Microbrush 3 - A 3D modeler

[Shrinker]

Hello there.
I've been working on a little level editor on and off for a few years and it is slowly becoming usable.

It's called Microbrush (now already part 3) because my main focus, for now, is the bare brushwork

[youtube]wjjB8MLjvJ4[/youtube]

And it has two predecessors from long ago, here.

The editor is fully programmable out of the box without third-party tools, lives on a plugin system, supports multiple worlds at once with 2D and 3D views (at whatever angles, clip planes, etc.), freely configurable 3D grid axes for a skewed or rotated grid, alignment to ellipses instead of normal grid cells, configurable grid bases (to 2, to 10, to 42, etc.), text interfaces for settings like the camera for easy storing and recalling, has the essential tools for quick brush creation manipulation including merging and intersecting, seems to work with scenes of about a million brushes in total (64bit version still on my todo list...), various brush input and output formats, has a rather strong key combination sequence configuration format, three distinct selection sets to work with, and many other things I forgot. And I am still developing it.

If there is a bit of interest in this tech, I can look into outputting a Quake 3-compatible map format rather soon and get the version used for that video out. My goal is not to replace another editor, but to just augment the level editing process a bit. Maybe people can do some things faster with my editor than with others, and then combine the strengths.

I am tweeting about new developments here.

-S

[AEon]

Pretty mazing editor... though it does show that you in the video really know how to use it. First time I have seen editing only using 3D view was in Reflex... but this editor actually shows where they might want go with their tools, only you already have all the stuff already done. I like the concept of moving your "original grid walls" to where you need them to help you orientate in 3D...

Would be interesting to see how work with an non-orthogonal grid is done. I am pretty old-school, so cannot really imagine how it would work... though I do see how powerful that could be. In GTKradiant doing something at an 45°, the most trivial non-90° building, is a pain.

[Shrinker]

My grid has a setting for a secondary snapping, so that the start and end points of your actions are first snapped to the displayed grid, and then to the secondary, "normal" grid. Note here though that an "orthogonal grid" can also be a rotated grid, so I'll just refer to the default setup as normal. For the primary grid, you can also toggle snapping on different axes independently:
[youtube]mVX1MOTqmPg[/youtube]
The grid was the first thing I made for this editor.

Of course, for actually rotated architecture, an approach with instancing is much better, but I don't have that. But I do have an exposed plugin API that can be used to craft new tools for funky geometry. If I can motivate myself enough to finish my first batch of points on my todo list, I shall also consider neat things like grouping or support for bezier patch meshes... and texturing. So many things to do. :I

[obsidian]

Neato! 3D grid system reminds me a bit of Modo, rotating the view exposes different grid axes. I suggest you check it out if you haven't already, might give you some ideas.

[Shrinker]

Well, I think my grid system is pretty much complete already. The plugin for interfacing with it needs to be made more pretty sometime, but other than that it's all functional.

[Hipshot]

Three things:

# What formats can it export to now?

# I would love to test this if it can export Q3 maps, but you will need to have some more support for that, like showing of external models inside your program =)

# What language is this written in? Can it be used as a lib inside another program?

[Shrinker]

Hello.
I have just put together a new work in progress release. It can be downloaded here.

The formats it can at the moment save to and load from are:
- .mb3dat, its own proprietary binary format; might have breaking changes in the future
- .mb3txt, the textual representation of its binary format, for easy manipulation with third-party programs and better data recovery; can optionally also expose the computed polygon vertices if saved appropriately in the plugin (in main menu.ixpl, change the call to [void saveWorldToFile(string &path, int bStoreBrushContours);] to use true instead of false and then recompile)
- Half-Life 2 .vmf, the most recent CS:GO version of that format
- Half-Life 1 .map, the version that Hammer 3.4 (?) saves

I have put "add Quake 3 .map support" on my todo list.
At the moment, I can not show external models inside of my program. My development capabilities are limited, so I am merely trying to augment the level editing process, and not replace it entirely on my own.

This editor and graphics engine are proprietary and use the Win32 and OpenGL APIs directly.
The plugins defining pretty much all of the business logic in the editor are all written in my own little programming language IXPL and are compiled from source when you set up the editor. The API for that is exposed in data\sources\include; the editor functions specific to editing Quake-style worlds are in Core-QuakeWorld.ixpl. The Minecraft version (not in development anymore due to lack of community interest) followed the same architecture principles and has a clear distinction between common editor stuff and game-specific mechanisms too.

*edit: Go for Microbrush-3-wip-2014-12-17.2.zip, just fixed a configuration mistake preventing the toolbar from working right.

[Shrinker]

Hmm... I think I'll have a look at the possibility of supporting the curved patch meshes from Q3 in my editor next.
Maybe I can make it so that complex curvy architecture is just as easy to manipulate as brushes... without texturing mechanisms for now.

[Hipshot]

Hey, I know where I've seen your name now. On the SeriousZone forums...

[Shrinker]

And in the Serious Sam 3 credits! Woohoo! :P
I've stopped pursuing that career path for this editor.

[Hipshot]

I'm gonna try this out better in the coming weekend. I also thought about that minecraft statement you said, that you dropped the development because there were no interest, I think that will probably happen here to, cause we already have Radiant and I don't think anyone will stop using that in favour for some other editor, unless they are actually better, in all aspects. And that's like placing lights, connecting entities, creating special brushes, like botclip etc.


A little offtopic:

And in the Serious Sam 3 credits! Woohoo! :P
I've stopped pursuing that career path for this editor.

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=44915.0
http://forums.seriouszone.com/showthread.php?t=65606

[obsidian]

you dropped the development because there were no interest, I think that will probably happen here to, cause we already have Radiant

This is pretty great as an academic exercise in learning how to do tools development, but Hipshot has a point if you intend to get a large user base, it's a rather difficult road to do alone. That said, you can probably contribute in large ways to the GtkRadiant project, programmers are always welcome and in short supply...

http://icculus.org/gtkradiant/developers.html

[Shrinker]

Hello.

I'd like to point out here that Microbrush advanced far beyond my Minecraft editor already.

That said, I'm happy already if a handful people here and there find my work useful enough to fiddle around with it to augment their level editing process. I am not looking into replacing their favorite tools altogether - That would be hard even with a good team of a few people.

Also, I disagree with the idea of dropping my project just because something bigger already exists.

[obsidian]

I don't think anyone is encouraging you to drop your project, just trying to help you define your goals.

[axbaby]

I want to get a program for 3D printing, creating 3d models for multirotor octocopter parts.
I have been creating my own flying machines for geophysical work hunting for mineral deposits.

Unfortunetly I aint to bright but know quake1 to quake4 mapping fairly well.
If your software eventually supports quake3 mapping then will I be able to export my created model to a 3D printer.

I have tried Blender and other model software (gave up) but just wish it was more like quake3.
I am creating just simple shapes .. motor mounts, landing gear etc

I have tried in vain to find a quake3 style 3D modeller using the simple x y z grid system.

Who knows others may benefit from your software for 3D printing using a quake3 plug-in or your own drop dead simple 3D software.

I will follow your progress.

[phantazm11]

This is a great little project.

Unfortunetly I aint to bright but know quake1 to quake4 mapping fairly well.
If your software eventually supports quake3 mapping then will I be able to export my created model to a 3D printer.

Have you tried Sketchup Pro? Seems rather simple to create complex objects, so simple shapes should be no problem at all.

Check out this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPQliNKJKto

[Shrinker]

Okay then, supporting that map format is now my priority.

[Shrinker]

Had an idea for some kind of Lego budgeting plugin, and this is the experimental result. xD
[youtube]2mgAur5_9ow[/youtube]

This is the first time I've done some actual analysis of the world contents and reacted to it. The plugin can identify and count the different brick types, and the knobs are not generated inside of bricks. Also, the grid is easily configured to represent the proportions of normal Lego bricks.

[Shrinker]

Well, this looks sad.
[lvlshot]http://shrinker.beyond-veils.de/temp15f/2015-01-04%20Mb3%20Q3Map.png[/lvlshot]

Yes, my main menu will get a makeover later on.

[AEon]

Cool that it is starting to work for Q3A. I could imagine that us modelling tool challenged folks, might use it as a form of external modelling tool to create some of the more complicated geometry in your editor, to then export it as brushes to GTKradiant.

I am presently creating modules for building blocks that have a 45° cut along e.g. all edges of a cube. This is relatively simply to do on said cube due to the orthogonal views using the clipping tool. But imagine that you look at the cube from above, make a cut from corner to corner, so you end up with a triangle. Not was barely able to get that angled cut on the diagonal...

Would your rotating grid let me make 45° edge cuts along such an diagonal? I would imagine this could be the "simplest" test for a rotatable grid. Or how would one best go about such a thing. I got this "done" in a probably less than a perfect way in GTKradiant doing some vertex editing... maybe patches would have been a better way to try to do it.

Anyway, would be great to hear how your editor could make this case possible? Thanks.

BTW, did your editor support grouping of brushes?

[Shrinker]

Using two editors: Yes, that is the intention.

Are you talking about 3-point clipping? There's a tool for that in Mb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjjB8MLjvJ4&t=6m10s
You can also merge and intersect brushes. Mitering should be easy to do that way.

I don't have vertex editing or grouping yet.

[Hipshot]

I started using this yesterday, a few days later then I had planed hehe =)

Anyway, I don't get how I use it, only thing I see when I start it up is a white background and when I drag out a cube is disappears? I tried lowering the framerate to 30 with f4, to see if it was that, but seems it was not that?

[Shrinker]

Find me on Skype?
Added you on Steam..

Everything's done with shaders. For some reason, they are not having an effect on your install of the editor. Do you by chance have an ATI graphics system and did not run the configure.bat for that one, as instructed by the installation instructions?

[Hipshot]

Hehe, well, it worked once I did that =) I'm on a nvidia system.

It's always a bit confusing with new applications.

I accepted you on steam.

[Shrinker]

My goal for 2015.
[lvlshot]http://shrinker.beyond-veils.de/temp15f/2015-01-12%20Mb3%20Patch9.png[/lvlshot]