of. 3D World Studio from Leadwerks comes close, but it lacks in many features Constructor has.
The only part of it that confuses me is the texture adjustment stuff. All those buttons and such kinda confuse me lol.
I'd go so far as to say if someone had the motivation, it could even be worthwhile to implement a Collada exporter to allow people to create objects and bring them into T3D. I, for one, would choose it over Blender for building structures and things that are otherwise inorganic. It's just so much faster and easier (especially with the direct pipeline being what it is). If I had the programming knowledge or skill, I'd do it myself. But alas.. :(
I know there's the "sketch" tool in T3D, and it's great as a fast, chunky way of placing volumes, etc. But it just doesn't have the functionality. And it's a bit quirky to work with.
So yeah... Just some kudos (better late than never, eh? :p), and perhaps a seed to plant (collada export)...
I'm still using it in my "tinkerings and such" with TGEA, and it's a joy to use. Where I find some editors overly-cumbersome to use (Id's 'Radiant' program, for example), or just plain frustrating, obtuse and far too complicated to even set up correctly (QuARK), Constructor is actually *fun*. It's rare to find a 3D world creation/editing tool whose interface and tools was built by people who seem to have thought of just about everything a world builder might need, and then implemented it. So far, anything I've wanted to accomplish, Constructor has provided a way to do.
Getting the assets into the engine is a breeze. Click "Export As TGEA DIF". Add it from the asset window in TGEA. Re-Light the scene. Done. Awesome. That's how an asset pipeline should be, IMO. As direct and un-muddled as possible.
Again, I know it might seem comical to come here praising this software, given the circumstances, but hey... I like to give credit where it's due. And y'all really crafted a fine piece of software. Is it perfect? Nope. But it does its job better than just about any comparable app I can think of. 3D World Studio from Leadwerks comes close, but it lacks in many features Constructor has.
The only part of it that confuses me is the texture adjustment stuff. All those buttons and such kinda confuse me lol.
I'd go so far as to say if someone had the motivation, it could even be worthwhile to implement a Collada exporter to allow people to create objects and bring them into T3D. I, for one, would choose it over Blender for building structures and things that are otherwise inorganic. It's just so much faster and easier (especially with the direct pipeline being what it is). If I had the programming knowledge or skill, I'd do it myself. But alas.. :(
I know there's the "sketch" tool in T3D, and it's great as a fast, chunky way of placing volumes, etc. But it just doesn't have the functionality. And it's a bit quirky to work with.
So yeah... Just some kudos (better late than never, eh? :p), and perhaps a seed to plant (collada export)...
About the author
#2
But it seems to me they have a solid foundation for a tool there that could very well be expanded/improved on and still used, even in T3D.
Like, a more fleshed out "sketch" tool, with ability to actually save and export objects as collada.
I imagine if the source were available, people could do some great things with it.
I wonder if that was also part of the IA deal though? I don't know what the circumstances around Constructor are. Perhaps, if it's using parts of the original TGE engine code, then it might be complicated to work with.. which would be a bummer.
04/10/2014 (4:52 am)
Indeed. I mean, I speak from the ignorance of a non-programmer, so I don't know how involved it all is, etc. But it seems to me they have a solid foundation for a tool there that could very well be expanded/improved on and still used, even in T3D.
Like, a more fleshed out "sketch" tool, with ability to actually save and export objects as collada.
I imagine if the source were available, people could do some great things with it.
I wonder if that was also part of the IA deal though? I don't know what the circumstances around Constructor are. Perhaps, if it's using parts of the original TGE engine code, then it might be complicated to work with.. which would be a bummer.
#3
04/10/2014 (10:01 am)
Constructor, like TGE and TGEA, use some third party code that prevents it from being able to be released. 
#5
05/19/2014 (3:43 pm)
it's still good. Ideally giving it a few updates in the area of new features would be great. 
#6
05/19/2014 (4:02 pm)
Sure, but I can easily list a dozen other things that would better serve the current engines (both 2D and 3D) than an updated Constructor release. 
#7
05/27/2014 (6:30 pm)
The only update I would like to see to the Constructor is a Collada exporter like Mike mentioned. 
Vincent Ellis