Monday, 29 July 2013

10 Tips and Tricks for the Sandbox User Interface

1. Top left shows the viewport rendering mode and options. Most of the time Perspective mode is the most useful. Others include wireframe, labels, show safe frame.

2. Most functions can be found in 2 or 3 different places around the editor.

3. The top right displays the current viewport resolution. It contains both common monitor resolutions and the option of a custom setting.

4. The filter bar on the top right can be used to display on certain entities to enable us to work on them more easily.

5. On the lower bar we can 'lock selection', change object coordinates or change the speed of the viewport camera zoom. The terrain clipping toggle allows us to choose whether the camera can pass through terrain or collide with it. The AIPhysics turns on the physics for active entities such as animated fish. GoTo position sets the exact current camera position.

6. Movement is best accomplished using WASD and the mouse.

7. Generating a player is achieved using ctrl-g. The user can then set noclip settings using F3.

8. The console is a powerful tool that lets us input exact commands to perform a huge variety of actions. Double clicking on the console shows a list of available valid commands.

9. The most commonly used feature of the editor is the rollup bar on the right. This allows us to create and edit the properties of the entities that make up our game. It contains a number of tabs that let us create, modify or hide objects. It also contains the layer tab for layer management.

10. The most important interface feature is found in the tools and view menus at the top of the screen. All configuration and shortcut objects can be viewed and modified here.

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