[Released] Building Crafter - Create buildings in the Unity editor

Glad to hear it!

 

I'm trying to create a navmesh on each floor and it appears that each room is isolated from the next - even with a wide gap for doorway. Has anyone got any work arounds or suggestions ?

 

Check the Bake tab in Navigation window, maybe can set lower Agent Radius (0.5) and Agent Height (2).

 

Hi 600, yep tried that - but it didn't work. I think it's something to do with the way the inner walls (hosting the doors) are crossing the floor plane. Thanks for the advice though.

 

Hey @Spacecadetant, sorry for the late reply!

When I designed Building Crafter back in the day with Unity 5.1.2 it was working okay with the navmesh. The doors are 1m wide and 2m high. The inner walls should hit the floor plane exactly at the plan without any cross over.

Did you make any progress? Can you show me a picture?

 

DumbGameDev posted a great tutorial on how to work around baked lighting problems in Building Crafter. Here it is:

 

Hi @8bitgoose

Will you make it functionnal with more features ?
1 ) some roofs types ?
2) balcony
3) outdoor stairs

Can we make non indoor buildings for performance reasons ?

 

Hey @zenGarden,

I am currently working 100% on a VR sailing game so I haven't had any time to add more features. All those features are on my long list of things to add to BuildingCrafter. I just don't have any timeline when I would get back into it. Could be 6 months or 2 years, I just don't know.

BuildingCrafter was always designed to create only indoor capable buildings. The buildings do unload the interiors when you are far away from them for LOD reasons. I have had a lot of buildings in a scene (92) and it ran fine on my 4 year old Macbook Pro 15 incher.

Have you looked at BuildR2. That is much more focused on creating exterior programs.

Also, if you just bought Building Crafter and feel it wasn't up to your expectations, email me and I can give you a refund, no questions asked .

Thanks for the interest!

 

Hey everyone!

After a long while working on my VR game, I decided to do some major work on BuildingCrafter to make it a lot better.

The biggest improvement is that I have completely rewritten the wall generation system. Now all walls / flat surfaces are generated as many meshes, all of which are non-tiling. All walls now generate sections which are always mapped between (0, 0) to (1, 1) on their main UVs. The reason I did that is for....

Atlasing entire buildings. Instead of having a bunch of different materials, buildings can be condensed into a single material. This should dramatically increase performance time since a building will only need 1 drawcall to render. The downside is that I had to increase the number of verts rendered in a scene, but I am pretty sure more verts with less drawcalls is much better for performance. I've written my own Atlaser which will work with Building Crafter and will be included in the next version.

Along with the rewrite of the walls, now walls can be at any angle and any point. This means you can have crooked walls, or walls that are not along 1 unit mark. I will be updating the editor to allow this, but as of now the underlying code can generate any shape of building. I've also been working on allowing floors to be any height, but I need to rework how stairs are created before I can introduce this as an easy-to-use option.

Also I've added wall cappers for dungeon crawlers. A lot of people requested this. Now when you pull a roof off a building, the tops of the wall have a mesh on them.

Overall, the wall generation is almost perfect now, no more screwy problems with it. Kitty corners are still a bit messy though.

Questions for you all:

1. I really don't want to screw anyone's projects up with this new update. If you would like, you can send me buildings you've already created by using the JSON exporter. Please send me that text file and your building style (the textures don't matter, I just need the building crown) to buildingcrafter@8bitgoose.com. So it would include a text file and the BuildingStyle asset. Still working on exporting that as a package. Here is a json exporter / importer that will also be included in the next version. http://8bitgoose.com/docs/BCJsonExporter.zip. The export option is on the gear on the BuildingBlueprint component. (Same as where "reset component" is located).

2. Does anyone still need the tiling wall generation system? It probably isn't super hard to reintroduce it, but no one may need it. Let me know in this thread if you absolutely must have almost no verts and drawcalls don't matter, let me know.

Let me know if you have any feedback! Will post some photos later!

Cheers,

Kellan

 

I'm glad that you are working on this again! I was just about to create several buildings for the game I'm working on but I'll wait for the update. I have only created some test buildings so far so I don't think that you would have a need to check those out.

By the way where can I find documentation on how to integrate a custom door mesh?

 

@timinal Please go ahead and create the buildings. You will have zero issues when you upgrade except the buildings will be generated betterly .

What kind of custom door mesh? Is it bigger than 2x1 meters? I currently can't support anything but that size of door unfortunately. All the code is there to do it, I just need to make it work well.

Kellan

 

Yeah just standard 2x1 meter doors, should I just manually replace the door objects after generating the building?

 

Oh please no! The whole point is to make it easy .

I realized I didn't have that in the manual. I will update that in the next release.

To add a new door, go to Packages -> BuildingCrafter -> Resources -> GenericDoor.prefab. You need to copy this and create your own new prefab from it.

Then you'll need to replace the third tier down with your own mesh. So the door should be Door with CHILD Hinge with CHILD your mesh. Make sure the bottom child has the Script Door Mesh Info. Then you need to save this prefab to a resources folder and drag it into the appropriate spot in your Building Style asset.

Does that make sense?

 

Ok, thanks, I'll try that. I'll let you know if I have any more questions.

 

Happy new year!

I have a few questions if you don't mind:
- Can I without problems/conflicts duplicate a building object and then make a variation of that building?
- Is it possible to undo the last wall I drew instead of pressing escape and cancelling drawing the room altogether?
- Is it possible to duplicate sections (several rooms that I already drew)?

 

Hi @timinal,

1. Yes you can duplicate a building object and then make a variation of that building. Each building has it's own separate data object.
2. Just hit ctrl-z. Should go back to the last point you drew.
3. Unfortunately no you can't duplicate rooms but that is a good idea!

 

Thanks for the reply. I tried duplicating building objects before but when generating that building the original building disappeared, so I was a bit worried that this might cause some problems but regenerating the original building works fine.

 

Hmm yeah I'll have to figure out a better way to do this. When you copy and paste a Building Crafter building it shares the mesh with the old building. When you generate the new building, it destroys this shared mesh. You just have to generate the old building again .

 

I've put a HUGE update today (although it may not seem like much).

Now all the buildings are tiled from UV 0, 1. This means all the materials for a building can be atlased into a big texture and reduce draw calls. A building that would take 8 draw calls will now be drawn once if you enable atlasing.

The wall generator has been completely rewritten as well. It is much faster because it isn't using a tessellater package I found on the internet and it has been designed to allow variable height stories. I haven't implemented this yet, but it is within the bones of the code.

The next thing I need to do is make much better stairs. The current stair system is no good and I need to make procedural stairs. Once stairs are made procedural, then I can implement differently height floors.

Also the wall code will now generate on any angles. This hasn't been implemented into the editor yet, but the core generator is capable of doing that. That is the next thing I'll want to do (and clean up the mess of code I made when I first put together the GUI).

If you have any issues or run into any problems either email me at buildingcrafter at 8bitgoose.com or leave a message here.

- Kellan

 

Thanks for the update! Will try it out soon.

If it would be easy to implement for you I have another idea: the possibility to leave open the ceiling of an individual room so that you can make "indoor balconies", kinda like this: https://www.google.nl/imgres?imgurl...bPgAhUCPVAKHYFEDHkQMwhpKAUwBQ&iact=mrc&uact=8

 

@timinal yeahhhhhhh! I would love to do stuff like that. I first need to update stairs, but I need to jump back into my sailing game and get that pushed out ASAP.

 

@8bitgoose Any idea what could cause this diagonal line/hole to appear? https://www.dropbox.com/s/b9uss8bjfm403l9/BuildingCrafter.jpg?dl=0


Edit: The line disappears when I replace the tall window with a standard window.

 

@timinal This is on the latest version of Building Crafter right? Can you send me the json export of the building and I'll try to replicate it.

 

Yes, I have v 0.8.1 installed. It also happens with a simple test building I made, I've attached the json export. Thanks.

Edit: Started a fresh project to test if it was something in my current project but I get the same result.

 

@timinal I found the problem that was causing it! Some indexes weren't being assigned right at generation. Working on a solution today. Thanks for the file!

 

Thanks, looking forward to the update!

 

I fixed it! I was trying to do something too fancy with the wall panel generation. Rewrote it and the problem is gone. If you need the update right away, please email me building crafter at 8bitgoose dot com, and I'll send you a file. Otherwise I'll be uploading the fix to the asset store today.

Thanks for your patience! So far only one major bug since the new release!

 

I've submitted it to the asset store! Should solve the problem.

Edit: It has been updated!

 

Thanks for the update, I'll test it soon!

 

I have 2 little questions if you don't mind:

- The windows disappear (culled is I think the proper term) when the camera is a certain distance away, is it possible to change that distance somewhere?

- I have experimented with making door prefabs that are already open by rotating the door 80-90 degrees, this works well for single doors but with dual doors one door is rotated correctly while the other is rotated in the opposite direction. Is there a way for me to edit the door prefab so that both doors will be rotated in the proper direction?

Thanks!

 

You can turn off the LOD system entirely so the windows don't disappear. Or do you still want the interiors to disappear but have the windows remain??

Are you making the duel doors 2 meters wide or placing two 1 meter doors beside each other? Does the standard preset door work fine with double doors?

 

The windows (and interior) disappearing is fine but I would like for it to happen when the camera is further away if that's possible? If I turn off the LOD system will it impact performance a lot in a scene with a lot of buildings (about 50)?

Yes the standard door prefabs work fine but when I rotate a door prefab and make a double door (1 door of 2 meters) I get this: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8ew8p09hi4i9zmi/BCDoors.jpg?dl=0

 

For #1, easy, just crank up the LOD bias in Edit -> Project Settings -> LOD Bias. I believe higher bias means that objects stay around longer before being culled. Let me know if that doesn't work and I may be able to add some granularity to it.

Are you rotating the door manually? Are you trying to have it spawn open?

 

That did it for the LOD distance, thanks!

As for the doors: yes I'm trying to spawn them opened already. Like I said I tried rotating the last child object (child of the hinge object) of a door prefab and that works properly for single doors but for dual doors I think Building Crafter automatically mirrors the prefab but then the rotation is in the other way.

Not that big of a deal but it would be handy for the game I'm making.

 

I thought I wrote it so you can spawn them open. Try clicking on the gear and modifying the doors so they are in the "open" state. If that doesn't exist, I'll add in a fix.

 

I only get the options:
- Is Lockable
- Is Autolocking
- Is Firedoor
- Is Forced Plain

- Switch Door Direction
- Switch Anchor


I would really appreciate it if you could add the open state option in, hopefully I'm not taking up too much of your time!

 

@timinal I looked into it over the weekend and it was a very simple thing to add, so I did. Now every door can be set to start open, from 0 to 90 degrees. I've uploaded the package to the asset store and it should be approved soon .

You were lucky it was so easy to add! I normally don't add things like this, so please don't get used to it .

 

Thanks man! I really appreciate it!

 

Have ever seen a tool for unity that would take a floorplan or blueprint t and extrude up walls and interpret drafting g specs?

 

I have not and that was something I would love to integrate into building crafter. I think the big issue with that is scanning plans which may have different formats and of course errors that come about from scanning. If you can get the floor plans into vector arrays, it can be done though!

 

is there any way to make the door ways bigger? my character is just a little too big and I don't want to rescale my whole game just to accommodate the buildings

 

Bigger in height or width? Height yes width no. Although you may be able to use a window with a zero bottom to do that. I can't remember if I let that happen with the changes I made. The windows and doors are now generated at the same time as "openings" so it is possible to have any size door. I just haven't revealed this in the editor yet.

 

I wanted to change the width and the height but I found a little workaround anyway. I just make create the house smaller than I normally would and then when im done I just scale the building to the size I need and it works good. I have to watch some more tutorials but so far this is such a great asset. Even if I make a mistake and cant undo it takes me 15mins to create the house/building I need. Im trying this with the VR I just hope it works out good. I have not created a build with this asset yet but I do have to errors in the console after importing into my project that ill have to check out.

 

So after a build, my game will not open on my oculus go, it will go straight to a black screen and crash. Removing any created buildings did not resolve the issue either. The only solution was removing building crafter completely from my project. Any ideas as to why this is happening?

 

Oh boy, that sounds pretty major. I haven't heard anything from anyone else, but I am not sure anyone has used this with Oculus Go. Do you get any errors with the crash? Can you try creating a brand new project with only Building Crafter and a building and putting it in there?

Unfortunately I have no Oculus Go so I won't be able to troubleshoot from here. If it keeps happening and there are no errors (there should be errors) I am happy to give a refund! May add a "not working with Oculus Go" note as well.

It is weird that it is crashing everything badly. Building Crafter isn't doing anything crazy out of the box. Just a lot of code to make meshes into the right format.

 

I haven't been able to really troubleshoot yet but I think I may know what the issue is. Thank you for responding and offering a refund though. Such a great asset that a refund is not necessary.

 

So I tried some troubleshooting today but no solutions as of yet. There was one scripting issue were something was obsolete and I fixed it with what unity suggested but it did not correct the issue. Tonight ill use your suggestion and create an empty project with building crafter and see if it works that way. Worse case scenario is that I create all the buildings needed and save them and then delete the building crafter package and see if that works.

 

Update: Turns out unity standard assets was causing an issue. Since im not using it i deleted it and now everything works.

 

Yay! That is perfect. Did the standard assets come with Building Crafter? I can't recall if I included that in the package.

Glad you like the asset. Always lovely to hear positive feedback AND of course any suggestions are always welcome .

 

yes you did include it and it had a mouselook error where all I had to do was use the "using building crafter etc.., at the top. It might be that the standard assets included with your package and the ones I already had were conflicting. Im not 100% sure but at least its working. The asset is just so easy to use and very straight foward and so far does not cause any performance issues what so ever.