This being a
Duke Nukem Forever oriented editing site, many of you are probably making the change from
BUILD, Duke Nukem 3D's editor, to DukeED, Duke Nukem Forever's editor. Of course we
are learning UnrealED for now since it is basically what DNF editing will be like.
Making the change from 2D BUILD to 3D UnrealED can be a hard one if you aren't too prone
to change.
Like I said in a earlier section, I didn't like
3D editing one bit when I tried it for the first time (it wasn't UnrealED), however I love
UnrealED. It has been my favorite editor since I used it. Once you get the
concepts down, it is very easy to edit with, and I have made some cool stuff with it.
Here is a quick rundown of the differences of
editing in each area, as compared to editing for Duke Nukem 3D:
In BUILD to create a room you would draw the
room's walls in the 2D view then set the heights, slope, and texture it in the 3D view
(switching screens)... You could only edit it from the top and you couldn't have a sector
over a sector, or view the top of one sector below the bottom of another, without engine
tricks (read: Shadow Warrior) or sprite tricks (place a bunch of masked sprites to look
like a 3D object, and it really took a framerate hit)...
 
2D Bridge in BUILD vs 3D Bridge in
UnrealED
In UnrealED to create a room you would create a
brush for the room using either primitives or the 2D shape editor (which is a lot like
drawing rooms in BUILD - It is covered in later tutorials), position it in the 3 2D views,
and you subtract it from the world (you would press the Subtact tool and create space in
the world that is the room). Texturing would be done in the 3D view, and
height/slope is all done in the 2D views. As many true 3D things as you want can be
added, that you can go above, below, and all around.
In BUILD to add an object like a tree you would
place it in the 2D or 3D views and then give it its height with the PGUP PGDWN buttons.
It would be a flat SPRITE and you can only view it at one direction, whatever it is
drawn as. Either it would be flat or it would just face you no matter where you
went.
In UnrealED to add an object like a tree you
would select the tree from the Classes browser, then add it in the 2D views (or even point
to where you want it in the 3D view) and position it in each view for precision. You
can be a lot more precise than the big increments of height BUILD would allow you to move
in. And of course the tree is a 3D object, you can look at it from any angle and see
it in a different way.
UnrealED can be easier for lots of things too...
In BUILD the way you put lighting in your level
is either 1) You didn't, or 2) You did it manually by drawing the shaded sectors and
giving each its shade in the 3D mode... It would take a long time, you would be far from
realistic even if you were the best around in shading, and the 256 color pallete left you
without very vibrant shading.
In UnrealED you add the light, position it in
the different views, and edit its brightness and color properties. When you compile,
everything is raytraced to ultimate perfection, in 32 bit color even, with 100% realistic
accuracy. Unreal's lighting is probably the biggest reason it looks so much more
realistic than anything else to date. And light compiles take just seconds!
In BUILD if you wanted to do something special
with your sector you would have to mess with Sector Effectors and fumble around with all
of these tags you had to memorize or write down about how to do certain functions.
It was a lot of trouble when you wanted to do really cool stuff like water waves,
explosions, etc.
In UnrealED it is still pretty complex, but you
don't have to remember any tags for Sector Effectors. Most settings are done with
menus and dropdowns with options, so it isn't very hard to do things, and you sure as hell
don't need to remember 100 hitags and lotags like in BUILD... For more advanced things you
can use UnrealScript to create the ultimate effects, effects, unlike anything you could
ever do in Duke3D.
BUILD's CON files are the equivalent of Unreal's
UnrealScript. The difference is that you can script in UnrealED, unlike how CONs
were separate from BUILD. Also, UnrealScript is MUCH more powerful than CONs, you
can do basically anything concievable with UnrealScript.
Sounds in BUILD were once again TAGS you had to
remember which are defined in the CON files. Sounds in UnrealED are simply load the
package and select from a list. Listen to it as well! Can't do that in
BUILD...
Music in BUILD was MIDI - A format that isn't
the same on everyone's sound card. Music was defined in the CON files for levels.
Music in UnrealED is digital MOD music, which sounds the same to everyone, is much
higher quality, and you can jam to your tunes in UnrealED while you edit. To give
your level music you can simply specify in your level properties, selecting the song in
the Music browser.
So, in a nutshell, UnrealED is much more
powerful than BUILD, and many tasks are even easier now, even though they have much more
complex implementations...
You are done with this tutorial! Everything
in the tutorials up to now has been like kindergarten material. Now it is time to
begin editing. I hope these last four tutorials have taught you some things that
will make editing a lot easier when you try it for the first time in the upcoming
tutorials. On to the editing... |
