ME: Object footprints

[lanmancz]

I've read somewhere that 3D editor is in development but since I expect it will be a pretty long time until it arrives can we please have just a simple footprint box under the icon for every object ? It does not have to be anything fancy, literally just a box of X meters wide and Y meters tall of a semi-transparent color (red/blue) that would indicate the objects dimensions and rotation on the map. This should be fairly easy to implement.

 

The thing is that when you're making missions in ME the icons don't really give you any idea of how the object is going to look in the environment, especially in relation to other objects which means a designer has to constantly be switching in and out of the mission to see how it looks. Having a simple box that would visually indicate the objects dimensions and rotation in the map and in relation to other objects would make it much more simple to create "nice" looking missions.

[philstyle]

This would be extremely helpful in the absence of a full 3-D editor.

[Johnny_Rico]

+1

[Home Fries]

:thumbsup:

[laumaya]

:thumbup:

[Northstar98]

+++

 

An accurate top down silhouette would be perfect in lieu of a 3D editor.

[Flagrum]

3D Editor was requested years ago, but also the smaller brother of it, the Unit-Outline-Editor was suggested already several times. So ...

 

+213 for all the previous requests and

+1 from me! :D

[lanmancz]

An accurate top down silhouette would be perfect in lieu of a 3D editor.

 

Yeah but that would require to create the footprint art for each object and that would probably be a big job. On the other hand a simple box would suffice and should be pretty simple to implement. Honestly I don't understand how come in-house mission designers did not ask about this years ago because it would be so useful. Especially in situation when you want to put for example 5 buildings in a row it's super fiddly to do it in the editor because each building ends up off by a meter and it looks awful.

[lanmancz]

Also while I'm at it - it would be nice to be able to easily select and manipulate multiple objects at once. Yes you can select more objects with shift but why not a simple mouse drag selection box ? Also be able to move all selected objects, delete them, set some common property like rotation, etc would also be very useful.

[Nero.ger]

Yes you can select more objects with shift

thanks for making my life easier....did not know this :doh:

 

also +1

[SUNTSAG]

I don't disagree the ME needs some serious attention but just knowing the size of the item you are placing will not help unless there is a "snap to" grid that would prevent you from placing objects on top of one another. Of course you could use the ruler tool for distance separation but with a max map zoom of 30m it would still be complicated.

 

If you want object orientation I recommend using the Russian settings as below. I find it invaluable in object orientation. Fortifications are still an issue, as it's a plain rectangle but still a vast improvement over the NATO icons. :thumbup: