Octave3D-Level Design - Snapping, Prop placement, Multi-Prefab painting

Having tested this numerous times, I can tell you..too many colliders is a problem. Speedtrees work MUCH better if you take out the colliders as do 3dForge houses, which I have tested numerous times.

A tiny village or a house in the wilderness...maybe not a problem. But a city with multi-level houses, props, etc, have many colliders. Combining some of them really helps.

That works with 3dForge, if you have a tool that combines colliders as well as meshes. But it is easy enough to add a collider to the house after you build it.

With Octave3d, I cannot select the house outside of using Octave3d and add a new collider. I have to move the items outside of Octave3d's World Object.

Selecting and turning to prefabs might work. I would then move it outside of his world object and add the collider. I am going to try that now. Well..not now as I am writing a design doc for my programmer to use at the moment..but later.

 

@Teila

I have already told that you don't necessarily need to move the object outside the hierarchy. Simply deselecting the tool object using ALT + D will allow you to switch to Unity's selection interface and then you can select objects the normal way and operate on them as you wish.

I could implement the collider attachement mechanism inside Octave, but would it really be worth the effort for something that you can already do with Unity?

The selection mechanism was implemented because it allows you to do a bunch of stuff that you can not do with Unity's selection interface and some of this stuff is specific to the tool.

I didn't say that colliders are not a problem in general. What I mean is that I don't see what I can do in this case to ameliorate it. I could probably have a toggle button which can be checked and when it's checked, the tool can automatically remove the colliders from the objects which are placed in the scene.

Combining colliders can only be done if certain assumptions can be made about the object's orientation. For example, let's say you have object A rotated 45 degree around the Y axis, object B rotated 32 degrees around the Y axis and so on. If these colliders are to be combined, what should the rotation of the final collider be? In this case the only way out is to use an axis aligned collider (big enough to encapsulate all of them but with no rotation applied), or just use one of the colliders orientations... There doesn't seem to be a perfect solution here.

 

Yes, that unselects. But then I cannot simply select them in the scene. The only way I can select anything in the Octave3d World Object heirarchy is to use Octave3d's system, clicking on World (the game object) and then using the Select Object in Ocatave3d's editor. I cannot add a collider there.

Prefab building does not seem to work for me but it could be user error right now. I need to come back to that later.

Sorry if I am irritating you, but these are issues I have with using your product. It does not mean you have a bad product or that it is not useful. It just means that it does not do for me something I need. I do not expect you to fix it if it is not something you can't fix. I will not give you a bad review for this.

However, it is an issue for someone wanting to build a large level and is concerned about colliders. So...I will find a work around or not use the asset for this particular type of use.

 

The problem is not so much removing that, as I can do that myself. The models I am using now have NO colliders. The problem is ADDING colliders afterwards.

I can do this by moving the models out. Just time consuming. Making prefabs might help a great deal once I have time to figure it out. Right now, I get errors regarding the prefab folder which I have typed into the space required.

 

@Teila

Well, it works for me . We're probably using different versions of Unity. Who knows...
So I've just added a bunch of cubes in my scene with Octave, pressed ALT + D, clicked one of the cubes and modified it's collider size.

No, I am not irritated. This is just the confused part of me trying to understand if there is any functionality I can implement that would ease the collider workflow. So the main problem is that you would like to combine colliders. I will think about how to do that and I'll let you know if I come up with something. Thank you.

 

@Teila

Please make sure the folder exists. I could indeed improve this by automatically creating the folder. But it would be useful to know what errors you received

 

Yep, it exists.

 

Weird, doesn't work for me. Hmmm.

Glad you are not irritated. lol I know how frustrating it can be.

Not combine colliders, but add new colliders. I don't mind the lack of colliders as long as I can place them after the houses are done.

It works! Not sure why it didn't earlier...lol. But I was able to ALT+D and select the parts. I will play with prefabs later. If that works, it will be much easier.

 

Can you please give me a screenshot of the error you are receiving?

 

Well, I can send you a short video if you wish in which I can demonstrate this. What happens when you click on an object? How does the inspector look like? Maybe you have locked the Inspector and it's only showing the Octave GUI.

 

It works now.

 

Yes. I can see. The problem is that you have to specify the entire path. In this case it would be: Assets/Quantum Theory/Rome/Exterior/CreatedPrefabs

This could definitely be improved probably by showing a dialog which allows you to select the folder. Or maybe drag and drop the folder in the text area but I don't know if that's possible. Thanks!

 

Drag and drop! LOL I even tried to drag the folder....but didn't work.

 

Well, yeah for the moment the drag and drop is not implemented . But I will implement it. It would definitely be useful.

 

Okay, did the entire folder, made a prefab, ATTACHED A COLLIDER! Yay!

 

AA... Glad to hear that! Now I can watch that Jean Claud Van Damme movie at last....

 

thx performance is a lot better now

there is just some strange error when i play around with the optimized meshes

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
O3DWB.PrefabPreviewTextureCache.Get () (at Assets/Octave3D World Builder/Scripts/Tool Resources/Textures/PrefabPreviewTextureCache.cs:17)
O3DWB.ToolSupervisor.RemoveNullPrefabReferences () (at Assets/Octave3D World Builder/Scripts/ToolSupervisor.cs:66)
UnityEditor.EditorApplication.Internal_CallProjectWindowHasChanged () (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/editor/EditorApplicationBindings.gen.cs:258)
UnityEditorInternal.InternalEditorUtilityrojectWindowDrag(HierarchyProperty, Boolean)
UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()

but does not seem to really have an effect

 

Haha! That's me when get a message alert on the Unity forums

Can you give me some details as to the steps that you did when you recieved this? I will have to look into this tomorrow though.

 

np need also to find out what exactly caused it

 

Hi!

I've just updated to your new system, which looks great.

I'm just wondering if you can help solve my problem. The first thing I do when using your (old) system is add the Game Object, attach your script, minimize the component, then move the object to where I need it in the scene before opening the component and adding prefabs to it. The reason is I build way above ground level in my scene, around Y 200+.

I suppose you can guess where this is heading

Your new system disallows me from moving the Game Object once your script is attached. I tried moving the Game Object first, then adding your script, but it returns the Game Object back to ground level.

Is there a way around this issue?

Thanks.

 

Hi there,

Yes. In the new system, I interdict the user from moving, rotating or scaling the object because that can affect the appearance of the grid and can cause some problems down the road. It's a long story

However, in the snap settings GUI you can modify the Y offset of the grid as shown in the following image:


Please let me know if this helped.

 

w00t!

It worked.

Many thanks, and congrats on the new version. I particularly love the intuition built into it.

I don't think I've yet rated this asset, so I will do so now.

 

I am glad you like it! And thank you so much for the beautiful review!

 

@tomraegan
One thing I forgot to mention. You can hold down the T key on the keyboard and then left click on an object and the grid will snap to that position. So this is another way to modify the grid's Y offset. This is useful when building multi-level environments.

Enjoy!

 

That T shortcut is handy.

I do have a question. I'd like to, when placing single prefabs, draw randomly from a prefab Collection. An example would be tiles. Can I place an aligned-to-grid tile, selected randomly from a Collection of 10 different tiles?

I've tried using the brush to this effect, but not yet been successful.

 

I understand. Well the brush doesn't really work in this case because it doesn't randomize the order in which prefabs are placed. Only their rotation, scale etc.

What I can do is to have a toggle button which randomizes the prefab inside the active prefab category.

So it would work like this:
-you have a prefab category with tiles that you would like to randomize;
-check toggle button;
-place object, tool randomizes prefab;
-place object, tool randomizes prefab and so on;

Would that help?

 

@Teila

I have implemented the folder drop functionality. If you wish, send me an e-mail so that I can send the package to you.

 

That is exactly what I'm after.

I'm not expecting this, mind you. You are generous to offer and I appreciate it.

 

Don't worry. I believe this feature is handy and I don't believe it would take too much time to implement. I will let you know when it's done. Thanks.

 

Nice.

It would also be a boon if this toggle were applicable to Path and Block placement methods, although that could be entirely another can of worms.

 

You mean like each box inside the path and block to have a different object? Yes, I believe that can be done, but it would produce correct results only with objects that have the same size.

 

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that I have just released a new video tutorial in which I talk about prefab categories. This isn't necessarily a complex subject, but there are a couple of things that I believe are worth discussing.

You can watch the video here.

In the next video I will talk about prefab tags.
Enjoy!

 

Hi guys,

I've just uploaded another video tutorial on YouTube in which I talk about prefab tags. Prefab tags are useful when you would like to have all your prefabs reside in a single category and they enable you to quickly filter those prefabs based on tags.

You can watch the video here.
Enjoy!

 

@tomraegan

Just a quick note to let you know that I haven't forgotten about you I have implemented the randomization mechanism for the Decor Paint (single mode). I will also implement it for PointAndClick and then send the package to you. For Path and Block it will take a little while longer

 

Don't rush on my account. I'm a slow burn.

Keep up the good work.

 

Hi everyone,

New tut video available here. In this video I talk about prefab creation, a really useful feature which allows you to build structures and reuse them in different areas of your game level.

Enjoy!

 

@tomraegan

Hi there . The updates are ready. Please send me an e-mail so that I can send you the updated package.

 

Hi everyone,

New video tutorial available here. This video shows how you can use the mirroring feature to easily build symmetric environments.

Enjoy!

 

Hi everyone,

I've just uploaded a new video tutorial on YouTube (here). In this video I talk about 2 snapping hotkeys which are very handy when building multi-level environments.

Enjoy!

 

Yet a new video tutorial here
In this video I talk about Octave's vertex snapping functionality, a feature which can come in handy when dealing with objects that do not snap properly on the grid. These can be objects that contain extrusions, or objects that have an irregular size.

Enjoy!

 

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of finishing a new update which contains an improvement to the snapping system. So now there will be an option which will allow you to snap the placement guide to nearby objects. I've played around with it and personally I am really happy with the result.

This also solves the issue of dealing with modular prefabs whose sizes are not regular. An example of this would be having an L shaped wall of 1X1 units and another wall piece which is 1.3 units. In that case the pivot point snapping system will not be enough to snap correctly.

I wanted to ask if any of you guys would be willing to play around with this new functionality when it's ready to give me some feedback and suggestions.

@Teila
I know you had some problems in the past with snapping some models properly. Do you think you could give this new functionality a try when it's available?

I understand that many of you are probably busy, so no worries if you are not available

Best Regards,
Andrew

 

How can I resist when you ask so nicely? Of course I will try it. While I am busy, I am at the moment putting together modular bits so no problem.

 

@Teila
AAA... That is great news!! I will send you an e-mail when it's finished. Thanks a lot!

 

@Teila

I have sent you an e-mail with the package that contains the new snapping functionality. Thanks a lot!

 

You did it!

Randomized prefabs in Paths and Blocks.

Brilliant. Many thanks XGT08.

 

Is the new functionality the vertex snapping that is in your video?

 

@Teila
No. That is something else. I have attached an image in the mail which shows how you can turn it on.
When it's enabled, the placement guide will automatically snap to nearby objects.

Let me know if you need more info.

 

Ohhh, well, no wonder then! LOL I had forgotten you sent it to me and then thought it was updated in the asset store. Sorry!

I will try it.

 

Haha. No problem. Thanks!