BuildR 1.0 - Create buildings within Unity

Hi Chelnok,
Unfortunately the Asset Store doesn't have the upgrade function yet, though I think it's on their super long list of stuff they want to implement...
As for the forum's subscribe functionality - it's never worked for me...

 

ok, nice to know. I had that kind of hunch ..subscribing is little buggy, but i usually get it to work if i subscribe / unsubscribe couple times.

 

That sounds like a plan - I'll give that a shot - thanks.

 

Sent you an email with the error details.

 

first congrats on the new release. amazing to be able to finally do interiors this brings this asset to a whole new level

i also see you did it in a very easy and intuitive way.

this is a giant game changer for unity

also, please add way to do basements.

also, consider adding starter prefab buildings they can start from and edit from there. its basically a library of done buildings people can tweak.

then please create addon asset that allows for like sewers and subways (basically underground buildings. i guess it can almost be done with this one, just needs tweaking and like new textures and models. more like kind in subways in sewers

also add addons for streets and sidewalks, parks and possible roads, bridges, rivers.

basically this give very nice way to generate maps.

once that is all done can you do character creation and customization next. unity really needs one of those

this would kind of revolutionized the way games are built in unity. right now people have to build and/or license lots of models. this way i could generate them using your tool and addons... all they would need it some texture packages.

with latest release out today i'm having problems placing doors

i guess doors are facades, if so how do you make them cull and indent like windows so it could be opening

im also getting some minor warnings / error messages. mostly when picking textures and scrolling up and down the list while working with facades...

basically i want to create one or more doors for building...

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. The texture you have selected is not readable. Cannot render
3. UnityEngine.Debug:LogWarning(Object)
4. BuildrBuildingDetails:Build(DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterialMesh, BuildrData) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrBuildingDetails.cs:164)
5. BuildrBuildingDetails:Render(DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterialMesh, BuildrData) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrBuildingDetails.cs:43)
6. BuildrEditMode:UpdateDetails() (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:528)
7. BuildrEditMode:UpdateRender(renderModes) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:368)
8. BuildrEditMode:UpdateRender() (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:231)
9. BuildrEditModeEditor:OnInspectorGUI() (at Assets/Buildr/Editor/BuildrEditModeEditor.cs:387)
10. UnityEditor.HostView:OnGUI()
11.  
12.  
13. IndexOutOfRangeException: Array index is out of range.
14. BuildrTexturePacker2.Pack (UnityEngine.Texture2D output, UnityEngine.Texture2D[] data, Int32 maximumSize) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/Utils/BuildrTexturePacker2.cs:223)
15. BuildrBuildingDetails.Build (.DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterialMesh mesh, .BuildrData data) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrBuildingDetails.cs:180)
16. BuildrBuildingDetails.Render (.DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterialMesh mesh, .BuildrData data) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrBuildingDetails.cs:43)
17. BuildrEditMode.UpdateDetails () (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:528)
18. BuildrEditMode.UpdateRender (renderModes _mode) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:368)
19. BuildrEditMode.UpdateRender () (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:231)
20. BuildrEditModeEditor.OnInspectorGUI () (at Assets/Buildr/Editor/BuildrEditModeEditor.cs:387)
21. UnityEditor.InspectorWindow.DrawEditors (Boolean isRepaintEvent, UnityEditor.Editor[] editors, Boolean eyeDropperDirty) (at C:/BuildAgent/work/ea95e74f6e5f192d/Editor/Mono/Inspector/InspectorWindow.cs:888)
22. UnityEditor.HostView:OnGUI()
23.  
24.  
25. The texture you have selected is not readable. Cannot render
26. UnityEngine.Debug:LogWarning(Object)
27. BuildrBuildingDetails:Build(DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterialMesh, BuildrData) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrBuildingDetails.cs:164)
28. BuildrBuildingDetails:Render(DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterialMesh, BuildrData) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrBuildingDetails.cs:43)
29. BuildrEditMode:UpdateDetails() (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:528)
30. BuildrEditMode:UpdateRender(renderModes) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:368)
31. BuildrEditMode:UpdateRender() (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:231)
32. BuildrEditModeEditor:OnInspectorGUI() (at Assets/Buildr/Editor/BuildrEditModeEditor.cs:387)
33. UnityEditor.HostView:OnGUI()
34.  
35.  
36. The texture you have selected is not readable. Cannot render
37. UnityEngine.Debug:LogWarning(Object)
38. BuildrBuildingDetails:Build(DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterialMesh, BuildrData) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrBuildingDetails.cs:164)
39. BuildrBuildingDetails:Render(DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterialMesh, BuildrData) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrBuildingDetails.cs:43)
40. BuildrEditMode:UpdateDetails() (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:528)
41. BuildrEditMode:UpdateRender(renderModes) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:368)
42. BuildrEditMode:UpdateRender() (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:231)
43. BuildrEditModeEditor:OnInspectorGUI() (at Assets/Buildr/Editor/BuildrEditModeEditor.cs:387)
44. UnityEditor.HostView:OnGUI()
45.  

 

What, you can do interiors now. I totally missed that, glad I got this now in the hope that one day it would be introduced.

 

Wow - thanks for letting me know - I was waiting for it to come out but it seems like Unity's email system is on the fritz, so you guys knew before me! Haha.
Glad you guys like the interior generation, there were a few challenges getting it to work well but I'm pretty happy with it. Basements are a fab idea im, consider them added for the next patch (I don't know when that will be though...)
With doors im (I really need to get the tutorial video done) they are the same as windows. Just create a bay and make it tall enough to be a door (~2.2m) and then position it's horizontal so it touches the ground. Then you have the same option like a window to cull it's backface.
The other problem you're having is with readable textures. One of the textures you're using is not readable. You can either place it in the BuildR/Textures folder and BuildR will process it automatically - or you can set the texture to readable yourself (http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/Components/class-Texture2D.html read/write enabled option when you select for texture type as advanced)

 

yes updating the video tutorial would go a long ways... i think that would solve much of the confusion on my part.


yes interior openings, floors/ceilings, and outter walls. are a dream come true, perhaps in future have ability to add interiors prefab someone can create using another tool. so you create afully texture model using some other tool and sort of put it in like facade or roof prefabs anchored to like a floor.


that way things like elevators, stairs an fully furnished interiors could be added. i think someone has a a tools for interiors out there that does much of it...

so its like use both to create a building players can enter and run around in...

still with what is there already it rocks.

re: readable texture / exceptions

wait its happening to textures that ship with asset. im just picking off the list... its a bug.

 

Ah - okay. I'll take a look into that then. Thanks.

 

hi please take look at pm i just send you thanks!

 

applying classic balcony texture to classic balcony model results in building details. it wont render the model/texture just outline of where it goes on facade.

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. IndexOutOfRangeException: Array index is out of range.
3. DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterial.Atlas (System.Int32[] modifySubmeshes, UnityEngine.Rect[] newTextureCoords) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/Utils/DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterial.cs:582)
4. DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterialMesh.Atlas (System.Int32[] modifySubmeshes, UnityEngine.Rect[] newTextureCoords) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/Utils/DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterialMesh.cs:355)
5. BuildrBuildingDetails.Build (.DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterialMesh mesh, .BuildrData data) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrBuildingDetails.cs:181)
6. BuildrBuildingDetails.Render (.DynamicMeshGenericMultiMaterialMesh mesh, .BuildrData data) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrBuildingDetails.cs:43)
7. BuildrEditMode.UpdateDetails () (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:528)
8. BuildrEditMode.UpdateRender (renderModes _mode) (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:368)
9. BuildrEditMode.UpdateRender () (at Assets/Buildr/Scripts/BuildrEditMode.cs:231)
10. BuildrEditModeEditor.OnInspectorGUI () (at Assets/Buildr/Editor/BuildrEditModeEditor.cs:387)
11. UnityEditor.InspectorWindow.DrawEditors (Boolean isRepaintEvent, UnityEditor.Editor[] editors, Boolean eyeDropperDirty) (at C:/BuildAgent/work/ea95e74f6e5f192d/Editor/Mono/Inspector/InspectorWindow.cs:888)
12. UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()
13.  

 

ok playing around paris and i noticed if i did all building bays it did all of them which is great

but is there a way to specify culling per bay? that would be very nice and could be like parameter at bay definition

that way most windows and doors could be locked (in place closed as were) and then have the ones you want open, i guess very low priority since it could be solved by exporting the model and manually creating prefab that has doors and windows that were to be closed closed off with some model on some model.

but was just thinking ahead...

once the bugs ive reported are worked out and the tutorial updated this asset is so amazing. its just so quick and easy i bet i could import a bunch of textures and go to google map ground view and knock off a block in any major city in quick order

the only thing is textures are in like 1 folder, would be nice if they were per category so all windows in a windows folder and all doors in a doors folder. i guess people could do that but it would be nice if asset set that way. that way as it grows it dont become like search from hell..

 

oh one more thing

now that we are talking about doing basements and haveing building core go into building

we need a way to get on roof like bility to have hole in roof so we can put door room

and in buildings with like paris roof we need a way to get not only inside that roof but have the windows cull out too

so think about it core goes to roof. you can put elevator i think some has elevator generator asset which may work with this asset

or anyways stairs or ladder to get form top floor to the roof and in many buildings they have like small brink building on roof with like a door that would open

this would be amazing for shoots so you not only can run around but you can get on top and snipe

so we need way to have some opening which is not core opening to roof for this and then add the little building with / without door as like detail or have some trap on roof open/closed

also at different location than core. too bad there is not a detail called opening that one could place anywhere, roof, ceiling, floor, walls. ect.. that way you can put it. basically it does culling and takes care of making sides nice with texture like you doing windows and doors now...

 

Hi im,
Working on those bugs you've found.
You can cull bays in the bay definition 0 the check box "Render Bay" - unless you're think of a per bay thing.
As for roof access - I think something will be done in the future. Maybe only flat roofs to begin with. Opening up mansard and other roof types will be some work unless I think of some clever way to make it simple...

 

ah got another one

the core

once we add it and even as we add it

we need better way to like know its size and move it

once we place it we can resize it but not move it

also we dont see its size like we do for outter walls

so we need better way to edit the core.

i guess its every enough to remove the old one and add a new one but how do we know its size and how can we micro put it like we can walls.

also nice to have center it to building like we do

and things like snap to grid

so perhaps a core tab would be nice. like we have for floor plane...

i guess these are like refinements to future releases

 

oops found bug remove core does not work

i mean add works, but once u do add it you cant select it so how can you remove it pressing remove does nothing...

sort found workaround to remove

you have to resize it, that sort of selects it by grabbing arrows

and then you can delete it

but we need definitively some better way more like floor plan and best to move it to its own tab.. cause the floor plan tab it getting long...

oh and add things like show size like you have for floor plan outter walls. like show core dimensions like for show wall dimenion...

and things like snap core to grid, center core to building,

some more ideas for core is to have core walls and have core openings which can be culled

and have details like stairway to elevator

so you basically dont do interrior walls but handle the core. it could be on its own page with this new stuff

perhaps some future release new functionality.

you have the logic for the outter walls just extend it to core

think of core like building in building but with opening for floors and then like you can add windows and doors to its walls. it could be used to make like some very nice builing interiors like glass ones where you can look at center and perhaps have like in fancy hotels / office buildings where you have like open are in building and walls and such...

 

Sure - they sounds like good additions...

 

Are the errors? Core remove works for me... /
To remove you need to click the remove button and then select the core to remove by clicking the red button over the core you want removed...

 

ah, user error. i guess without updated video im like poking a bit in the dark.

but that does not sound like intuitive

normally you select something and then press remove

not press remove and then select something

also the core thing is like needing some work like the stuff i mentioned. so perhaps reconsider it then

best regards

 

Yeah - tutorials are coming - hopefully tomorrow!

And I'll make the remove thing more obvious.

I've addressed some of the issues and a patch is in the approval queue already.

 

wow thanks.

it sure it sweet to be able to have interiors.

i also was figuring how to do subways and sewers with the release

it can easily be done by getting textures and thinking of them as buildings on their sides

where you make large doors on either side to make connecting tubes and you make door on what will be top to put stairs/escalators. i think there is an asset in store that generates escalators, like their is one that generates elevators and then apply the appropriate textures and manually place things like tracks.

perhaps in future you will have way to have building details that could be attached to interior floor, ceilings, walls like you allow for exteriors

that way things like tracks would be done. and when you add ability to have hole in ceiling and floor it would allow for sewers and tunnels and such without needing to turn them on side. think about it

so you can expant your buildr to not only do building, but sewers and tracks. i guess you can put street textures on side now and lamps and such as attachments and turn it on side and have sewers, tunners, with street about. have for windows for grating either with textures or cull window that you place grating model and use bigger doors for entrances and exits perhaps attach model to building details facade with entrance.

just thinking. this tool can come in handy for people who dont have modelings tools or knowledge of using modeling tools such as myself.

 

Looks nice and great work, i too just want to see tutorial so that how we can utilize this

 

Version 1.01 is in the asset store and should cover all the above issues.
Still working on getting the tutorials done - it's just hard to find some quiet time to record them at the moment! SOON THOUGH!

 

thanks for the update

 

Nice one, look forward to some tutorials.

 

I got the videos done!
Check them out here!

 

thanks, hits the spot!

watching them right now

could you add so that i can change to full screen (i see you removed it from like embedded youtube)

i have 1920x1200 and default it tiny box which makes it very hard to see...

thanks in advance!

 

Done

 

oh wait but you got rid of ability to change resolution to 720p

could u leave that one in, so its not auto, else i many times leaves at lower res

basically i would like to be able to change res to max (720p in this case) and then full screen

 

also with runtime building generator

im thinking of hooking it up to data i get from mapity asset
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/11779

i would like to like have a build scene

that i could use to generate a city full of buildings and place them in the correct spot

but i would like to save those buildings and data so that when i use then in the game scene

i dont have to have them generating at runtime

map-ity gives me location x/y/z and like for a building the number of floors, sort of the type of building and like the walls as a series of lines start xyz and end zyz

look at this image



see like the purple boxes those are the buildings

so can i like make constraints from sort of the map-ity data. like from the xyz set that make up the walls...

one thing is to figure out where to place doors , i guess i can come up with some rules or left/right/center of street facing side, i would have to figure out which side (line) faces street and create different facade i guess for them

also would be nice if you did some hookup for like mapity or create your own also hook it up to your track one but made to do streets and intersections and sidewalks, ect... also would be nice if you added rivers and such

then you could have city/world ect generator, new asset

see here nice city



ne nice to be able to generate it save it as bunch fbx/obj or single large compositive fbx/obj and then use it in game scene

gta made easy

oh one more thing cause of unity editor 32 bit limits and slow mono it would would be nice if be able to run generator outside of unity. like with microsoft .net being able to call it like form console application and it being like dll or cs code that could be call to generate fbx/obj.

im doing mapity that way. i basically did minor tweaks to it so it would run outside of unity. i can then like in 1 second grab large map that would take well over an hour for unity mono to do and crunch it.... i also can grab for days without hitting 32 bit limit doing 64-bit .net...

anyways just playing around

 

How can you run Mapity outside of Unity using 64-bit .net?

 

A Map-ity / BuildR bridge would be wild. I would definitely be interested in a way to tie those two together.

 

? easy i just took the source code and compiled it as a console application using visual studio and did a little bit of code to set it up and get it running.

the point is perhaps buildr r generator can with a little effort be made to run outside unity. without the visual rendering. just feed in a bunch of constraints and save a fbx/obj file to the file system.

if this could then be combined with data from mapity then perhaps you could generate a city full of builds.

how good it looks depend on the constrains you pass in and how much you can get map map sources...

then you can pick from like random textures, etc to make one building look different then another

then there is easyroad. if it could be hooked up to easy road or if buildr author can make his own road/sidewalk/river addone they maybe able to be all integrated to generate some very realistic maps.

im saying outside unity, cause unity cant handle it right now. for 2 reasons 32-bit editor which really limits the size and complexity of the city and stuff

and cause of mono that comes with unity and more importantly the runtime libraries that comes with mono. just dont perform as well as the ones you get with microsoft.net

for example www class took well over an hour to download a certain city in unity editor. the problem is how it is written. it ends up being nothing buty little burst each frame and its a bunch of string cats that drive the garbage collector to a crawl. in microsoft i implemented www as a small wrapper around webclient and it runs lighting fast that very same query that took well over 1 hour in unity is taking about a second! why i get huge chunks and i dont get bunch of them per frame cycle...

anyways this is just one example.

it would be interesting. but it depends on what data is available and what can be done with buildr in code. buildr api looks very power, but i still have not tried it other than looking at the new video which brushes over it.. i would very much like to save buildings that are generated as obj/fbx and not generate them over and over that would kill framerate or slow map.

also my maps are very large. so i am looking at saving it all to disk and tiling them in dynamically as player moves around. there are some performance issues but preloading and using object pools and precaching and having 64-bit linear space with lots of memory (i have 16gb) helps

 

I am building a 3D model of Staten Island, NY using AutoCAD 2014, 3D Studio MAX 2014, and Unity. AutoCAD 2014 has a new feature that lets me display aerial images from Bing Maps. I drew the streets, highways, ground, and water areas on the images. I imported the drawing into 3D Studio MAX 2014 and created 3D models of streets, highways, ground, and water areas. I imported the 3D models into Unity and placed generic buildings, houses, and trees into the 3D world. I drew non-rectangular buildings in AutoCAD, imported drawing into 3D Studio MAX, created 3D models of buildings, imported them into Unity, and placed them into the 3D world. This work took me a few months! I tried to use City Engine, AutoCAD Civil 3D, and Autodesk InfraWorks programs which work with Open Street Map data but I had problems generating 3D models of streets and highways.

 

Back on topic, the new videos are informative Jasper! Thanks for taking the time to work on those to demonstrate the new features.

 

This asset is so Awesome.

I bought it a while back and did not have a chance to use in a project until now.
It's really powerful for generating all sorts of building shapes.

Cheers.

 

....

 

Hi Jasper,

Really having fun with the package. Great stuff.
Got a building with an inner courtyard. Was wondering how to do this.

Cheers.

 

Hi Jasper, i checked latest version. it still does not support Procedural Textures like substances. do you plan to support it?

 

Any way to get the inner and outer windows texture to match?

 

Hi Don, How is that texture set up? Email me at email[at]jasperstocker.com with further information so I can help!
Jasper

Hi Atmuc,at the moment I don't have plans to add substances to BuildR, sorry.
Jasper

 

i already did it with few code changes. if you want i can share it with you. it works with both 2dtextures and substances.

 

Yes, as I already wrote to you, unchecking "Is Tiled" worked after I removed all the image I didn't want to use, thanks!

 

Wow - yeah that would be great. Thanks!

 

A separate texture for the foundation would be nice.
Don't know if you are aware, but the collider does not cover the foundation,
if it is high enough the player will go through the foundation.

Here we go with more feature requests:
Interior walls, maybe set up like the exterior walls, with a spline and their own texture?

The parapet and gable sides do not pick up the color of the texture applied to the walls or roof.

 

FYI-
The exterior and interior are offset from each other when exporting to FBX,
easy enough to fix by selecting them separately and centering them.
To be more precise, the exterior is being offset by:
X -12.70447
Y 1.5
Z 5.75
in this model.
While the interior is right at 0,0,0.



When exporting to OBJ, I get no object.


Question, how do I take the building in the scene and use it as a preset for random generating objects?
Seems I have to start with one of your presets. Or maybe set up my object from a generated one and go from there?

 

Hmmm, if I start on the inside of the building, there is nothing keeping me from going through the walls and from the outside I cannot get in.

Hitting "Undo" after procedurally generating a building can cause Unity to stop responding.

 

Very cool, can you share the code.

Cheers.

 

@Jasper,

Can you give some tips on how to create the roofs on the circular buildings pics that i previously sent.

Cheers.

 

i sent it to jasper. maybe he includes it to the next update.