Properties Dialog
Entry posted by Josh ·
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After putting together a pretty complete model of how the logic editor would work, I found myself unsatisfied with the properties dialog. I originally intended to make a standard properties dialog that opened in a separate window, with "OK", "Cancel", and "Apply" buttons. However, the logic editor and properties dialog were both being opened in separate windows that were a child of the main window, with no strict draw order between the two of them. I found it confusing to select an entity in the logic editor, and then have to go to a separate window to modify its properties.
I tried moving the properties dialog into the scene browser panel, in the side panel on the right. There was a nice big empty space for it, and it looks appropriate.
Normally I do not like interfaces like this because it means the data has to be continuously synced even when you are just editing in the viewports. However, with some clever coding that keeps performance in mind, I think I can get around this problem. It certainly feels a lot simpler to work with. With this many features in the editor, I want to be careful to retain the intuitiveness of programs like 3D World Studio,
Property groups are separated by tabs, which I find to be a lot easier to use than a big vertical stack of properties as high as the screen. It also makes editing faster because I only have to fill in the values of the currently visible properties tab.
I think it also makes sense to open assets in their own window, while modifying object properties in the property dialog embedded in the main window. You will spend more time modifying object properties while editing. Assets are something that only need to be adjusted once in a while, because they should be left alone and reused many times.
The whole properties interface is a class that lets you build an interface, without actually knowing what each control does. The editor entity class has functions to get and set property strings, which can include position, rotation, and other basic stuff. It's quite nice because it allows me to add lots of new properties without having to hard-code any dialogs.
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