ROADMAP: Editing Handles

A powerful idea that has been planned for a long time is that of procedurally adding editing handles to the 3D scene that allow manipulation of Entity parameters in much more intuitive and expedient ways. This might include:

  • Resize/drag handles on the outside edges of a bounds - e.g. more precise control over size/shape
  • Add/delete/move nodes on a spline or polygon - e.g. change the outline of a building
  • Increase/decrease quantities - e.g. quantity of books on a shelf
  • Add/remove/edit modifiers and influence points - e.g. holes in a wall
  • Adjust UV offset and scale - e.g. texture mapping of floor surface
  • Select from a set of options - e.g. switch theme or styling of material or meshes used

This has the potential to hugely increase accessibility to people using procedural content in their scenes.

I imagine also wanting the ablity to add and remove named bounds.

Edit:
Let’s say I’ve got a city generator, and it’s got different special buildings. I would like to be able to add bounds and call it ‘cathedral’, and then move it and other special buildings, possibly even other 'cathedral’s around the city, but also be able to get rid of them so I just get a ‘plain’ city.

Ah, I see. Yes, a procedure will support lists of ‘modifier’ e.g. frames, points, values, etc that can be independently (and visually) edited. Useful for things like “I want a wall that follows these points” and “I want two holes in it here and here”, or “these areas are more damaged”, etc.

A good example of handles in use can be seen in a project called Pavia, and their Builder tool. They have visual handles on objects that can be used to manipulate parameters interactively, directly in the 3D scene.
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