Generic building construction tool

[JonPatch]

Hi Folks,

Is there a tool that makes creating generic buildings a little easier? With previews of available textures, and preview of the resulting building?

Jon

[arno]

Hi Jon,

Have you tried a tool like SceneGenX? I think it contains some preview pictures, etc.

And it is also something that is on the feature request list for ObPlacer XML. But I guess I will not be able to implement it really soon.

[JonPatch]

Hmmm, it's been a while since I tried SceneGenX, it's true. I remember I wasn't very happy with it, but I don't recall why!!

Perhaps I'll give it another try . . . meantime anyone else know of any program that does this?

Jon

[arno]

I must say that I am not really a big fan of the SGX interface either. But the choice in tool that generate XML scenery is not that big. So I can't think of many other tools that allow generic buildings.

[JonPatch]

So I dusted off my copy of SGX, and it does have a generic building "construction" screen, and it has a little bit of advantage over hand coding: you can see a schematic layout of the relative positions of the buildings, and there is a cool preview of the textures. But the glitchy UI is a problem, and regardless SGX doesn't show the result so there is no preview. So I may just go back to hand coding; I think it'll be quicker and less error prone to just code the XML, copying and pasting as needed.

(By glitchy UI: no undo (OMG), clicking on an object to select it may unintentially move it (sometimes), every time a parameter screen is opened settings go to the same default parameters and must be adjusted each time, and a myriad of other challenges.)

<rant>In general, I've found that many tool developers emphasize functionality ahead of a standardized glitch-free UI. A great example of professional quality software is AFCAD2. </rant>

Hmmm: That statement sounds ungracious by itself: I do appreciate and acknowledge the effort that's gone into tools like SGX, and how useful it may be to many people. My request is that developers spend just a bit more time on the UI; it will save users much effort.

Jon