BuildR 2.0 - Create buildings within Unity

So is Buildr2 back to the top of your priority list? When will we get some more tutorials?

 

I'm currently working on the next update - should be today or tomorrow depending on variables.
Tutorials - let me know what you want and I'll prioritise adding content - I know I'm rubbish at it and I'm sorry.

 

New release is out.
Fixed some bugs - check the log
Added options of window/door so you can have shutters/balconies/interactive doors/prefabs

 

Next release is imminent. Runtime generation has been vastly improved. The current example in Genesis was spewing between 100-300mb garbage and taking up to a second to generate.
I've got that down to around 5mb and ~50ms
I've also added Bay windows
I'm just in a bug fixing and cleanup stage.

 

It looks awesome. Would be nice to see in the video what the user is actually doing to get those result (or just add another video which shows a bit of that as well). It seems to be easy and intuitive, but I think it's in the back of the head of the viewer "Am I just seeing some nicely edited showcase, or is this actually happening in real time?"

 

2.12 Inbound


https://giphy.com/gifs/buildr-medieval-city-xT0xeh8OtHizSEMl6U/fullscreen

Added Bay window generation
Added Button to create room from floorplan footprint
Added bounds visualisation on custom models
Added/Refactored generation code - new quicker runtime workflow added
Reduced generation time and garbase generation
Added Carcassone city generation prototype
Fixed issue with creating Facades generating a benign error message
Fixed issue with creating BuildR assets in the right place with context menu
Fixed issue with roof overhang not generating correctly
Fixed issue with untiled textures being applied to buildings
Fixed issue with unassigned/assigned sill and ceiling textures in wall sections messing up texture allocation
Refactored all external libraries into the BuildR2 space to reduce conflict in external projects
Mansard roof generation fails more gracefully

 

In 2.13 I'm having these errors
Assets/BuildR2/Examples/Scripts/Carcassonne/Carcassonne.cs(37,23): error CS0104: `Vector2Int' is an ambiguous reference between `UnityEngine.Vector2Int' and `BuildR2.Vector2Int'
Assets/BuildR2/Examples/Scripts/Carcassonne/Carcassonne.cs(37,40): error CS0104: `Vector2Int' is an ambiguous reference between `UnityEngine.Vector2Int' and `BuildR2.Vector2Int'
Assets/BuildR2/Examples/Scripts/Carcassonne/Carcassonne.cs(43,23): error CS0104: `Vector2Int' is an ambiguous reference between `UnityEngine.Vector2Int' and `BuildR2.Vector2Int'
Assets/BuildR2/Examples/Scripts/Carcassonne/Carcassonne.cs(303,30): error CS0104: `Vector2Int' is an ambiguous reference between `UnityEngine.Vector2Int' and `BuildR2.Vector2Int'
Assets/BuildR2/Examples/Scripts/Carcassonne/CarcassonneQuarter.cs(10,17): error CS0104: `Vector2Int' is an ambiguous reference between `UnityEngine.Vector2Int' and `BuildR2.Vector2Int'
Assets/BuildR2/Examples/Scripts/Carcassonne/CarcassonneQuarter.cs(16,12): error CS0104: `Vector2Int' is an ambiguous reference between `UnityEngine.Vector2Int' and `BuildR2.Vector2Int'
Assets/BuildR2/Examples/Scripts/Carcassonne/CarcassonneQuarter.cs(33,17): error CS0104: `Vector2Int' is an ambiguous reference between `UnityEngine.Vector2Int' and `BuildR2.Vector2Int'
Assets/BuildR2/Examples/Scripts/Carcassonne/CarcassonneRoadNetworkPoint.cs(10,12): error CS0104: `Vector2Int' is an ambiguous reference between `UnityEngine.Vector2Int' and `BuildR2.Vector2Int'

Unity2017.2

It's only in the examples, so no problem, just to let you know.

 

Thanks for the report shredingskin(?!), I'll fix that in the next release, I just forgot to keep those examples in the BuildR2 namespace...

 

Okay - dropped a new update

2.14 30th November 2017
Added Interactive preview for facades
Improved Interactive Preview for everything that uses it
Added Opening Frames to Wall Sections
Added chimney generator
Additional work to Carcassonne example
Added facade library to building so you can drag and drop in Building editor without the project library
Fixed issue with complex quick polyoffset not calculating correct offsets
Fixed slow project browser due to icon generation, indexing and loading.
Fixed conflict in Carcassonne example between UnityEngine.Vector2Int and BuildR2.Vector2Int
Fixed gap at the top of Wall Section bays
Fixed Wallsection preview size for relative designs
Fixed submesh allocation and I hope I've put that to bed now!
Fixed how grid snapping works for interior generation so it takes into account wall anchors

 

And here is the latest on the Carcassonne example.

 

New release - just bug fixing and tidying up

2.15 14th December 2017
Fixed Dormer window generation
Fixed issue with buildings losing volume and floorplan linkages
Fixed issue with interior walls not generating correctly

 

2018 Roadmap
So I decided to make my TODO list for BuildR for next year and then thought it might make sense to publish it for you all to see. There are no timescales for these - but I've giving over power to you people so you can signal boost things you want and obviously add thing to it if there are other things to you want to see in BuildR next year.

Roof Improvements
Add ridge geom
Add facia board / verges
Add chimney placemenbt
Re-add Gambriel
Add Spire
Add Lean-to
Add Saw Tooth (initial 4 point version)
Add dormer generation to other roof types

Wall Section Improvements
Add model mode - replace all geom
Add model placement ad-hoc
Add keystone placement
Add balcony inset mode
Add underside mode for bay windows
Right click a wall section to create a facade design
Add lintel to arched openings

Facade Design Improvements
Add model placement ad-hoc

Carcassonne
Texture roads
Add more geom for roads - curbs, gutter
Add square features - wells, monuments, markets
Create basic LOD/Level loader
Work on a slimline - low res low detail mode
Generate high detail for close to subject
Subject is just a script - could be attached to a camera

Genesis
Interior generation
OBB subdivision
Path finding and door placement
100% Generation mode - define texutres and that's it

Surfaces
Make sure the surface creation shortcuts only work with textures/materials
Work on a shader for giving an interior box room
Horzontal pattern lines for aligning brickwork with wall sections/openings

Export
Option to combine exported mesh into single mesh - miught need to consider using Raw Mesh Data so 65+ not an issue

Add mesh data output into settings. Submeshes, triangles, verticies etc data visible in inspector

 

Added these 40 issues to the online issue tracker - https://bitbucket.org/jasperstockerassetstore/issue-tracker/issues?status=new&status=open
Feel free to add things there mind - open to discuss sugestions

 

So can we only create buildings through the editor? There's no documentation regarding runtime creation.

 

Hi Heath3n,
I'm currently updating all the documentation and there is a dearth of online docs for runtime generation. There are a few examples provided in the BuildR2 asset.
It's also an ongoing and rapidly expanding option in BuildR. The next item on my list will be procedurally generating interiors, both in editor and runtime.
Any questions don't hesitate to ask or email.

 

Just dropped a new version for 2017.1 that contains a Mapbox integration

 

Hi, Could you add some functionality:
1. Snap point mode when editing floorplan and room points selection;
2. Floorplan file and saving;
3. Roof overhang the gable wall and window in gable;
4. Ridge of roof;

 

And underside materials of overhanging roof

 

Hey Maxray,
thanks for your feedback.
1.What kind of mode were you thinking? Currently it snaps to both Unity units and the external volume anchor points.
2. What would be the case for this? It would be a fair amount of work and I'm not sure it's worth it right now, but maybe I'm missing something Would you want to just copy floorplans across floors? Maybe that could be done easily
3. Yes - I'll make sure these are on the list
4. On the list - should be around in the near future.
5. Sure - makes sense.

 

Hi Jasper,
I think the closest point and align and parallel and perpendicular snap mode could be added, it's extremely useful.
And the floorplan template file can be shared in multiple type of buildings, that's the point of saving.
That's okay when you should do it, depends on your plan, I'm waiting for new updates always .
Amazing product !

 

Waiting for your interior generator, I need it recently, thanks a lot.

 

Cool - while I have your attention - what are you looking for from it? Anything specific before I take the plunge later this week?
My plan was to make a basic subdivide process to create a number of rooms - then generate a graph to link them so we can place doors and make everything accessible. Then placement of stairs to allow access across floors. Now's the time to bend my plans though!

 

I'm also working on updating all the documentation. I'm working mostly on documenting the current interface and tutorials for various things (two runtime generation articles already up!). I need to document the way Mapity and Mapbox are integrated so far. Any requests for specific things now would be more likely to happen while I'm already in the seventh circle of documentation hell XD

 

I have researched some thesis about floorplan generation,
"A Novel Algorithm for Real-time Procedural Generation of Building Floor Plans", based on Squarified Treemap, the difficult point is to place the corridor area;
"A CONSTRAINED GROWTH METHOD FOR PROCEDURAL FLOOR PLAN GENERATION", by Ricardo Lopes, I think it's more flexible and smarter than others, you should think about it;
"Generating Consistent Buildings: A Semantic Approach for Integrating Procedural Techniques", more advanced;
"Computer-Generated Residential Building Layouts", based on machine learning, the most advanced;
Maybe you can implement the best of these as a new second plugin, future work,

 

Thanks for the links maxray, they are some really nice papers.
They mostly deal with perpendicular designs which is something I'd need to augment as BuildR supports all manner of shapes - but I've always been a fan of the final one - buildings the layout based on that simple graph.
All exciting stuff. For now there will be a simple sub divisional algorithm which we can build on top of (I hope!)

 

Good, waiting...

 

And one more thing, floor ledge outside the wall and wall pillar and concaved balcony, the most important aspect of building appearance.

 

Could you post some pictures - I'm not entirely sure on the features you're describing...
First one sounds like the string course (already in)?
Second I'm not too sure what that means..?
Third is a simple balcony generator?
All good feedback! I love hearing, discussing requests and features. (I'm a sucker for more features)

 

Wall Pillars could be in middle of wall.

 

Ah - yes.
Wall pillars seem similar to quoins which is a definite must have soon
Concave balconies would be awesome too! I'll add them to the list.

 

I'll create a tutorial about the floor ledges or string course. It's an option in the facade design.

 

So great, hope your product will be a shining star of asset store

 

@maxray What is this program ?

 

Building Generator, a plugin of S2 Game Engine on steam

 

@jasperstocker When will you release new version with interior generator?

 

It's still in the works

 

Hi, does your plugin able to generate or create this kind of building ?

 

I would have to say yes and no.
There aren't many pictures of that building I could find but the main structure of the building, inside and out should be easy to create.
The two things that may be more tricky are;
1. Supporting columns - there currently isn't a system in place for generating these. It's on my list but not sure when that would be added. Every time a feature is suggested though means I increase it's priority!
2. Landscaping - I've not considered building a system to deal with landscaping aspects of building design yet and I don't intend to this year certainly as it would be a large system to implement by itself.

Hope that helps.

Jasper

 

Would anyone cry if I dropped Substance support in the next version?
Unity are dropping it in 2018.x and I'm not in the mood to have a lot messy classes full of compiler conditions...

 

I would be using substance, but I would be using an updated Unity too. Not sure how substance is going to work in the future.

 

Hi Jasper sorry to butt in, but could you take a minute to answer some support questions at the Camera Path 3 forums, or is this asset deprecated?

 

Jeez! You should email if you really want to get my attention within 24 hours - the forums are not famous for their reliability...

 

ok thanks for replying mate.

 

Sorry jasper, I sent an email but never got a response perhaps it ended up in SPAM. Emails are also not famous for their reliability I guess.

 

Substances are great, but I think that most people would just export the bitmaps and use the standard shader (specially for buildings not generated at runtime).

 

Using unity 2017.4.1 I'm not able to create any new facade/surface/etc:
Assertion failed: Assertion failed on expression: 'BeginsWithCaseInsensitive(pathName, AssetDatabase::kAssetsPathWithSlash) || BeginsWithCaseInsensitive(pathName, AssetDatabase::kPackagesMountPointWithSlash)'
UnityEditor.AssetDatabase:GenerateUniqueAssetPath(String)
BuildR2.AssetCreator:GeneratePath(String, String) (at Assets/BuildR2/Internal/Scripts/Utils/AssetCreator.cs:30)
BuildR2.Surface:CreateSurface() (at Assets/BuildR2/Internal/Scripts/Surface.cs:381)
BuildR2.Surface:MenuCreateNewSurface() (at Assets/BuildR2/Internal/Scripts/Surface.cs:393)
------------------------------
Ignoring asset refresh of AssetsBuildR2 because the file or its directory couldn't be found!
UnityEditor.AssetDatabase:CreateAsset(Object, String)
BuildR2.Surface:CreateSurface() (at Assets/BuildR2/Internal/Scripts/Surface.cs:381)
BuildR2.Surface:MenuCreateNewSurface() (at Assets/BuildR2/Internal/Scripts/Surface.cs:393)
Ignoring asset refresh of AssetsBuildR2/Surfaces because the folder it is in has not been imported yet!
-------------------------------
UnityEditor.AssetDatabase:CreateAsset(Object, String)
BuildR2.Surface:CreateSurface() (at Assets/BuildR2/Internal/Scripts/Surface.cs:381)
BuildR2.Surface:MenuCreateNewSurface() (at Assets/BuildR2/Internal/Scripts/Surface.cs:393)
-------------------------------
Ignoring asset refresh of AssetsBuildR2/Surfaces/newSurface 3.asset because the folder it is in has not been imported yet!
UnityEditor.AssetDatabase:CreateAsset(Object, String)
BuildR2.Surface:CreateSurface() (at Assets/BuildR2/Internal/Scripts/Surface.cs:381)
BuildR2.Surface:MenuCreateNewSurface() (at Assets/BuildR2/Internal/Scripts/Surface.cs:393)

 

Thanks for the error log, I'll check that out and get a fix sorted...

 

Questions:
1. Genesis generated buildings is not full filled in plot with zero shape offset. Why? How to fix it?

 

2. Genesis can not generate one building contains multiple volumes like this, could you add this function after?

 

Hey MaxRay,
I'll take a look into the not filling generation. What's the plot values look like?
Multiple volumes should be possible by clicking the "Add Base Volume" button in the building constraint editor.