Volumes rework

[xuv8r]

I’d like to propose a complete rework to the Volumes object in condos.

Currently, to define multiple different properties to associate with one specific area requires a distinct volume for each of these property types - sound volume, location name, post processing effects, etc. This can quickly lead to stacking many volumes all on top of the same area, and it becomes very tedious to edit them as more get added to the same area.

Instead, I propose one single type of volume that you can assign properties to - either via tabs in its object properties, or connections (by including a new type of I/O object that can apply properties to areas remotely).

For example: You build a room and add a location volume defining its boundaries. You add a name to it (this and other basic things would probably be built into the volume’s object properties, with a toggle to not apply a name to that volume), and to give it post processing, you place a new “Post Processing I/O” object somewhere in the map, edit its connections, and add a connection to apply it to that location volume - as well as any other volumes you want those particular properties applied to (applying the properties via connections in this way would allow users to make “templates” within maps, to apply to several areas at once without having to redefine all the same attributes each time), then you can do the same with new I/O objects for the other properties - sound, sky, etc.

I think this would be a more elegant solution to the current system, which can be very unwieldy when editing large maps.

[goowose]

Alternative solution:

Instead of a blanket Toggle Volume Visibility on the inventory bar, have that button pop open a combobox containing each type of volume with a checkbox to toggle the visibility of that specific type next to it

Could look something like this:

Location
☐ Player Movement
Sky
☐ Post Processing
☐ Water
Visibility
☐ All

The combobox will only display the types of volumes you have placed as to keep it clean and simple

In theory the All selection will enable/disable all options

[macdguy]

I understand where you are coming from with the volumes getting in the way of editing your map, however all the volumes were written to be independent of each other and not combinable in the way you’re describing. A rewrite of this amount would be starting from the beginning.

What would be easier would be to address the main concern of them being troublesome to edit with all the volumes in the way. We could do this by having a better visual filter for volumes. Right now we just have on/off for all volumes, we could expand the visibility toggle to include different types of volumes so you can hide all the Location Volumes, while still seeing the Sound Volumes.

[Teapot_Time]

A visibility filter expansion would be awesome!

Additionally I think the ability to colour volumes would be great because sometimes you have many of the same type of volume on top of each other, a way to colour-code them would help quite a bit.