Torque 3D Development - World Editor
by Brett Seyler · 03/17/2009 (1:53 pm) · 88 comments
And now, for the big reveal...the new Torque 3D World Editor! Actually though, this is a partial reveal. What we're showing here will be the final look and feel to the World Editor, but it's only a partial representation of what's expected in the full release. Not shown here are new editors for materials, decals, creating roads and rivers, etc. In addition to all that, we may also expose some new physics functionality to the World Editor as well.
The viewport in the screens posted below do not show Tom's rewrite of the Terrain system yet either, which we expect will give us a lot greater detail and much better looking terrains.
There are a lot of hands in this project, and a lot is changing, but there were some really key people who contributed specifically to the World Editor. Internally, Matt Langley took his tools experience and contributed to the new direction and helped to prioritize the changes that would give us the biggest productivity gains. The Sickhead crew (Tom, Russell, James, and Ross) also contributed great ideas and helped with the code cleanup that let us do what we've done here.
Dave Wyand, who you all know very well for ShowTool Pro and his long history of contributing to the GG community, played a big role. There are two GG'ers most of you haven't met who've really helped shape the look, feel, and layout of the new World Editor. Steven Garcia and Jason Hetu.
Dave's Bio
"I've been an active member of the GarageGames community since 2002. I wrote the now widely used ShowTool Pro and was a key member of the Torque Constructor team. Having joined GarageGames full-time in 2006, I've been working behind the scenes on lots of brand new editors and now Torque 3D. I enjoy dressing up as a Mountie -- as all Canadians do -- and singing the Lumberjack song."
"I work on the tools side of Torque 3D, including the World Editor and GUI Editor."
Steven's Bio
"I grew up in a small city called, Corpus Christi, Tx. After a good 19 years, I picked up my stuff and moved to Tempe, Az. Then after deciding it was way too freaking hot there (seriously!); I got in touch with GarageGames and moved to Eugene for a QA internship. I worked hard in QA for a little longer than a year. Shortly thereafter I joined the Torque team as a tools programmer. So here I am today; 21 years old, loving my job, and doing my best."
"I've tackled a few projects for Torque 3D, most recently working on the World Editor. I also worked on restructuring each of our games and demo's file structures, and I'm still working on a consistency pass on all of our games and demo's."
Jason's Bio
"I graduated from the University of Oregon with a BFA in Digital Art in 2007. I started working at GarageGames this July as a Web Graphics Designer. I have since been working web graphics, print work, layouts, mockups, and engine GUI's. I really enjoy working as an artist here at GG. I also like the amount of different types of projects I have been able to be apart of since I have been here."
"I am working on updating the Torque 3D GUI's by re skinning them to have a more modern feel. I am also working with Steven Garcia to improve some usability issues with both the GUI system and the World Editor. I am also doing some visual cleanup of some of the GUI layouts and their functionality."
Without further scrolling then, here's a first look at what we've done:
Feel free to fire off questions in the comments. On the next go around (probably post-GDC), we'll show you this stuff in action, hopefully with the new terrain system and some really hot new content. More development blogs to come. This is post #14.
Torque 3D development blogs:
- Post #1 - Kickoff
- Post #2 - Apparatus and Warrior Camp
- Post #3 - Luma's racing kit
- Post #4 - Josh Engebretson and Web Publishing
- Post #5 - Pricing and Licensing
- Post #6 - Pricing and Licensing CONTINUED
- Post #7 - Wetness & Precipitation
- Post #8 - Screeen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO)
- Post #9 - Matt Langley and the Torque Launcher
- Post #10 - Chris Robertson and Collada
- Post #11 - Depth of Field
- Post #12 - Advanced Lighting
- Post #13 - Soft Particles
- Post #14 - World Editor
- Post #15 - Pricing and Licensing ANNOUNCED!
- Post #16 - GDC Live Edition
- Post #17 - River & Road Editors
- Post #18 - Beta is UP!
- Post #19 - Light Rays, Undercity, Material Editor
- Post #20 - Mass Market Hardware
- Post #21 - Beta: Part Deux
- Post #22 - Marching Towards Beta 3
- Post #23 - pureLIGHT
- Post #24 - Lighting, Terrain, and Cloth
- Post #25 - Beta 3!
- Post #26 - Coming Soon!
About the author
Since 2007, I've done my best to steer Torque's development and brand toward the best opportunities in games middleware.
#82
If you need a link to an example of what I'm talking about check
http://www.gamersyde.com/stream_8512_en.html
notice the way the skybox switches from daytime to nighttime
03/23/2009 (5:25 pm)
I thought of another question regarding the day and night cycle. In addition to the shadows from the advanced lighting, does the skybox actually switch, fade, or bring in another skybox image?If you need a link to an example of what I'm talking about check
http://www.gamersyde.com/stream_8512_en.html
notice the way the skybox switches from daytime to nighttime
#83
Some interesting stuff off of the chat in Mr. Perry's blog. Relating to the world editor, can anyone answer this question for me? You can use the material editor for all objects in T3D, what about terrain, for example. I am really interested in making a NICE grass shader. So far no luck in 1.7.1 and 1.8.1. Is the terrain going to be setup where we can use bump mapping and advanced shaders on it?
Thanks,
J
03/24/2009 (12:02 pm)
Proud preowner of T3D! =)Some interesting stuff off of the chat in Mr. Perry's blog. Relating to the world editor, can anyone answer this question for me? You can use the material editor for all objects in T3D, what about terrain, for example. I am really interested in making a NICE grass shader. So far no luck in 1.7.1 and 1.8.1. Is the terrain going to be setup where we can use bump mapping and advanced shaders on it?
Thanks,
J
#84
Im buying it april so since its out (beta) 1st april, i dont see the fuss is about.
Anyways, using bumpmapping on ground is usually a bad idea FPS wise (adds extra render calls), you would probably be better off just using high end grass textures, but, i guess you'll know soon enough hehe.
In all cases, you will have the source, so my guess is, nothing stops you from doing it if you really want.
03/24/2009 (1:56 pm)
Actually J, your a proud preowner of a T3D bill :)Im buying it april so since its out (beta) 1st april, i dont see the fuss is about.
Anyways, using bumpmapping on ground is usually a bad idea FPS wise (adds extra render calls), you would probably be better off just using high end grass textures, but, i guess you'll know soon enough hehe.
In all cases, you will have the source, so my guess is, nothing stops you from doing it if you really want.
#85
I'm just excited to see an engine that is accessible to indies that can compete with the high dollar engines.
For my purpose, I think the shaders can add some really nice environmental effects.
03/25/2009 (5:58 am)
Yea, or a $505 dollar t-shirt!I'm just excited to see an engine that is accessible to indies that can compete with the high dollar engines.
For my purpose, I think the shaders can add some really nice environmental effects.
#86
I would like to see some ingame GUI info (skinning, animating, 3d, ect) what can be done, eg moving GUI windows around smoothly, overlapping, alpha windows and so on, html rendering window (if possible), multicolored textbox with support for italic and bold and such on seperate words (like word or RTF) and attaching sounds....
Also, in the editor i would love to see some UI you can turn on/off to show render calls, used VMEM And such.
03/25/2009 (10:25 am)
Agree, but making your own shaders, own stuff in the world, is what makes it unique, so thats the most important thing to me, access to do all that and build ontop of the already awesome engine (i wont say AAA engine, as a AAA engine is sololy based on PRICE, for some reason people misunderstand that, its a marketing term and has nothing to do with what the engine can do).I would like to see some ingame GUI info (skinning, animating, 3d, ect) what can be done, eg moving GUI windows around smoothly, overlapping, alpha windows and so on, html rendering window (if possible), multicolored textbox with support for italic and bold and such on seperate words (like word or RTF) and attaching sounds....
Also, in the editor i would love to see some UI you can turn on/off to show render calls, used VMEM And such.
#87
03/26/2009 (1:26 am)
@Bo: Regarding normal maps on terrain. When used properly it can cause the terrains to look gorgeous, but of course does come at a rendering cost. Normal mapping isn't a particularly harsh technique though speed wise. Two games that have stood out to me in recent years as having gorgeous terrain were Vanguard and Age of Conan. Both titles accomplished much of that due to the normal mapped terrains. Best option though would be to allow users to toggle it on or off. 
#88
05/18/2009 (1:28 am)
I watched the Undercity FPS Demo video, and I was wondering if that entire map was created using the World Builder? Anyone know? Thanks. 
#89
05/18/2009 (10:28 am)
@Hunter: I believe a majority of Undercity was created in 3DS Max and then imported as a COLLADA shape. All of the lighting, effects, water etc have been added via the World Editor as well as several of the props floating around the world.
Torque Owner Brandon Baker
World Core Studios
with blade3d though what you think you can make a game in a year you might but i bet it would suck your goign to have to at lest pay for 2 years for there license and there engine is not even good.