BSP-Style level construction tool for Unity

[sixbyseven]

Hi everyone, great site!

In case there are any like-minded Unity users here, I'd like to post about a tool I built for Unity, that basically allows "BSP-Style" level building in Unity 3D, and other handy additions.

If you'd rather just download the free demo, or check out more videos/tutorials/etc, you can jump right to here:

www.sixbysevenstudio.com/probuilder

Basically, this tool, "ProBuilder", is meant to be a replica of Hammer for Unity 3D. I had been using Hammer for TF2 map modding (http://forums.tf2map...ead.php?t=16803, http://forums.tf2map...read.php?t=6398, others), and simply fell in love with how fast, intuitive, and powerful the BSP workflow was. Once I made it past the cliff-wall learning curve that is, haha.

When I started working in Unity, I immediately felt the lack of any construction methods was a serious problem. Using the built-in primitives was terribly tedious and limited, and doing the model-export-import-test-repeat loop was time consuming and just silly, for environmental geo. So, when the Asset Store popped up, I immediately went looking for something like Hammer's construction set- and found nothing! Long story short, I decided this had to exist, took a month off work, and taught myself Unity editor scripting while building "ProBuilder 1.0".

The first version was... useable, it added great functionality but really didn't fulfill the promise of replicating Hammer for Unity. After several more months of upgrading, learning, and building, plus lots of really great feedback from users, ProBuilder is at version 1.6.5, and it's getting very close to that goal! Better yet, ProBuilder 2.0 is in the works, and is a complete re-build from scratch, using C# instead of Javascript, a massively more powerful and flexible base, and boasting all the best features of Hammer! Ability to create special primitives (stairs, arches, cylinders, etc), smoothing angles, advanced UV control, etc- all coming soon!

So, that's the story on ProBuilder, and I really hope some folks here might enjoy it! Personally, as a long-time user of Hammer and UDK, this system feels like a must have for level building in Unity. I have really made every possible effort to make it simple, fast, intuitive, and powerful for level design, staying true to the Hammer editor...while skipping that nasty learning curve Well, it was nasty for me at least, heh.

Comments/thoughts/etc welcome, I'd love to hear what this community thinks, and please help spread the word if you like the tool. Every bit of support helps to keep developing this and other tools

Edited October 10, 2012 by sixbyseven

[Sentura]

DUDE that is super cool. I've been looking for something like this for a while (although UDKs FBX export works), but this is great.

But I'll be honest, the price is definitely keeping me from getting it. I'll stay with the UDK solution for now.

Edited October 10, 2012 by Sentura

[Pericolos0]

hell yeah!! This is something unity was lacking very much

[sixbyseven]

Hi Sentura- thanks! Exporting an FBX from UDK is allright, but still leaves you stuck with back-and-forth editing-testing etc. Not a good workflow, in my opinion. ProBuilder's big focus is, build AND edit right in Unity, with all the simplicity of Unity and power of Hammer

[sixbyseven]

Thanks also, Pericolos0! Great to see others feel the same here!

[Sentura]

yeah I get that. But it's also free =)

If you guys had a trial or demo version I'd definitely be interested, just to see how big an improvement it would be.

Edited October 10, 2012 by Sentura

[sixbyseven]

Free version? Just download it at the link! www.sixbysevenstudio.com/probuilder, right up near the top there is a free version link- I'll add that to the top of this post, too.

[Skjalg]

looks awesome!

[sixbyseven]

Thank you as well, Skjalg

[sixbyseven]

Intro video added! Many video tutorials that go over all the features on the site (see signiture), as well. Thanks folks!

[iwxanthi]

Pretty neat tool, used a bit to see if it could work for any future projects in our studio. Pretty impressed so far with the workflow and production speed. Though I need to use it a bit more to give some proper feedback

[selmitto]

Woot!

I found this plugin in the Asset Store months ago when I was searching for something better to prototype levels, but I haven't tried it out. I'll try the demo!

It seems a lot more robust that the version I saw before.

[sixbyseven]

Pretty neat tool, used a bit to see if it could work for any future projects in our studio. Pretty impressed so far with the workflow and production speed. Though I need to use it a bit more to give some proper feedback

Thanks iwxanthi! It really is all about speed and simplicity for the workflow- looking forward to your further feedback.

Woot! I found this plugin in the Asset Store months ago when I was searching for something better to prototype levels, but I haven't tried it out. I'll try the demo! It seems a lot more robust that the version I saw before.

Much, much more robust than a few months ago, for sure. Thanks for trying the demo, should be a huge time saver for prototyping and even building final level geometry.

[ElectroSheep]

Hey ! To be honest, the powerfull bsp editor in hammer IS why I'm using Hammer a lot. So I will try your tool this month since I want to try unity

[KungFuSquirrel]

I haven't had a chance to dig into this yet, but you mention using Hammer as a reference - have you spent much time with Radiant? It's a good bit less polished than its peers in Hammer and UnrealEd, but the speed factor is virtually unmatched for raw construction, mostly by removing the need to switch between different tools and modes as often. Might be some valuable reference there.

That said, great work! I think people are too quick to dismiss BSP-style construction these days; there's so much value to rapid in-editor building.