Microbrush 3 (brush modeler for HL2)

[Shrinker]

Hello.

[Steppenwolf]

Looks interesting. Would be cool if you could add obj or fbx export.

[nicoreda]

Just tried it. GOOD job, just working very well with current features, it's a very good tool for brush work, thanks !

[Castle]

The second video made me think about how the compile tools would react. I imagine it would sound like a flash bang as my pc goes sailing through several walls and off into the horizon. LOL

 

Ill have to take a closer look soon. It looks interesting. Like a modal Trenchbroom?

[Shrinker]

Thanks!

@Steppenwolf: The editor's API can save and load the editor's own proprietary binary format. In the tools folder, there is a conversion tool that can read and write this and the VMF format.

When saving via the API call, you can configure it so that the calculated polygons are saved into the file too so they are available for conversion.

So yes, later on it will make a lot of sense for me to add such widely accepted formats as a conversion target, and the infrastructure is there and working already. :3

@nicoreda: Unfortunately, the big advantages of these graphical primitives that actually represent 3D volumes are in danger of being forgotten... a peek at the new Source 2 engine (DOTA 2) shows that they are now using meshes for everything, which is kinda sad. But I'll continue supporting brushes with this tool. :3

@Castle: Haven't heard of TrenchBroom before, but that one looks interesting too.

There's a predecessor to this new editor: http://shrinker.beyond-veils.de/projects/Microbrush2/

And to that, there is a predecessor too: http://shrinker.beyond-veils.de/projects/Microbrush/

Edited November 11, 2014 by Shrinker

[Shrinker]

Now this was quite a bit of work...

Clipping is coming as intended.

The two different patterns you see in the selection mask on the right side indicate two different selection sets that you can independently deselect or delete after such an operation.

[Shrinker]

New version with the rotation and clipping tools now implemented.

3-point clip:

[Shrinker]

New maintenance release: http://shrinker.beyond-veils.de/projects/IterationX/Microbrush3/

- when quitting with at least one view open, it now asks if you really want to

- fine-tuned the grid a bit

- can now reliably merge a big load of brushes (fixed the algorithm)

- brushes not affected by an operation are not mysteriously hidden anymore under some circumstances

- turned off the render data cache by default, then verified: It can handle more than one million brushes in a world.

Yes, one million, because why not.

[Shrinker]

Making progress with the interface... an actual workflow is slowly forming.

This random stuff here took somewhere between 1 and 2 hours of build time.

Edited November 28, 2014 by Shrinker

[Shrinker]

Here is a little demo of me building some stuff live:

[clankill3r]

Looks really cool. I will try it out soon.

[Shrinker]

I have just released a new work in progress version - the one used in the video - at http://shrinker.beyond-veils.de/projects/IterationX/Microbrush3/.

It should already be pretty decent to use for a bit of productive brush making.

[clankill3r]

I'm on mac. My nasa pc is stalled somewhere else

[Shrinker]

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

Hm, I only have capabilities to support the Windows platform at the moment. But because the editor uses bare Win32 API, OpenGL and .Net, it should be possible to run it with Mono and Wine.

[Shrinker]

Had an idea for some kind of Lego budgeting plugin, and this is the experimental result.

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.