Edward

Editor for the x9 engine

Can edit:

• 3d models
• materials
• fonts
• terrains
• camera paths
• whole 3d levels

Has a unified GUI structure for the different editing modes. Can also run kaba plugins for more specialized operations.

The editor's language is configurable (so far, only German and English), also keyboard shortcuts can be changed. There is also an undo/redo system for every action.

Models

Edward provides several editing strategies:

• direct manipulation of vertices and polygons
• higher level constructive and geometric operations (extruding, beveling edges, cutting out volumes etc.)
• deformation brushes

2 animation types are supported: vertex animations and skeletons. Also normal vectors and multiple layers of texturing can be edited.

Models can be imported from Gamestudio (MDL7) and 3D Studio Max.

Materials

Graphical and physical properties of models (colors, textures, shader, friction etc.) can be saved in separate materials. Different materials can be applied to individual polygons of a model.

Worlds

A world or level is a large collection of models placed into 3d space. Global lighting and fog properties can be set, also skyboxes (models representing the sky or clouds), as well as kaba scripts that control the world and provide user interactions.

Also terrains can be added and edited. Height information can be imported from image files and edited via 3d brushes.

Several algorithms exist for statical global illumination. Here an example via photon mapping:

Fonts

Simple bitmap fonts can be edited and imported from system fonts. By using the alpha channel,text in games can have arbitrary colors (and of course sizes).