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tool options and more


Onethousandstars

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Tools I would like to see in game:

 

1. Copy and paste - This is absolutely a must for big builds, building a fraction of a section and then duplicating that part several times will make builds faster, and more symmetric(if wanted), but I would also like to see more detailed copy/paste tool options.

   1a. Paste with surrounding blank space - this will allow for a box select copy to add in the negative surrounding space during paste allowing for the negative space itself to delete out any voxels that might occupy that surrounding area.

   1b. Paste without surrounding blank space - If you are using a box select copy sometimes you don't want to copy the surrounding area but only the actual voxels, and therefore when pasting them you can paste just the voxels into a snug occupied area of voxels.

 

2. Fill tool - just like in paint on a 2d surface area you can fill in an entire area with a color that stops when it hits a boundary. In a 3d environment this might be a little tricky to do with voxels but If it can be done it would help add voxels to areas that cubes are hard pressed to fit like a hollow oval or circle shape.

 

3. Heal tool - This will be used to return the selected area to its original configuration before it was manipulated.

 

4. Select - Seems simple but having extra options for the selection tool itself are also helpful, such as the ability to select specific material types or to select only the prefab assets set in the voxel construct so you can delete just the prefabs out of your build without disturbing it.

 

5. Shapes - this tool might have different shapes on it that are voxel versions that can be sized to grid or freely.

 

- Other than these basic tool ideas I can imagine other fun stuff too -

 

With the ability to make voxels move comes the ability to not just attach a cockpit to a group of them and make it all move, but the ability to make individual pieces of the voxels move as well, sure its cool to see a giant moving ship but what about having the wings on that x-wing fighter actually move correctly while in flight, or that f-14 tomcat replica have sweeping wings, and with the logic gate system that is getting implemented the options should be almost limitless, for example... you could have a activation button assigned to the cockpit that would start a sequence of logic to make the wings move while you were in the cockpit in flight or that same button could be attached to a system that remotely unlocks and opens your "garage door" to your base, and once you are in the base a button to close it. 

 

This idea is just the tip of the iceberg when you think about it for more than 5 minutes. I've seen that we have the ability to activate logic systems by just entering a designated area as seen the march devdiary with the lasers and disappearing walkways. This alone can be taken into a very deep place.

   - for starters how about that "garage door" idea from above, would if it just auto opened when you got to an activation area and closed once you were inside.

   - You could use that same system to activate defense turrets, or even a specific door to open up that allows a code activation console to be accessed.

   - This same activation system could be used to make a complex internal layout and movement system for a space station using separate rooms that can only be entered with special clearance levels, i.e. if you have the correct code you can type it into the door panel and it will open.

 

I could go on and on here but I think this is a good start to get some ideas flowing at least, the combination of moving voxels mixed with a robust logic system can make for some VERY intriguing game play options.

 

Let me know if you have any other ideas that this wall of text has triggered in your mind and maybe we can take these tools even further.

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Mirroring is a very handy tool to have when making symmetrical constructs, though this can also be done using copy and paste.  And we know copy and paste is confirmed in a quite a few videos and dev diaries.

 

There are no elements that allow moving of voxels that are attached to the same construct. i.e. no pistons or rotors or hinges. This may be added as an expansion after release.

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Check out this old post from NQ.  https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/14-voxel-tools-pre-alpha-game-design/

 

And this post on the dev blog.  https://devblog.dualthegame.com/2016/02/20/builder-gameplay-voxel-tools-elements/#more-531

 

That's most of what we know so far other then a few sneak peeks of tools in action in a few of the videos.

 

Good to see more Landmark refugees turning up here.   :D

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As far as the moving parts go, it is something a lot of people want to see implemented at some point down the road.

On that note, with LUA scripting you wouldn't even need a button to get the x-wings or Tomcat wings to work likethe real deal. You could just script the parts responsible for moving them to be triggered when the right criterea are met, like: speed, direction of travel + direction craft is facing, etc.

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As far as the moving parts go, it is something a lot of people want to see implemented at some point down the road.

On that note, with LUA scripting you wouldn't even need a button to get the x-wings or Tomcat wings to work likethe real deal. You could just script the parts responsible for moving them to be triggered when the right criterea are met, like: speed, direction of travel + direction craft is facing, etc.

Uh... you could... you know... hotkey the action on your keyboard... you know, that's what Lua does well. Macro-commands and hot-keys. You can even have the hotkey show up at the center of your screen when under a certain range of set parameters.

 

Thing is, NQ needs to nail down if their algorithms on mass, inertia and momentum are working as intended, before introducing dynamic models.

 

So, for example, the X-Wing closing its wings, could be a neat way to make an X-wing concentrate its centerpoint of mass and thus achievem ore speed. In fact, here's a ship from EVE, that I love and use most of the time : 

 

 

This ship can shift and change its CoM to gain propulsion, or use its different arrays to gain targeting range or defense bonuses. That's something I want to see in DU, but NQ needs to test the game's balance on launch, then add the dynamic alterations.

 

It's not a matter of "if it's possible", it's a matter of "is the static model working well so far?". When NQ nails that issue, they will move down the rabbit-hole with transformer ships :P

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I like the idea of moving parts changing the center of a ships mass! It would be cool to have them do something other than just move for aesthetics.

 

I agree, even if it was just to initiate a change for the ship to handle the planets atmospheric conditions vs. being in space.

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Tools I would like to see in game:

 

1. Copy and paste - This is absolutely a must for big builds, building a fraction of a section and then duplicating that part several times will make builds faster, and more symmetric(if wanted), but I would also like to see more detailed copy/paste tool options.

   1a. Paste with surrounding blank space - this will allow for a box select copy to add in the negative surrounding space during paste allowing for the negative space itself to delete out any voxels that might occupy that surrounding area.

   1b. Paste without surrounding blank space - If you are using a box select copy sometimes you don't want to copy the surrounding area but only the actual voxels, and therefore when pasting them you can paste just the voxels into a snug occupied area of voxels.

 

2. Fill tool - just like in paint on a 2d surface area you can fill in an entire area with a color that stops when it hits a boundary. In a 3d environment this might be a little tricky to do with voxels but If it can be done it would help add voxels to areas that cubes are hard pressed to fit like a hollow oval or circle shape.

 

3. Heal tool - This will be used to return the selected area to its original configuration before it was manipulated.

 

4. Select - Seems simple but having extra options for the selection tool itself are also helpful, such as the ability to select specific material types or to select only the prefab assets set in the voxel construct so you can delete just the prefabs out of your build without disturbing it.

 

5. Shapes - this tool might have different shapes on it that are voxel versions that can be sized to grid or freely.

 

- Other than these basic tool ideas I can imagine other fun stuff too -

 

With the ability to make voxels move comes the ability to not just attach a cockpit to a group of them and make it all move, but the ability to make individual pieces of the voxels move as well, sure its cool to see a giant moving ship but what about having the wings on that x-wing fighter actually move correctly while in flight, or that f-14 tomcat replica have sweeping wings, and with the logic gate system that is getting implemented the options should be almost limitless, for example... you could have a activation button assigned to the cockpit that would start a sequence of logic to make the wings move while you were in the cockpit in flight or that same button could be attached to a system that remotely unlocks and opens your "garage door" to your base, and once you are in the base a button to close it. 

 

This idea is just the tip of the iceberg when you think about it for more than 5 minutes. I've seen that we have the ability to activate logic systems by just entering a designated area as seen the march devdiary with the lasers and disappearing walkways. This alone can be taken into a very deep place.

   - for starters how about that "garage door" idea from above, would if it just auto opened when you got to an activation area and closed once you were inside.

   - You could use that same system to activate defense turrets, or even a specific door to open up that allows a code activation console to be accessed.

   - This same activation system could be used to make a complex internal layout and movement system for a space station using separate rooms that can only be entered with special clearance levels, i.e. if you have the correct code you can type it into the door panel and it will open.

 

I could go on and on here but I think this is a good start to get some ideas flowing at least, the combination of moving voxels mixed with a robust logic system can make for some VERY intriguing game play options.

 

Let me know if you have any other ideas that this wall of text has triggered in your mind and maybe we can take these tools even further.

You forgot a Smooth tool, Terra forming and organic/natural shapes like animals and statues NEED a Smooth tool to help chisel the form... I can hardly wait to get in here lol

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You forgot a Smooth tool, Terra forming and organic/natural shapes like animals and statues NEED a Smooth tool to help chisel the form... I can hardly wait to get in here lol

Smoothing tool confirmed. Rejoice.

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Hello everyone!

 

Another Landmark refugee arriving late to the party, a frustrated builder still dealing with some serious withdrawl issues. After poking around these forums a bit it seems that the safe zones and the building tools so far discussed sound wonderfully familiar, as are many of the names I see in the posts. Any better informed LM players tell me if it's just my imagination or is DU going to unleash the voxel artists again?

 

As an example, using parts of curves or the smooth tool (as currntly planned) would it be possible to make a giant St. Louis Arch or a model of the space shuttle?

 

filled%20in%20sunset_zps4a5jws9b.jpg

 

nightview2_zpsc5e7d614.jpg

 

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Another tool feature i would like is the ability to rotate something other than 90 degrees. It would greatly help with builds that are not quite rectangular.

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Another tool feature i would like is the ability to rotate something other than 90 degrees. It would greatly help with builds that are not quite rectangular.

In the last dev diary they showed that you can rotate elements with 8 positions. So, why not :)

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The problem is that elements and voxels rely on different tech. To rotate a cube of voxels would require that the grid the cube is on would have to distort quite a bit to keep its shape.

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