Spark Editor - Features (to speed up mapping) - you are (personally) missing ?
SORRY IF THERE IS ALREADY A FEATURES THREAD - i did not find it!
engines i mapped:
* build: duke nukem 3d
* valve hammer editor: half life 1
* now: spark editor
=== i personally miss these features:
1.) Model Browser with category tree:
-a category model browser (based on current file names). right now you cant use the "eye dropper" to reselect a placed model and you always have to search the whole 1500 models again.
it would be much better if we had a categorie tree to show models given by the name you clicked on like this:
MODEL BROWSER (left: category tree + right: model view/pictures):
ALL (click on this and you see all models like it is right now)
|-marines (50 models)
|--exo...
|-aliens (40 models)
|--skulk (1 model)
|-refinery (300 models)
|--pipe (20 models)
|--chair (5 models)
2.) an easier option to group / ungroup faces.
right now i have to select each point of two brushes (if i didnt used the extrude tool) to group (= weld) faces together.
would be much easier if you just could select faces and group / weld them at the nearest points.
same should be to ungroup (unweld) this grouped (welded) faces.
3.) an option to save brushwork (like a model) with a category brushwork browser (independent from level files)
select a mapped pieced of brushwork and save it to your brushwork browser. later you can just select the mapped brushwork again and place it on another location
(on another map) and of course on the location your mouse cursor is.
example: i map a chair and texture it... would be nice to save it and just place it later WITHOUT flying through the whole map
* to select
* copy & paste
* move it to another location
* if you want to insert it in another level you have to SEARCH the exact location on the level you copied the chair
(sometimes you cant even find it if its out of draw distance, so you have to have a look on the x/y/z locations for the original chair to get the location in another level file)
right now: this is to much uncomfortable work to do in my opinion.
this would really be awesome... so i would never have to recreate a circles, rectangles and complex brushwork i have done before.
i just select the saved brushwork in a categorie tree (where i saved it before)...
BRUSHWORK BROWSER:
BASIC
|- full circle, 1/4 circle, 1/2 circle
|- square, rectangle, triangle
complex
|- chairs
|- doors
|- archs
|- bold geometry
|- lamp geometry
game rules
|- arc circle range
|- draw distance circle range
|- bile bomb distance circle range
|- marine jump high rectangle
|- onos height, width rectangle
|- techpoint with hive tentacle locations
engines i mapped:
* build: duke nukem 3d
* valve hammer editor: half life 1
* now: spark editor
=== i personally miss these features:
1.) Model Browser with category tree:
-a category model browser (based on current file names). right now you cant use the "eye dropper" to reselect a placed model and you always have to search the whole 1500 models again.
it would be much better if we had a categorie tree to show models given by the name you clicked on like this:
MODEL BROWSER (left: category tree + right: model view/pictures):
ALL (click on this and you see all models like it is right now)
|-marines (50 models)
|--exo...
|-aliens (40 models)
|--skulk (1 model)
|-refinery (300 models)
|--pipe (20 models)
|--chair (5 models)
2.) an easier option to group / ungroup faces.
right now i have to select each point of two brushes (if i didnt used the extrude tool) to group (= weld) faces together.
would be much easier if you just could select faces and group / weld them at the nearest points.
same should be to ungroup (unweld) this grouped (welded) faces.
3.) an option to save brushwork (like a model) with a category brushwork browser (independent from level files)
select a mapped pieced of brushwork and save it to your brushwork browser. later you can just select the mapped brushwork again and place it on another location
(on another map) and of course on the location your mouse cursor is.
example: i map a chair and texture it... would be nice to save it and just place it later WITHOUT flying through the whole map
* to select
* copy & paste
* move it to another location
* if you want to insert it in another level you have to SEARCH the exact location on the level you copied the chair
(sometimes you cant even find it if its out of draw distance, so you have to have a look on the x/y/z locations for the original chair to get the location in another level file)
right now: this is to much uncomfortable work to do in my opinion.
this would really be awesome... so i would never have to recreate a circles, rectangles and complex brushwork i have done before.
i just select the saved brushwork in a categorie tree (where i saved it before)...
BRUSHWORK BROWSER:
BASIC
|- full circle, 1/4 circle, 1/2 circle
|- square, rectangle, triangle
complex
|- chairs
|- doors
|- archs
|- bold geometry
|- lamp geometry
game rules
|- arc circle range
|- draw distance circle range
|- bile bomb distance circle range
|- marine jump high rectangle
|- onos height, width rectangle
|- techpoint with hive tentacle locations
Comments
What entities specifically? Just the logic ones (some are in EEM), or which ones?
func_button
func_conveyor
func_door
func_door_rotating
func_friction
func_plat
func_platrot
func_rot_button
func_rotating
func_train
func_water
func_weldable
trigger_gravity
trigger_multiple
trigger_once
trigger_presence
trigger_push
trigger_teleport
multisource
multimanager
trigger_relay
trigger_changetarget
trigger_random
All triggers need a "on round reset"
light_environment (sun, maybe multisource lights for this?)
And more texture tools
Treat as one, align to world/face (multiface editing)
Texture lock on flipping (not just rotating and moving)
Blending, to get rid of those lines on the floor
Splines, smooth lines/decals
So basically take a look at this https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/List_of_base_entities and implement almost everything. ^^
a hotkey to bridge a quad between two selected edges.
extrude multiple selected faces as a group with the normal averaged and make it so it doesn't create a load of internal faces.
Add a numerical input to extrude with bevel so we can use it to inset, bevel or extrude!
Then I'd be a happy man
Is the plat/platrot the only other one you really need?
There's also a few other entities that make more sense when you use the Xenoswarm codebase...
But my entites sometimes are called a bit different, like butten is logic_button etc.
All my entities have a "round reset".
I actually meant the option that displayed the list of entities used in the map that let you select and go to them in the editor. It'd be nice if you could do this per layer too. So I could select all the light entities in a layer, or in the whole map, for example, and do a change... or I forgot where I put my minimap extents... I don't want to be looking for it everywhere, etc.
is available right now, but its not working for all faces... only for flat faces.
Treat as one:
Example - flat face - before:
Example - flat face - after:
Example - not flat face - right (use "flat face" method + texture lock + move center edges down):
Example - not flat face - wrong (don´t use "treat as one" on "not flat faces"):
Also my biggest pet peeve is the lack of texture lock on flipping geometry
I've never actually looked into Spark mapping beyond the default and Last Stand stuff, this is basically my workflow:
- opening the editor
- slapping some stuff in there
- play around with lights
- open up the texture editor
- modify some textures
- get annoyed and reminisce the good old days when texturing was fun (it's better now, but still lacking them features)
- close editor
Jim that EEMod looks to be super awesome!
Also about the texture editor, the stuff I've mentioned would be amazing to have and would make maps look much nicer as well, but there is one kinda quirky addition I'd like to see as well. Shaping square textures into the shape of the geometry (Sketchup has that). Basically what this does is if you have a piece of geometry that isn't entirely square/rectangle, you can take the corners of the texture, distort it into the shape of the face by locking the texture corners onto the face's vertex corners
Also can we please be able to re-organize the groups already? I don't think that would be that hard.
Edit: you CAN re-organize layers, my bad.
- cannot change the order of the groups
- cannot assign a custom color to groups (color selector/mixer like for the light entity)
- texture browser goes back up to the beginning of the list whenever I click on a texture
Other things that would have sped up my mapping a lot:
- ability to select all faces that have the selected texture applied (for mass changing, finding out placed that cause material error messages, etc.)
- a way to "pipette" props the same way you can with textures.
- a way to have everything you create automatically be part of a selected group
- the ability to "refine" selections. When I select multiple things often I just want the faces or the props, not both. I suggest having 3 little buttons (F, P, L) near where we can set texture lock to on/off. Whenever something is selected, all buttons are automatically set to "on". By switching one or more to "off", the respective type of stuff will be unselected. No more lines or points that accidently are copied, etc.
Also:
- why can't the editor create the minimap? I know the editor is meant to work with everything Spark while the minimap is specific to NS2, but why not create a checkbox when saving? Or an entry in the tool selection? I know there are the scripts that Mendasp created, I just think such essential stuff should be in the editor to begin with.
More Sketchup features would be useful, but Spark handles models so well that I would say that 90%+ of each map should be models/meshes mported from Sketchup/Blender/etc anyway.
It's a tough job for one programmer to create a modelling program, but I would like to see these features:
A distance reading from the perspective camera's center/crosshair to the first brush face would to make it easier to check for any Line of sight issues and gauge distances.
The reading could be down in the bottom right before the coordinates then turn red when it exceeds the default LOS distance.
The camera also needs to have a icon to mark its location in the 2d windows.
I know what you meant by that. I group up layers in photoshop all the time. I'd kill myself if that feature was removed since usually there's more than 50 layers in my stuff. Spark should definitely have that implemented.
Now I really feel stupid >_<
Thanks for the heads-up.
I'd like numerical inputs for the rotate tool, as well as a snap to grid option to finish rotates faster. Something like this?
The settings box could only show up when both the rotate tool and a prop\entity is selected.
The snap to grid could be set so when a user holds shift and drags a rotation circle, the prop/entity would rotate at intervals based on whatever degree is in the box. Dragging a circle without holding shift could just rotate it in freeform on axis like how it is now.
Since the tool settings would only show up if a prop and rotate tool is selected, the align button could be used to click on a wall after the button click to align whatever was initially selected to the wall on it's y axis (side to side, like in the picture with the power node).
I'd also like a list of entities/props that would show what I have in the map already, with filter options to find things quickly as the map gets bigger. It'd be pretty cool if I could click on an item in the list and select it that way, since the entities for designating areas and minimap tend to get in the way when zoomed out for a more complete view. (Is there a way to temporarily hide these entities btw? ;_;)
I personally always make a separate layers for entities, lights, props, etc per location, so I can just toggle the visibility of that layer off.