DESEDIT

Welcome to the DesEdit on-line manual.



Building Things in DesEdit

DesEdit allows you to build mines using two features; one very simple, and one very powerful. The simple way to build things is by adding a cube at a time (Cube -> Add Cube). The cube is a standard-sized cube (20 x 20 x 20), centered on the camera cylinder origin. For certain types of structures, however, this can be very cumbersome. Take for instance a straight corridor, made from 15 cubes. Using the cube-at-time approach, you would have to add each cube, move it to the end of the corridor, and join it to the last cube in the corridor. Computers are much better at this type of thing, thus DesEdit's advanced building tool -- the Builder Wizard.

Picture of the Builder Wizard


The Builder Wizard allows you to quickly and easily add complex, pre-defined shapes to your level. Currently, the builder supports corridors and rings. The parameters used to build these structures are completely customizable from within the wizard, and you get to preview what the structure looks like before it is added to the level.

Building Corridors
Corridors can currently have one of two different cross-sections: a simple square, or an octagon. Each section of the corridor is made up of one (in the case of the square) or three (in the case of the octagon) cubes. You can specify the overall width of the corridor, the height, the length of each section, and the number of sections. When you have specified these parameters, you can see the corridor as it will appear in the level (and use the same camera-rotation motion you can in the main view), and then either accept the corridor to be added to the level, cancel the build, or go back to the parameters screen. If accepted, the corridor is added to the level, originating at the camera cylinder origin, and heading parallel to the Z-axis towards the positive Z direction. It is also selected, and any cubes in the level that were selected are deselected.

Building Rings
Rings can currently have one of two different cross-sections: a simple square, or an octagon. Each section of the corridor is made up of one (in the case of the square) or three (in the case of the octagon) cubes. You can specify the overall width of the corridor making up the ring, the height, the inside diameter of the ring, and the number of sections to complete the circle. When you have specified these parameters, you can see the ring as it will appear in the level (and use the same camera-rotation motion you can in the main view), and then either accept the ring to be added to the level, cancel the build, or go back to the parameters screen. If accepted, the ring is added to the level, centered on the camera cylinder origin, and level with the X-Z plane. It is also selected, and any cubes in the level that were selected are deselected.

For all the above building modes, the cubes are oriented in a standard fashion - with the bottom facing down. For adding a single cube or using the corridor builder, the cube(s) are in the standard orientation, with the front facing towards the negative Z-direction, and the right side facing toward the positive-X direction. For the ring builder, the cubes are oriented so the back of each cube in the ring is facing the outside, with the front facing inside.

To attach cubes together (part of building, after all), you would use the 'Connect Cubes' command. Currently, you can only select two cubes, that must each have a side that is close to the side on the other cube. The exact value of how close they must be is set by the "connectThreshold" in the DesEdit.ini file.

To make it easier, there is another option that allows you to align two verticies. To use it, go into vertex mode, select the first vertex, extend-select the second one, and issue the 'Align Verticies' command. This will then move the second vertext you selected on top of the first one. If you do this for each of the four verticies that make up a side, you can then select "Connect Cubes" and join the two cubes together. You must be careful that there are four and only four pairs of verticies within the connectThreshold distance for the two cubes. If there are more, DesEdit will not know which four pairs to connect, and it will not allow the connect to happen. This will be fixed in a later release, when you can select the sides you want to select directly.

Next Section: Orientation of Cubes in DesEdit.