Constructor Feedback
by Afrim Kacaj · in Constructor · 04/17/2007 (9:04 am) · 18 replies
I feel that Constructor is far superior to 3D World Studio when it comes to designing for Torque. However there are a few features that I wish it had and here is my feedback.
1. A preference setting for changing viewport color. I would prefer to change it from gray to black.
2. A preference setting for changing vertex handle size. I find that the handles to all the tools are too small for my screen and I have to zoom in to select it.
3. I find it very difficult to work with the grid size. I wish there was a keyboard shortcut to increase and decrease the grid size. Currently there are two different settings that I find myself manipulating every two seconds to get things to snap where I want them. I would refer you to 3D World Studio as an example of how the grid scale should work.
4. When creating new brushes it would help if it remembered the size of the last brush that I created. Depending on the viewport I use when creating a box I initially get to choose the size of two axis but the third seems to be arbitrary. It would help if the third dimension was the same size as the last brush that I created. Extremely helpful when creating walls.
5. When jumping from brush selection mode to face or vertex, it would help if all the faces of the brush were autoselected for me. This is helpful when changing texture scale for the entire object.
6. It seems that there is no way to select brushes that are in the background of other brushes from the 2D viewports. 3D World Studio has a little X in the center of each brush that allows you to easily select brushes blocked by others.
7. After creating a brush and then resizing it later it scales the texture with the brush. This is a pain when working with repeating textures. It would help if texture scale stayed the same on resize. Currently the only way to do this is by resizing the brush by selecting the face and moving it.
8. Ambient color defaults to "0 0 0" in the worldspawn entity. Not a big deal but requires to manually change it when creating a new map.
9. When adding all textures from a particular folder to an album. It would be amazing if that folder was actually monitored for new textures each time constructor is reloaded. (I haven't actually tested this part so it may already do this).
1. A preference setting for changing viewport color. I would prefer to change it from gray to black.
2. A preference setting for changing vertex handle size. I find that the handles to all the tools are too small for my screen and I have to zoom in to select it.
3. I find it very difficult to work with the grid size. I wish there was a keyboard shortcut to increase and decrease the grid size. Currently there are two different settings that I find myself manipulating every two seconds to get things to snap where I want them. I would refer you to 3D World Studio as an example of how the grid scale should work.
4. When creating new brushes it would help if it remembered the size of the last brush that I created. Depending on the viewport I use when creating a box I initially get to choose the size of two axis but the third seems to be arbitrary. It would help if the third dimension was the same size as the last brush that I created. Extremely helpful when creating walls.
5. When jumping from brush selection mode to face or vertex, it would help if all the faces of the brush were autoselected for me. This is helpful when changing texture scale for the entire object.
6. It seems that there is no way to select brushes that are in the background of other brushes from the 2D viewports. 3D World Studio has a little X in the center of each brush that allows you to easily select brushes blocked by others.
7. After creating a brush and then resizing it later it scales the texture with the brush. This is a pain when working with repeating textures. It would help if texture scale stayed the same on resize. Currently the only way to do this is by resizing the brush by selecting the face and moving it.
8. Ambient color defaults to "0 0 0" in the worldspawn entity. Not a big deal but requires to manually change it when creating a new map.
9. When adding all textures from a particular folder to an album. It would be amazing if that folder was actually monitored for new textures each time constructor is reloaded. (I haven't actually tested this part so it may already do this).
#2
2) $pref::Constructor::selectedVertexSize (defaults to 6.0)
That only changes the size of the selected vertex. My problem is actually that the tool handles are too small. When I create a box, I get the handles on all sides and corners but the handles are small and since the cursor does not change when hovering over them, its difficult to see if I actually grabbed it or not.
4) Activate actually creates the same exact size box as my previous box. Say I am drawing the 4 sides of a house from the top view. I would draw one wall, fix the height to the size that I want as well as the Z location to the size that I want and move to draw the next wall. When drawing the second wall since I am drawing from the top view, only X and Y should be affected by me dragging the box on the view. Z should remain the same size and location as my previous brush.
Actually after further investigation, this seems like a bug. Drawing from the top view, while dragging the cursor in the Y direction, both Y and Z values are affected. But when dragging in the X direction only X is affected. So if i draw 5 arbitrary XY boxes, they all have a height equal to Y.
Edit: Confirmed exact behavior. Create any primitive and watch the size values. Drag in the X direction as big as you like and both Y and Z are unaffected. Now drag in the Y direction and you will see both Y and Z grow equally untill Z = X, then Z remains equal to X. Now drag in the X direction and Z will grow together with X untill Z = Y. This only happens on the initial drag. Once you let go of the mouse and grab one of the corners, everything works as expected.
8) The only reason I suggested that is because the ambient color property in the sunlight has no affect in the scene. But I did try your suggestion and it did not work, I even tried closing and reopening constructor but default ambient color still comes in as "0 0 0" in new scenes. However, if I delete the worldspawn entity via Brush > Parent > Edit Properties > Delete and then add a new worldspawn entity it works. Looks like it is not reading the preferences properly when it creates the scene.
10) A preference setting for default texture scale. I noticed that it is hard coded for all of the tools.
04/17/2007 (8:10 pm)
Matt, thanks for the help. I understand that my preferences are different than everyone else.2) $pref::Constructor::selectedVertexSize (defaults to 6.0)
That only changes the size of the selected vertex. My problem is actually that the tool handles are too small. When I create a box, I get the handles on all sides and corners but the handles are small and since the cursor does not change when hovering over them, its difficult to see if I actually grabbed it or not.
4) Activate actually creates the same exact size box as my previous box. Say I am drawing the 4 sides of a house from the top view. I would draw one wall, fix the height to the size that I want as well as the Z location to the size that I want and move to draw the next wall. When drawing the second wall since I am drawing from the top view, only X and Y should be affected by me dragging the box on the view. Z should remain the same size and location as my previous brush.
Actually after further investigation, this seems like a bug. Drawing from the top view, while dragging the cursor in the Y direction, both Y and Z values are affected. But when dragging in the X direction only X is affected. So if i draw 5 arbitrary XY boxes, they all have a height equal to Y.
Edit: Confirmed exact behavior. Create any primitive and watch the size values. Drag in the X direction as big as you like and both Y and Z are unaffected. Now drag in the Y direction and you will see both Y and Z grow equally untill Z = X, then Z remains equal to X. Now drag in the X direction and Z will grow together with X untill Z = Y. This only happens on the initial drag. Once you let go of the mouse and grab one of the corners, everything works as expected.
8) The only reason I suggested that is because the ambient color property in the sunlight has no affect in the scene. But I did try your suggestion and it did not work, I even tried closing and reopening constructor but default ambient color still comes in as "0 0 0" in new scenes. However, if I delete the worldspawn entity via Brush > Parent > Edit Properties > Delete and then add a new worldspawn entity it works. Looks like it is not reading the preferences properly when it creates the scene.
10) A preference setting for default texture scale. I noticed that it is hard coded for all of the tools.
#3
This especialy..
Number 2 should be a GUI/View Setting....
Number seven especially, its one reason i keep wanting to go back to my old editor. I understand people work differently.. Fine, Make it a toggle please.This is essential for speed in the draft portion of map making.
#9 Needs a reload Texture button when selected in the browser.
I would like to add that if i select a face, then try to edit the textures position, i should only need to click in the numerical and use the scroll wheel to - or + the numbers and position.
Thanks.
04/22/2007 (8:20 pm)
I don't want to Edit my tool's scripts..... But i would like allot of the above features.This especialy..
Quote:
2. A preference setting for changing vertex handle size. I find that the handles to all the tools are too small for my screen and I have to zoom in to select it.
3. I find it very difficult to work with the grid size. I wish there was a keyboard shortcut to increase and decrease the grid size. Currently there are two different settings that I find myself manipulating every two seconds to get things to snap where I want them. I would refer you to 3D World Studio as an example of how the grid scale should work.
7. After creating a brush and then resizing it later it scales the texture with the brush. This is a pain when working with repeating textures. It would help if texture scale stayed the same on resize. Currently the only way to do this is by resizing the brush by selecting the face and moving it.
9. When adding all textures from a particular folder to an album. It would be amazing if that folder was actually monitored for new textures each time constructor is reloaded. (I haven't actually tested this part so it may already do this).
Number 2 should be a GUI/View Setting....
Number seven especially, its one reason i keep wanting to go back to my old editor. I understand people work differently.. Fine, Make it a toggle please.This is essential for speed in the draft portion of map making.
#9 Needs a reload Texture button when selected in the browser.
I would like to add that if i select a face, then try to edit the textures position, i should only need to click in the numerical and use the scroll wheel to - or + the numbers and position.
Thanks.
#4
Its really slowing down creation. If your just trying to rough out areas and not worried about details, you still now need to go back and edit each and every face... Its annoying.
What exactly is the advantage of this?
I'm a lightwave user.
05/04/2007 (12:23 pm)
#7 is really turning me off constructor, especially since i can't easily edit the texture values with out typing.Its really slowing down creation. If your just trying to rough out areas and not worried about details, you still now need to go back and edit each and every face... Its annoying.
What exactly is the advantage of this?
I'm a lightwave user.
#5
For example, if you were to create a box and scale it, you would expect the textures to scale with it and for it to continue to look like a box afterwards.
I'm not terribly familiar with Constructor yet, but many of the other editors I've used have allowed you to do it either way... usually by locking the texture scale on the object before you scale the object. Not positive exactly how you'd do this in Constructor, but I would expect to be able to do something similar.
05/04/2007 (2:13 pm)
The advantage is that frequently when you scale something, you WANT it to look like just a bigger version of whatever it is.For example, if you were to create a box and scale it, you would expect the textures to scale with it and for it to continue to look like a box afterwards.
I'm not terribly familiar with Constructor yet, but many of the other editors I've used have allowed you to do it either way... usually by locking the texture scale on the object before you scale the object. Not positive exactly how you'd do this in Constructor, but I would expect to be able to do something similar.
#6
It would be nice as a global toggle (toolbar/menu flagged) texture lock, since it's only going to affect things when you're scaling brush in some form, it's easy to enable/disable on a case by case basis (no need to save a flag setting for individual brushes/entities/faces)
05/06/2007 (4:35 am)
Quote: 3. I find it very difficult to work with the grid size. I wish there was a keyboard shortcut to increase and decrease the grid size. Currently there are two different settings that I find myself manipulating every two seconds to get things to snap where I want them. I would refer you to 3D World Studio as an example of how the grid scale should work.
Quote:It'd be one of those hugely time saving things because of how often people need to do it, not sure why we'd need to get a seperate script for this type of functionality.
3) Somebody with some scripting experience should be able to make this change once I release the scripts' sources.
Quote:
5. When jumping from brush selection mode to face or vertex, it would help if all the faces of the brush were autoselected for me. This is helpful when changing texture scale for the entire object.
Quote:I can't imagine why most people wouldn't want it this way, why would you want to have mode specific selections except in few exception cases?
Another thing that an entripid scriptor could do for you. It definitely isn't default behavior most people want
Quote:
#7 is really turning me off constructor, especially since i can't easily edit the texture values with out typing.
Its really slowing down creation. If your just trying to rough out areas and not worried about details, you still now need to go back and edit each and every face... Its annoying.
It would be nice as a global toggle (toolbar/menu flagged) texture lock, since it's only going to affect things when you're scaling brush in some form, it's easy to enable/disable on a case by case basis (no need to save a flag setting for individual brushes/entities/faces)
#7
Edit: Confirmed exact behavior. Create any primitive and watch the size values. Drag in the X direction as big as you like and both Y and Z are unaffected. Now drag in the Y direction and you will see both Y and Z grow equally untill Z = X, then Z remains equal to X. Now drag in the X direction and Z will grow together with X untill Z = Y. This only happens on the initial drag. Once you let go of the mouse and grab one of the corners, everything works as expected."
This explains a lot to me.
I've been working on a level where there's lots of moving of verts and the like, and my side view shows a dissarayed, slanted, uneven mess at this point which is really weird since i've hardly touched the Z axis. This would explain it quite soundly.
05/07/2007 (3:38 am)
"Actually after further investigation, this seems like a bug. Drawing from the top view, while dragging the cursor in the Y direction, both Y and Z values are affected. But when dragging in the X direction only X is affected. So if i draw 5 arbitrary XY boxes, they all have a height equal to Y.Edit: Confirmed exact behavior. Create any primitive and watch the size values. Drag in the X direction as big as you like and both Y and Z are unaffected. Now drag in the Y direction and you will see both Y and Z grow equally untill Z = X, then Z remains equal to X. Now drag in the X direction and Z will grow together with X untill Z = Y. This only happens on the initial drag. Once you let go of the mouse and grab one of the corners, everything works as expected."
This explains a lot to me.
I've been working on a level where there's lots of moving of verts and the like, and my side view shows a dissarayed, slanted, uneven mess at this point which is really weird since i've hardly touched the Z axis. This would explain it quite soundly.
#8
For sure in Max is different but a BSP editor is something completely different, this is something I think pretty everybody agree. You work a lot with repeating texture and this make a great difference...
Anyway having a toggable setting for this would make everybody happy.
For me too is a reason enough to switch back to my previous BSP tool, at least for geometry editing...
Also I agree regarding the needs of a improved grid management, this way it's not practical.
JoZ.
05/07/2007 (3:35 pm)
Yes guy, about 7 i think most of the people prefer to have a toggable "lock texture" setting, this is a must to have absolutely.For sure in Max is different but a BSP editor is something completely different, this is something I think pretty everybody agree. You work a lot with repeating texture and this make a great difference...
Anyway having a toggable setting for this would make everybody happy.
For me too is a reason enough to switch back to my previous BSP tool, at least for geometry editing...
Also I agree regarding the needs of a improved grid management, this way it's not practical.
JoZ.
#9
I wanted to let you know that for the next release you'll be able to change the grid snapping using keyboard shortcuts (number 3 in the original post). Your choices will be:
1. By a set amount as determined by the user. ie: Always increment or decrement by 0.1m
2. By a power of 10
3. By a power of 2
Hopefully that'll help you guys out.
- LightWave Dave
05/08/2007 (12:06 am)
Greetings!I wanted to let you know that for the next release you'll be able to change the grid snapping using keyboard shortcuts (number 3 in the original post). Your choices will be:
1. By a set amount as determined by the user. ie: Always increment or decrement by 0.1m
2. By a power of 10
3. By a power of 2
Hopefully that'll help you guys out.
- LightWave Dave
#10
05/08/2007 (3:34 am)
Matt; What happened to those sources, will they be available soon? (I finally got around to actually use constructor for something proper... and, well, have some "annoyances" I want to fix =).
#12
All this thing will be really semplifying our journey with Constructor :)
And... yes we still need point 7 done :)
JoZ.
05/08/2007 (11:45 am)
Well done David :)All this thing will be really semplifying our journey with Constructor :)
And... yes we still need point 7 done :)
JoZ.
#13
05/08/2007 (12:36 pm)
7) Just select all of the faces or vertices and move them and the texture won't move along with them.
#14
Often it happens you have to just muve a brush side that is really close to another but not touching and you want the sides aligned... in this way maybe pretty unpossible to select the face unless you navigate in the 3d view near the brush you want to resize and hide eventual brushes blocking the view.
Since this (texture stretching) is something not active in all modes, is there a consol command to type to avoid this behaviour when using size-bounds mode at least for the moment?
And since other features would be added why not to add also a "lock-unlock texture" command? Is this so difficult to accomplish? (I'm not polemic, it's just a question...)
JoZ.
05/10/2007 (3:15 am)
Ok, this can have some use but we need the ability to edit the shape bounds (brush - size bounds mode) without having the texture stretching, yes we can accomplish with this by selecting faces or vertex and moving it but also working with a small complex map edit in this way is something terribly slow and difficult, a really "kick in the *ss to the productivity" lol!Often it happens you have to just muve a brush side that is really close to another but not touching and you want the sides aligned... in this way maybe pretty unpossible to select the face unless you navigate in the 3d view near the brush you want to resize and hide eventual brushes blocking the view.
Since this (texture stretching) is something not active in all modes, is there a consol command to type to avoid this behaviour when using size-bounds mode at least for the moment?
And since other features would be added why not to add also a "lock-unlock texture" command? Is this so difficult to accomplish? (I'm not polemic, it's just a question...)
JoZ.
#15
I get the error "Could not activate tool transform size" "This tool only works in Brush selection mode".
This is not how BSP editors work.
05/17/2007 (2:06 pm)
How do you select all the faces when your resizing? Thats two different modes for constructor.I get the error "Could not activate tool transform size" "This tool only works in Brush selection mode".
This is not how BSP editors work.
#16
I recently made a module prefab, that consist well over 100 brushes. I wanted to zero it out, BUT had to select one brush at a time then move it. That process took over an hour to do. :(
Also it would be nice to have "Replace Texture" tool. Something like QuArks.
05/18/2007 (1:34 pm)
When will we have the capability to move a grouped brush pivot?? I recently made a module prefab, that consist well over 100 brushes. I wanted to zero it out, BUT had to select one brush at a time then move it. That process took over an hour to do. :(
Also it would be nice to have "Replace Texture" tool. Something like QuArks.
#17
From the select tab at the voice "Mat" select the material U want to replace in the scene, then click on the plus then go to the material panel or the texture browser and choose the new texture you want and apply it... maybe a replace texture tool would be a bit quickier but the difference is minimal and we can work easily also in this way...
The grouped brush pivot is a great idea, not experimenting if there be yet a mode to do this...
JoZ :)
05/18/2007 (1:58 pm)
Hi Peter, for the "replace texture" if I'm right you can act this way...From the select tab at the voice "Mat" select the material U want to replace in the scene, then click on the plus then go to the material panel or the texture browser and choose the new texture you want and apply it... maybe a replace texture tool would be a bit quickier but the difference is minimal and we can work easily also in this way...
The grouped brush pivot is a great idea, not experimenting if there be yet a mode to do this...
JoZ :)
#18
Further that also the possibility to adjust the minor/major gridlines ratio...
Instead of a fixed 10 would be usefull the ability to set it to a power of 2, many other BSP editors has multiple minor/major lines... I'll try to explain... a lighter one for the basic gridline then another darker every 2 of the prevoius and so on... this since we must use textures in power of 2 and such gridlines style it's really helpfull when you're editing and must make brushes that fit on the fly with your textures... It's an important feedback that can speed up productivity a lot, at least I found this very usefull in my experience with other BSP editors.
My suggestions are always constructive and not demolitive of the good product Constructor is... ;)
JoZ
05/18/2007 (4:06 pm)
Something really nice to have would be color selection capabilities instead of typing the values since this is not intuitive and can take so much before you're successfull in selecting the exact color you want...Further that also the possibility to adjust the minor/major gridlines ratio...
Instead of a fixed 10 would be usefull the ability to set it to a power of 2, many other BSP editors has multiple minor/major lines... I'll try to explain... a lighter one for the basic gridline then another darker every 2 of the prevoius and so on... this since we must use textures in power of 2 and such gridlines style it's really helpfull when you're editing and must make brushes that fit on the fly with your textures... It's an important feedback that can speed up productivity a lot, at least I found this very usefull in my experience with other BSP editors.
My suggestions are always constructive and not demolitive of the good product Constructor is... ;)
JoZ
Associate Matt Fairfax
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2) $pref::Constructor::selectedVertexSize (defaults to 6.0)
3) Somebody with some scripting experience should be able to make this change once I release the scripts' sources.
4) Instead of dragging a new brush in the scene hit "Activate" and it will reset the brush creation parameters to the ones you used for the last create on that Tool (unless you reload Constructor). You can also make use of the "Make & Cont" button.
5) Another thing that an entripid scriptor could do for you. It definitely isn't default behavior most people want.
6) Using locking and hiding can go along way but we know it isn't the perfect solution.
7) This is an often requested item that simple did not make it in for 1.0. However, again, this definitely isn't how every artist wants it to work (those with 3ds max/maya experience prefer it the way it currently is).
8) That is the Torque standard for ambient color since *most* Interiors get all of their ambient color from the sun light in the missions. You can change your default by going to System->Manage Entity List...->worldspawn->Edit Properties->ambient color->Default.
9) That gets *really* tricky in a cross platform situation. Perhaps someday we will adress it but not any time soon.