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Why do level editors have geometry creation features?

Started by dave May 5, 2016 at 10:50 AM 3 replies 1.5k views

Original Post

May 5, 2016 at 10:50 AM

What do I mean?

We all know that characters, props and so forth are generally created in modelling packages and imported and positioned in the level editor to form a scene. Terrain is usually crafted within the level editor because it ties in very closely to to the terrain implementation and so typically isn't created in modelling packages. However Unity, Unreal and Hammer editors all provide the ability to create geometry such as quads, planes, cubes and spheres, from scratch.

Why do we need these features?

What is this useful for if you have Maya or 3DS Max installed?

Why not just create everything in modelling packages?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and I'd be interested in hearing what you think the uses for it are.

Thanks,

Syntac_

May 5, 2016 at 10:58 AM

They are very useful for fast whiteboxing/testing. Artists aren't always available and at times it's not always possible to use a modelling package when you're a programmer, license count restrictions, ability to use the packages, etc.

jjimenezg93

May 5, 2016 at 11:38 AM

As Syntac_ said, it helps programmers.

I'm a programmer and I want to start doing my stuff before artists finish their models. I use a capsule for the player and a cube for enemies, so I can program basic movement and events, which I only need to tweak after I get final art.

Besides that, I think designers could make a level with planes, cubes and spheres, with some kind of color code or images which artists can then take as reference.

Those are just examples, but I hope you get the general idea about why this feature is useful.

Best regards.

ferrous

May 5, 2016 at 3:45 PM

Level designers will also often spit out a prototype level with just some shapes. Anyone who doesn't regularly keep a 3d modeling package open shouldn't have to wait the 5 minutes it takes on average for the damned thing to open, plop down basic geometry, hopefully get it centered correctly, then export it, then re-import it into the game, just to get a very basic shape into their game.

Tangletail

May 5, 2016 at 5:05 PM

They also work great for simplified collision geometry

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