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Create a room between rooms
I would like to have the option to create a room between rooms.
Currently you can create a room with a double-click inside enclosed walls but when you are drawing rooms for the Terrain Generator you don't want walls but you want rooms that connect seamless to each other. For straight lines that's easy to do manually but for a terrain you want to use curves for rivers and paths.
The idea is that you can draw thick walls for a river or path and with the double-click create rooms on each side of the wall. Then you want to remove the walls and fill in the open space with a new room as the river or path. When the river/path is a room you can elevate it along with the terrain on each side using the Terrain Generator.
In short this means that a double-click to create a room not only looks for wall boundaries but also for adjacent room boundaries. That way you can create a room in a blank space that is partly enclosed by walls and partly by rooms. The seamless connection ensures that there is no gap between rooms which you would have with temporary thin walls.
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Re: Create a room between rooms
I currenly do use 0.1 thick walls, especially for curved formes. For straight sides I just draw the rooms manually because magnetism will snap them nicely together. I have in the past even connected every point manually after removing the walls but when the number of points exceeds the hundreds it becomes work instead of fun. Imagine you will have to do it again after each change of a room.
I disagree that the 0.1 gaps are hardly noticable. You can see them clearly because of the contrasting color of the 3D view ground. You can't make the 3D view ground the same color as a room because it would just contrast with another room, leaving the gap clearly visible when you rotate the 3D view. It's also not an option to have a second set of rooms 'at the bottom' that remain flat to allow multiple ground colors under the terrain because through elevation you will always have an angle to look through the gaps. Believe me, I have tried every possible trick trying to solve this.
The main point of my wish is that I could use a very thick wall to draw a river. After creating the rooms on each side the wall can be removed and the wide gap is the river. I can adjust the rooms a little to make the gap a little wider or smaller at some places to get a natural effect. Another good use is for side-lines or borders for a road (and of course the road itself) that all together elevate with the terrain. It would make the Terrain Generator a lot more usefull and allow for some very creative terrains.
So the problem is filling the gap with a room to enable elevation with the Terrain Generator. That filling-in is currently not possible between rooms. I haven't looked at the code but I bet it's quite similar to filling a room between walls. Even the points to use are already calculated on the adjacent rooms and walls. I guess the most difficult is finding the bounderies, being either a wall or another room.
Romania
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Re: Create a room between rooms
After you use the tinny walls for define the land near the river, DON'T delete the walls (yet). Connect them around the river then use AutoDimensioning plug-in to generate build area around walls. This will generate a room outside the walls. Now you could delete the tinny walls and probably the gap will disappear. Probably will be on different level but you could cut/paste the room(s) where you need. Remember: Will generate build area around ALL walls at that level (connected or not) so you will have to keep only needed ones. Or maybe could be used as tinny rooms?? I don't know! You have to test.
---------------------------------------- A computer program does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do. Murphy's Law (Greer's Third Law) When all else fails, read the instructions.Murphy's Law
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Re: Create a room between rooms
Remember: Will generate build area around ALL walls at that level (connected or not) so you will have to keep only needed ones. Or maybe could be used as tinny rooms?? I don't know! You have to test.
Yep, tried that too. In some cases it's a solution but only in some. A single solution where you can fill in a gap with a room is a much better solution and should works for any area enclosed by either walls, rooms, or a mix. Your solution does work but only if the boundaries are still all walls.
Romania
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Re: Create a room between rooms
Probably you've right. For others I've made a short tutorial. 1. I defined the boundary of the field (black walls) and the boundary of the river with two tributaries.
2. I've generate the fields (rooms) around the river
3. Delete the field boundary but keep (or enclose the river)
4. Use AutoDimensioning plugin to generate build area. Go to the newly created level and set a blue color to this area.
5. Back to first level and use Select/Hide Utility plugin to select all walls. Now you could delete them.
6. Go to Dim level, select the river and CUT
7. Go to the first level and PASTE. You will have all rooms on the same level WITHOUT gaps. Now you could delete the Dim level (it is empty anyway)
8. Use Select/Hide to select all rooms and run Terrain generator.
Hope will be useful for someone.
---------------------------------------- A computer program does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do. Murphy's Law (Greer's Third Law) When all else fails, read the instructions.Murphy's Law
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Re: Create a room between rooms
Great tutorial and this works for what most users want to accomplish for a terrain. Since you still need walls it will be very tricky to create side-lines or thin borders along a road because it's very difficult to keep an even space between two thin and close together walls.
Advise for anyone who is going to try this: first save a copy of all walls on a separate level that you make invisible. That way you can safely delete the walls that need to be removed for the example to work and you can copy them back from the saved walls if needed.
I still hope for an added option in the future that will make it as simple as double-clicking within an open space. That will allow a single thicker wall to create the small space for a border line that can be filled with a room.
Romania
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Re: Create a room between rooms
@VeroniQ Thanks but don't exaggerate. @Keet 1. The point with a backup and make the level invisible it is very good. 2. With the risk to upset you (& anyone else) with my complicated solutions: When I need a parallel curved object I use walls. So, as long as I was complimented by VeroniQ, I've done this: Road
1. Define the area (black walls) and the road. NOTE: The road (curved walls) has 500cm thickness.
2. Make the terrain (rooms) outside the road and delete the area boundary (black walls)
3. Select the "road" (all walls which compose it) and set the thickness at 25cm; - Go to Preferences and set the default walls thickness at 20cm (or how depth your border want to be) - Now generate walls around terrain (rooms) - Delete unnecessary (exterior walls)
4. At level with walls generate build areas. NOTE 1: The build areas will surround ONLY walls so don't connect walls (yet) NOTE 2: For tutorial purpose I generate also the red lines (unnecessarily)
5. After delete the red lines and hide the level with walls you could have something like this
6. Cut/Paste the terrain from Level 0 to Level 0-Dim; Enclose the road and generate rooms for both axis
7. Cut/Paste the axis from Level 0 to Level 0-Dim and hide Level 0.
8. Until now we have a continuous middle line. If you want a dashed line, copy the middle line at a new level (NOT at same elevation) Enclose the area.
9. Fill area with a room and delete the walls. Surround the room again with walls. Will be a different kind of walls then previously. NOTE: Pay attention to walls thickness.
12. Copy/Paste all other rooms on this level and hide Level 2
I know it is not so simple and is not perfect but until we will have more clever tools we have to solve the problems with what we have. Good lack!
---------------------------------------- A computer program does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do. Murphy's Law (Greer's Third Law) When all else fails, read the instructions.Murphy's Law
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Re: Create a room between rooms
Again an excellent tutorial to solve another part of the problem!
2. With the risk to upset you (& anyone else) with my complicated solutions:
No one will be upset, I already use some of the solutions but your tutorials are very good and they make the solutions available for all users.
I know it is not so simple and is not perfect but until we will have more clever tools we have to solve the problems with what we have.
I agree it's not that simple, which is the main reason for my wish to have a simple double-click to fill a space between rooms. I still wonder why it isn't one of the basic tools to create rooms since it seems so obvious.
Creating an accurate middle line will remain a nightmare. The main problem is that a texture doesn't follow the curve of a line. So we are stuck with a line of rooms or individual line objects. Some time ago I created those line and arrow objects and so far that seems a good solution. It's just tedious work to arrange so many objects to form a longer, broken line. With elevated terrains it becomes even more difficult because you also have to elevate and tilt each line part to go along with the terrain elevation. Aesthetically they are correct because if you look at a real road marking you will see that the paint layer is quite thick so a road line that sticks up two millimeter is pretty realistic. Understandably adding those lines is the very last thing I do and not until I'm absolutely sure I really need them and I'm also sure the road will not change again!
