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Building maps with modular props


Josh

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blog-0427347001401635875.jpgThe beta branch on Steam is updated with a new build.

Fixes and Enhancements

The camera movement options have been made more sane. The range of possible values is a little more practical now. A mouse smoothing option has been added that makes the camera motion in the perspective viewport feel a lot more smooth and natural. I also found a bug that caused the camera move speed to change when a map was loaded. It was an annoyance that was almost unnoticeable but it feels much better now.

 

The editor is also using a different garbage collection mode. I believe this fixes the problems some people were having with memory allocation during some operations.

 

The Leadwerks Workshop on Steam is almost ready to open. A "Workshop" menu has been added for easier access to this functionality.

Mapping and Modular Props

While preparing content for the Workshop, I dug into my old backups disks looking for models and textures we could use. From Leadwerks 2 we got "The Zone", a huge pack of buildings, structures, and props inspired by the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series:

 

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Going further back to the days of 3D World Studio, I found a set of industrial props that look a lot like something you would find in Counter Strike Source. With the aid of Macklebee, we imported a bunch of items into Leadwerks 3.1. By adding normal maps, many items are quite usable still today. Here are a few samples:

 

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My favorite items are the modular model sets, like these chain link fence segments. They are sized and oriented so they will easily line up in your map perfectly along the power-of-two grid lines:

 

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These pipe pieces can be dragged into the scene and made into interesting configurations with just a few clicks. They are sized precisely so you don't have to worry about lining them up exactly, you just pop them into the scene and they work:

 

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I love this kind of stuff because you can easily drag some pieces into the scene and make something of your own, without a lot of effort. The best is when pieces just line up magically without you really thinking about it. For example, I decided to try building a chain link fence around a large electrical tower. Because the tower was sized precisely, I was able to line up fence pieces that exactly matched the dimensions of the tower base:

 

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Getting a chance to play with all these props again reminded me of why I got into game development in the first place. Building your own map is like having an infinite supply of digital Legos that never run out, plus you can run around inside your creation and fight monsters, race cars, or do anything you want. How is that not the most awesome thing ever? I'll be writing some guidelines on modeling modular props so that it's easy for the map designer to use them like this, and in the future I think more of the items we supply will be designed to be used like this.

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Modular design even on level making instead of BSP; has many advantages and this is the way to go also in industry.

http://blog.joelburgess.com/2013/04/skyrims-modular-level-design-gdc-2013.html

 

3D packs you buy are also modular like rocks pack for exterior that you assemble to create infinite rocky terrain variation, same for modular buidings.

 

WorkflowModularBuilding2.jpg

 

WorkflowModularBuilding.jpg

 

 

You UV and texture only one time each modular piece, than duplicate as many as you want to create some building.

 

Arteria 3D example :

MedModularPreOrderPromoB_1024x1024.jpg?v=1388592561

 

 

 

Other example :

modular_building_wip_by_julienjulien-d391m52.jpg

 

 

About optimisation :

Better have some "merge" models function to be able to merge assembled models as one model in the editor , so you'll have one draw call instead of several per object.

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Those are some nice models, but I like having the CSG brushes because they allow you to make new areas without being dependent on an artist to build every single piece for you. If those models were made as windows, doors, and trim pieces that aligned to a power-of-two grid, you would be able to create new things instead of just arranging different sections.

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Modular assets for exterior can be made if you have a 3D artist on the team, or if you buy 3D modular packs. Indeed for non modelers BSP can be a way, Sketchup also have world UV mapping like BSP and it is as easy. Could they be made from BSP program or a modeler, modular stuff is the way to go ;)

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YouGroove, it can have uv mapping and it did, 3d world studio (past Leadworks product) has it, Valves Hammer has it, 3d Game Studio has it, Sledge Editor has it (open source), Runtime World editor (open source) has it. So telling me csg cant have uv mapping when it quite obviously has been demonstrated that it can is a blatantly false claim.

 

Hammer demonstrates that you can indeed manipulate the vertex of a csg to have complex models. You can even export them as a model. I would use Hammer on my Leadworks projects, but there is obviously a file format barrier that takes some effort to go around.

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Right, with just a couple of features the CSG mapping in Leadwerks will be capable of more. If you already know how to make all your models in Blender or another program, it's fine to do it that way, but this is designed for people who aren't necessarily expert artists.

 

UV mapping with constructive solid geometry tends to be quite a lot simpler. In Leadwerks this can be done by selecting a face and then you can just align the texture to an edge, center it, stretch it over a face, etc. It's a really fast way to get your UV mapping adjusted properly in the places it needs it.

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Building your own map is like having an infinite supply of digital Legos that never run out, plus you can run around inside your creation and fight monsters, race cars, or do anything you want. How is that not the most awesome thing ever?
It is the most awesome thing ever!!!! Keep up the good work.
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