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Overview

This chapter and its sub-sections describe the tools available in Eldiron Creator.

Map Tools Specifics​

Some tools are specifically designed for map editing and display a common HUD. These include:

  • Object Tool
  • Vertex Tool
  • Linedef / Edge Tool
  • Sector / Face Tool
  • Rect Tool
  • Prefab Tool
  • 3D Paint Tool

The tool strip also contains mode toggles below the main map tools:

  • Authoring
  • Text Play
  • Palette Tool

Terminology​

  • Geometry Objects: Editable 3D objects made from vertices and faces (edited via the Object Tool).
  • Vertices: Points that define the corners of 2D map geometry or 3D objects (edited via the Vertex Tool).
  • Linedefs / Edges: Lines that connect vertices in 2D, edges on 3D objects, or face-local 3D surface lines for detail/cutout actions (edited via the Linedef / Edge Tool).
  • Sectors: Areas enclosed by edges in 2D, or faces on 3D objects (edited via the Sector / Face Tool).

Navigation depends on the active camera:

  • Physical mouse on every platform: the existing wheel, right-drag, modifier-drag, and arrow-key controls remain unchanged.
  • macOS trackpad in Orbit: two-finger scroll pans, pinch zooms, and primary click-drag on empty space or the ViewCube orbits. Command + two-finger scroll is a zoom fallback.
  • macOS trackpad in Iso: two-finger scroll pans and pinch zooms.
  • First Person: WASD moves whenever the viewport is focused; hold right mouse to look or press Space to toggle touchpad look. First Person does not pan.
  • ViewCube in Orbit: click a visible face to align the camera to that axis.
  • Mini-map: click the mini-map in the Region section to jump to a location.

See Camera Actions for the complete per-camera controls.

HUD Overview​

HUD

  • The upper-left corner of the HUD shows the current map position. In 3D views it falls back to the selected geometry position when the cursor is not hovering geometry and displays enough decimal precision for the smallest grid snap steps.
  • The numbers 1 ... 6 represent grid snap steps:
    • 1 = one world unit
    • 2 = half a world unit
    • 3 = one quarter of a world unit
    • 4 = one eighth of a world unit
    • 5 = one sixteenth of a world unit
    • 6 = one thirty-second of a world unit
  • In 3D views, the HUD keeps these shortcut labels compact and shows the active snap step beside them. The , / . shortcuts step through the same snap subdivisions.
  • Smaller snap steps help create detailed maps, while larger snap steps are useful for general layouts.
  • In 3D Object mode, the HUD also contains MOVE / SIZE controls for the active object gizmo.

Keyboard Shortcuts​

When the map view has focus, you can use number keys (1-6) on your keyboard to quickly switch between grid snap steps, instead of clicking on the HUD.

In 3D geometry views you can also use:

  • O: Object Tool
  • V: Vertex Tool
  • E: Linedef / Edge Tool
  • F: Sector / Face Tool
  • B: one-shot Box Select in Orbit mode; Prefab Tool in Iso and First Person
  • M: Move object gizmo
  • S: Size object gizmo

These 3D tool shortcuts are resolved contextually, so in-tool commands such as vertex fill (F), edge-loop selection (L), object rotation (R), and tile application (T) keep working when their matching geometry is selected. Defaults can be changed from Game / Shortcuts.

The Game / Shortcuts document stores overrides by stable action id:

[shortcuts]
"selection.box" = "B"
"tool.object" = "O"
"tool.vertex" = "V"
"tool.edge" = "E"
"tool.face" = "F"

For direct 3D geometry editing shortcuts, see Object Tool.

Tile Icons And Geometry Modes​

The icons in the upper-right corner of the HUD are tool-specific and allow you to assign tiles to the selected geometry using the Apply and Remove buttons.

With the Palette Tool, the lower picker area shows the Palette dock instead:

  • a fixed Ruleset Palette view
  • an editable Art Palette board
  • material and finish selectors for Art Palette entries
  • Apply Color and Clear actions for palette-based assignment

With the 3D Paint Tool, the lower picker area shows the 3D Paint dock instead:

  • visual brush presets
  • draw/erase/pick and Surface/No Clip controls
  • Art Palette color slots
  • material, finish, shape, and pattern settings for surface-space paint strokes

With the Prefab Tool, the lower picker area shows the Prefabs dock instead:

  • rendered previews for project Prefabs and built-in construction stamps
  • Place / Replace / Erase operation controls
  • Clean / Damaged stamping controls
  • Line / Rect drag-stamping controls
  • compact selected-asset state and shortcut guidance
  • practical stamps such as floor+wall, floor+corner, floor+doorway, stairs, ceilings, faceted columns, and solids

Direct 3D Geometry Editing​

The direct 3D path uses editable geometry objects as the main construction model.

In 3D views:

  • Object Tool selects whole 3D geometry objects.
  • Vertex Tool selects object vertices.
  • Linedef / Edge Tool selects object edges and draws face-local surface lines for ridges, grooves, and cutouts.
  • Sector / Face Tool selects object faces.

This keeps the familiar 2D tool vocabulary while changing the 3D behavior to direct object, face, edge, and vertex editing.

Authoring Mode​

The tool strip also contains an Authoring toggle. When enabled, contexts that would normally show the Tiles dock show the Authoring dock instead.

Authoring mode lets you enter TOML metadata for selected sectors, linedefs, entity instances, and item instances.

For the full workflow and metadata format, see Authoring.

Palette Mode​

The Palette Tool is another bottom-row mode toggle. When enabled, contexts that would normally show the Tiles dock keep the Palette dock visible instead.

Palette mode is used for:

  • editing Art Palette entries
  • changing palette material and finish metadata
  • applying palette-index sources to geometry

For the full workflow, see Palette Tool.

Prefabs And Block Building​

The Prefab Tool browses and places reusable linked project Prefabs and also retains the built-in construction-stamp workflow for rooms, corridors, dungeon layouts, houses, and blockouts.

Project Prefabs are UUID-backed shared sources: editing the source updates linked instances, while each placement keeps its own transform and runtime state. Built-in construction stamps still use the dedicated block grid, click/line/rectangle placement, whole-instance replace/erase, clean or damaged variants, rotation, stack levels, and component-aware sizing.

For the full workflow, see Prefab Tool.

3D Paint Mode​

The 3D Paint Tool paints persistent surface-space layers directly onto 3D region geometry. It is meant for organic detail such as moss, cracks, grass, dirt, puddles, generated brick patterns, stamps, and color-only touchups. The paint stays attached to its surface in isometric, orbit, and first-person views; it is not available in the 2D map view.

For the full workflow, see 3D Paint Tool.