Is it possible to view other shape nodes (Non-editable, just for visibility) within the editor view of another shape node? I ask because it would make composition of full worlds much easier when you can see where the other “biome” bounds are.
Is there another way to achieve this that might be better than utilizing shape nodes that is already in World Machine? I know there are extents, so is there a way to apply nodes only to one extent (And not the others)?
Thank you!
Hi there,
Have you tried locking the preview on the other shape (or a device further down the chain that shows the results of both shapes devices)? You can do this by hitting f whiling viewing the other device you want to see, or alt-clicking on it in 4000+ builds of World Machine. Then select your new shapes device to edit.
This doesn’t let you see the actual sketches vector shapes, but that’s usually just as well since it would be confusing what shapes could be edited and which couldn’t if you did.
I have, but never found a way to achieve the “Bigger Picture” view of the overall landmass I was making. That said, I don’t think the thing I mentioned above would even help that because that would create some wicked edges. I think I might have an idea though.
I can try to use an overlay image for the “hard edges” of the biomes, and maybe use the shape tool’s line feature to create a subractive edge layer (To subtract them out of a base). Then once I get each biome done, I can use the edge layer to blend between them all. Maybe. It will be fun to try it, in any case!
Thank you!
If your shapes defining biomes are pretty separated and you need a “big picture” view, then I would definitely create a larger Render Extent that encompasses all of the things you want to view at the same time, and define the positions while viewing that render extent.
As an aside, this rationale is why in the WM 2.x branch, the layout view used the explorer infinite-terrain engine to draw the terrain; It can be limiting to just see what’s in the render extent. However, time and experience showed that the inaccuracies of that view were often very counterproductive while editing a device. I may still add a “View Surroundings” toggle to the visual editor that would let you see outside the render extents.
Actually, I saw the recent RC post and at the bottom it states:
Layout shapes minor features (vertex welding, gridsnap)
in the “Known Issues / Remaining to Implement” section (Assuming that’s a planned feature). This would actually solve the issue I have been having entirely (And I was going to ask for a grid snap feature but I see it listed there already). Would the grid size be adjustable? If so, that would be outstanding (Then it just comes down to planning the grid properly to achieve exactly what I am after)!
@Stephen
I started playing with the new RC and it looks like the shape tool took a pretty big hit (It gets slow very rapidly. I used to be able to make tons of vertices, but now it starts choking at about 3-5 vertices). I submitted a crash report that encountered during this (Made vertex, canceled it, made another vertex and it crashed)
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