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Modeling Overview

The Modeling package (plasma.modeling) adds in-editor level modeling: you build level geometry directly in the scene out of brushes, edit their vertices, edges and faces, carve openings with cutters, and texture every face. Brushes are not assets. They are components in the scene, and they render, collide, occlude and bake into the navmesh as they are.

Use it to block out a level, and keep going with the same geometry once the layout holds: doorways, windows, stairs, arches and trims stay editable until you decide to bake them.

Installing​

Install the plasma.modeling package into your project from the package manager. It adds:

  • the Brush tool to the scene toolbar, default key B,
  • the Modeling panel, next to the Properties panel,
  • the Brush and Brush Group components, in the Construction category.

Workflow​

  1. Press B (or click the Brush tool in the toolbar) and pick a shape in the Modeling panel's Draw section.
  2. Hold CTRL and drag on the grid to draw the brush's footprint, release, move the mouse to set its height and click. See Drawing Brushes.
  3. Select the brush and press 1, 2 or 3 to edit its vertices, edges or faces, or Esc to go back to drawing. See Editing Brushes.
  4. Turn brushes into cutters to carve doorways and windows, and gather brushes into brush groups. See Cutters and Brush Groups.
  5. Drop materials onto faces and line the textures up. See Texturing Brushes.
  6. Export the scene as usual: brushes are baked into optimised meshes on the way. See Export and Conversion.

The Modeling Panel​

The panel collects everything the Brush tool can do, in sections:

SectionContents
ModeObject, Vertex, Edge and Face mode.
DrawThe shape the next drawn brush gets.
SelectSelection commands, Select through and Show hidden handles.
EditPolygon operations for the current mode.
CSGMake Cutter, Carve, Hollow, Union, Decompose, Clip, Group Brushes.
TextureAlignment, tile size, offset and rotation of the selected faces, justify buttons, sample and apply, hard edges.
OutputExport to OBJ, bake to a mesh asset, convert Grey Boxing objects and meshes into brushes.
HealthProblems in the scene's brushes, such as bent faces, open edges and cutters that cannot cut.

Buttons are disabled while their command does not apply, for example face operations outside of Face mode.

Keyboard Shortcuts​

All modeling commands are listed under Modeling in the shortcut editor, where they can be remapped. Their keys only apply while the Brush tool is active. The tool then claims them from editor-wide shortcuts, so for example 1 switches to Vertex mode instead of doing what it does elsewhere in the editor.

Automation​

With the plasma.mcp package installed, the modeling tools are also available to MCP clients: modeling_create_brush, modeling_brush_info, modeling_mesh_op, modeling_csg, modeling_set_face_material, modeling_face_texture, modeling_tool, modeling_export and modeling_view. Every call that changes the scene is a single undo step.

See Also​