Reply With QuoteVfig posted these in the DromEd discord as a way to make complex geometry like the ceiling of a dome.
Great info in here!
One of the things I find myself needing quite often is a "ruler" of sorts. But, this is DromEd, so we have to endure... I mean, improvise.
I use brushes and markers for this; it works for me, but if there's an easier way or an alternate one, I'd like to know. Other than counting little grid squares, and having to know what each one represents at any given time... I find the brushes and markers the best solution I've got.
I keep one named 'XYZ Measure' and I leave it the default marker size straight out of the obj hierarchy, which is a weird 0.311, 0.248, 0.310 units (which is irrelevant, as far as the numbers go, but it's important to me that I keep it the default size for reference in my head). Now, I can choose a spot where I need to know the coordinates for, and stick it there, say at the junction of a few brushes or the edge of one that I need to know the "floor" or "ceiling" coordinate..etc.
I know that the camera position is now repeated in the bottom right of Dromed's window, but I still like having something that I can move around and place somewhere and NOT have the camera move in the process. Also, I can shift that marker either manually with brush translation like I use for manual adjustment of terrain brushes, but I can also key in the coordinates in the X,Y,Z boxes in DromEd just as easily. This is also immensely handy for measuring between the edges of two brushes for distances between them. Need to know how many units between this and that floor? Place the marker at the borders (top of the lower brush, bottom of the upper brush) and subtract the Z coordinates from each other. Same works for right and left; because in both situations, usually the only data you usually have on brushes is their centers, and not their edges.
Ofc, at other times, I might just drag and create an air brush between two edges to get a quick approximation. I just have to remember to use it, or delete it, so it doesn't screw up my layout. The beauty of using Markers is that they don't affect the game world in any noticeable way, except to use up one Object ID. Small cost for something that's useful for crafting detailed terrain, especially with unusual shapes or dimensions. Plus, a quirk of DromEd's keeps the few markers that I have in my level close to the end of the Timing sequence, and I can usually just do a quick Tab or Shift-Tab to get to them to select them.
This leads me to the next one: leaving custom-shaped markers at various places. Working on a tower, got floors and staircases out the yinyang?? Doors throwing you off? Got your skinny little Area brush Me-Only'd right where you want it....?
Good. Now, what happens when you're focused on something like the detailed work of a staircase, and you're zoomed in, and you're not sure if you're above or below that floor you were trying to reach?
I create a long skinny Marker with, in this case, its top and bottom edges close together. Nothing stands out in the editor window like an off-color double-line suddenly showing up in view whose edges are something like only 0.125 units apart. You can lengthen and shorten to your heart's content, but it will stay right there at the level of that floor you're aiming for in the dark.
It's not perfect, and you have to keep those skinny markers nearby where you're going to end up. But it's a lot easier to shoot for one of those than an arbitrary point in space the other way.
Last edited by Hit Deity; 22nd Jan 2023 at 16:58.
Vfig posted these in the DromEd discord as a way to make complex geometry like the ceiling of a dome.
Nice! I was wondering if there was something like that.
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