Mission Editor Wishlist (1.0.1)
by Dusty Monk · in Torque 3D Professional · 03/02/2010 (8:38 am) · 3 replies
My project is tied with afx, so haven't moved past 1.0.1 yet. Apologies in advance if the following things have been fixed and/or resolved. I did do a search, but couldn't find evidence of these issues. Just some basic mission editor quality of life issues:
1.) Need a way to drop objects at the center of selection. Will the "Drop Location" options be returning to the Mission Editor? In building my level in TGEA these were extremely useful, especially the "Centroid" option. This allowed me to have a newly created component placed at the exact same location as my currently selected component. I could then slide the new component along a single axis to easily align the objects with each other. Very useful for creating highways, roads, anything that requires many copies of a shape aligned exactly togther.
2.) When "Snap to Terrain" is turned on, objects do not snap to terrain when they are initially placed. They are place in some arbitrary point in space, and you have to move them manually once before they snap to terrain. Would like objects to drop to the terrain when "snap to terrain" is turned on and I create a new object.
3.) Objects created through "cut & paste" do not go into the currently selected open group. This is maddening for creating paths. Even after setting the path to "default group" (by alt-clicking it), when cut & pasting a new marker it goes into the mission at large. If you have over 500 objects in your mission, and it goes to the bottom of the list, this becomes problematic. Note - this is another case where I would like the newly created object to appear in the exact same location as the currently selected object.
4.) Gizmo Axis do not move after an object's position have been changed manually. If you select an object, and then type in a new position in the object's position field, and hit enter, the object moves, but the gizmo axis remain in the old location. Worse, if you touch the gizmo while in translate mode, the object will move back to the gizmo's location. To work around, you must shift to rotate mode, rotate the object slightly (snapping the gizmoe to the object's new location), and then return the object to its original rotation.
5.) Would like to have terrain-height parameters associated with terrain material. The terrain-height limiters in the terrain painter are extremely useful. But they would be even more useful if they could be associated with the terrain material. Typical terrain material usage is "some materials for grass", "some materials for mountains", "some materials for slopes of mountaints", etc. So you typically want something like "0 - 4 meters for grass, 4 - 10 meters for slopes, 10+ meters for mountains". Right now materials can't keep track of the height's they're associated with, which means you have to manually reset those heights each time you change materials. Would love a checkbox that says "assign these heights to this material" and then whenver I selected that material, it put those heights back in those fields.
Again, apologies if these things are fixed in beta 5.
Thanks in advance!! :)
Dusty Monk
Windstorm Studios
1.) Need a way to drop objects at the center of selection. Will the "Drop Location" options be returning to the Mission Editor? In building my level in TGEA these were extremely useful, especially the "Centroid" option. This allowed me to have a newly created component placed at the exact same location as my currently selected component. I could then slide the new component along a single axis to easily align the objects with each other. Very useful for creating highways, roads, anything that requires many copies of a shape aligned exactly togther.
2.) When "Snap to Terrain" is turned on, objects do not snap to terrain when they are initially placed. They are place in some arbitrary point in space, and you have to move them manually once before they snap to terrain. Would like objects to drop to the terrain when "snap to terrain" is turned on and I create a new object.
3.) Objects created through "cut & paste" do not go into the currently selected open group. This is maddening for creating paths. Even after setting the path to "default group" (by alt-clicking it), when cut & pasting a new marker it goes into the mission at large. If you have over 500 objects in your mission, and it goes to the bottom of the list, this becomes problematic. Note - this is another case where I would like the newly created object to appear in the exact same location as the currently selected object.
4.) Gizmo Axis do not move after an object's position have been changed manually. If you select an object, and then type in a new position in the object's position field, and hit enter, the object moves, but the gizmo axis remain in the old location. Worse, if you touch the gizmo while in translate mode, the object will move back to the gizmo's location. To work around, you must shift to rotate mode, rotate the object slightly (snapping the gizmoe to the object's new location), and then return the object to its original rotation.
5.) Would like to have terrain-height parameters associated with terrain material. The terrain-height limiters in the terrain painter are extremely useful. But they would be even more useful if they could be associated with the terrain material. Typical terrain material usage is "some materials for grass", "some materials for mountains", "some materials for slopes of mountaints", etc. So you typically want something like "0 - 4 meters for grass, 4 - 10 meters for slopes, 10+ meters for mountains". Right now materials can't keep track of the height's they're associated with, which means you have to manually reset those heights each time you change materials. Would love a checkbox that says "assign these heights to this material" and then whenver I selected that material, it put those heights back in those fields.
Again, apologies if these things are fixed in beta 5.
Thanks in advance!! :)
Dusty Monk
Windstorm Studios
About the author
Dusty Monk is founder and president of Windstorm Studios, an independant game studio. Formerly a sr. programmer at Ensemble Studios, Dusty has worked on AAA titles such as Age of Empires II & III, and Halo Wars.
#2
Excellent! Sorry for the ignorance. I looked under Editor Settings.. I looked under Editors.. just never under Objects..
Now that I found that option, just some additional observations. It would appear that at least in creating new objects, whether you have drop location set to "terrain", or set to "centroid", the same thing happens.. the item is dropped at the intersection of the camera's view ray and the terrain. This was not what I expected.
If you "Drop Selection" though, if "centroid" is selected as drop location, nothing happens. If "terrain" is chosen as drop location, the item is placed on the terrain at it's current location.
I think at this point I'm not entirely sure what the intended behavior is here, and whether or not "Drop Location" is intended to also define the behaviour of newly created objects, as well as objects that you "drop" using the "Drop Selection" command, and of those behaviors are supposed to be the same in both situations. In either event, just having the ability to place objects at the intersection of the camera and the terrain again is immensely helpful, so thanks!
One other Wish List Item
6.) An option to return the selected object grid to correct z-ordering when being rendered. I didn't realize how much I used the grid for object placment guidance until it stopped being obscured by the terrain and objects around it. I know this is probably a religious issue for some C.D's and there is no "right" preference here. But if that functionality could be provided as an option (or perhaps it already is, but again I've just failed to locate it?) it would be extremely useful.
Thanks!
Dusty Monk
Windstorm Studios
03/02/2010 (12:09 pm)
Quote:
1)
This is still available under "Object -> Drop Location".
Excellent! Sorry for the ignorance. I looked under Editor Settings.. I looked under Editors.. just never under Objects..
Now that I found that option, just some additional observations. It would appear that at least in creating new objects, whether you have drop location set to "terrain", or set to "centroid", the same thing happens.. the item is dropped at the intersection of the camera's view ray and the terrain. This was not what I expected.
If you "Drop Selection" though, if "centroid" is selected as drop location, nothing happens. If "terrain" is chosen as drop location, the item is placed on the terrain at it's current location.
I think at this point I'm not entirely sure what the intended behavior is here, and whether or not "Drop Location" is intended to also define the behaviour of newly created objects, as well as objects that you "drop" using the "Drop Selection" command, and of those behaviors are supposed to be the same in both situations. In either event, just having the ability to place objects at the intersection of the camera and the terrain again is immensely helpful, so thanks!
One other Wish List Item
6.) An option to return the selected object grid to correct z-ordering when being rendered. I didn't realize how much I used the grid for object placment guidance until it stopped being obscured by the terrain and objects around it. I know this is probably a religious issue for some C.D's and there is no "right" preference here. But if that functionality could be provided as an option (or perhaps it already is, but again I've just failed to locate it?) it would be extremely useful.
Thanks!
Dusty Monk
Windstorm Studios
#3
Number 4 looks like a bug, and the guys are hunting them this days, you'll do good in creating a new thread for it, as bug report.
03/02/2010 (7:10 pm)
Good points, it looks like you are giving good use to the new editors!Number 4 looks like a bug, and the guys are hunting them this days, you'll do good in creating a new thread for it, as bug report.
Associate Rene Damm
1)
This is still available under "Object -> Drop Location".
3)
Yep, really should do that. Checked this in couple of minutes ago. Goes into next release. Pasted objects are then dropped into the current add group (ALT-click or right-click and "Add New Objects Here").