Constructor Documentation

Welcome to the Constructor Documentation.

This first section is the Constructor Basics documentation, a quick reference for beginning Constructor users.

Release Notes
Getting Started
Object Creation Tools
Object Modification Tools
Viewports and Cameras
View Tools

Texturing Basics
Lighting Basics
Export Basics
Customizing Constructor
Keyboard Shortcuts

Detail Brushes
Hidden Surface Removal

Portals

This section is the in-depth Reference Documentation. This section needs to be filled out! Please if you have a minute, add something you know about. Reference Documentation

Console
Materials
Object Properties
Preferences
Properties
Scene
Select Scene
Selection
Scene
Selection Modes

Selection Sets
Single 3D View
Sunlight
Tabbed Container
Tools
Tools Properties
Undo
Values
Values - Mini

Constructor Tutorials(PDF)
Constructor Tutorials(Video)

[Constructor Tutorials (Website)]
Making A Hallway(CAUTION: IMAGE HEAVY)

This section is primarily aimed at developers who intend to develop plug-ins for constructor.

Plug-in structure
Command reference for developers

Examples

Constructor FAQ

Q: Will there be an update to Constructor 1.0.3 to fix some of the bugs?
A: The patch to upgrade your existing windows version of Constructor to Constructor 1.0.6 is located here:

 Constructor 1.0.6 patch UPDATED: 6/23/09

 NOTES: The download includes instructions on how to install the update.  Also may require a Clean reinstall.

A2: The patch to upgrade your existing Macintosh version of Constructor to Constructor 1.0.4 is located here:

  Constructor 1.0.4 MAC patch 

  There is no install - you will need to pull the files out of the archive, and overwrite 

  the existing files. (sorry). 

  There is not a patch to bring the Mac version to 1.051 yet.

What's New in 1.06:

 1. Pie slices plugin - Make pies, partial pies, banked curves, and even loops
 2. Bug fix for problem where you couldn't edit properties due to refreshing
 3. Removed DRM - No key required now.
 4. Source code for plugins now included.
 5. Other fixes that have been lost in the depths of time.

What's New in 1.051:

  Constructor 1.0.51 patch 

 1. Loading of brushes in tree is now significantly faster. This was causing the 
     appearance of a lockup. 
 2. Reset brush function is now undoable.
 3. Stairs, Ziggurat, Torus, Obelisk, Columns, House, and Blockstack plugins are 
     now included by default (still on user tab).

What's New in 1.05:

 1. Brush selection is now signifantly faster (problem in notification code)
 2. Ability to reset brushes from the brush properties page. This completely rebuilds the brush 
     and resets the texture information. This can fix junk brushes. Note that brushes that 
     are way out of whack may not be able to be fixed, and may result in wildly out of control 
     faces. You will need to delete these, they will cause export errors anyway.
 3. Ability to Correctly load all LOD's for a map at one time (File/Open File Set). 
 4. Some additional minor bugs/changes (did not document - Sorry!).

What's New in 1.04:

 1.This version fixes a bug where portals are incorrectly created if the brush has been
    stretched or rotated after creation.
 2. Faces can now be selected in the scene tree.(brushes are collapsed by default).
 3. Selection sets are now displayed in the scene tree, and behave as groups when
     selected from the scene tree.
 4. Small bug with Coplanar faces causing errors with Zone Lists. (caused disappearing
     polygons).
 5. Disabled check for "all points on plane" when exporting polygons (caused lots of
     disappearing polygons in maps with skewed faces).
 6. Removed duplicate vertexes from faces on export (instead of discarding faces with
     duplicate vertexes). Results in less polygons being removed from the scene.

What's different:

 1. When moving from faces to brush mode (and vice versa), the selection set is cleared.
 This was causing some problem with the new tree code.

Previous fixes (included in this version):

 1. Fix: Crash when lighting DTS files when they have polygons that are too small.
 2. Fix: Problems exporting maps that have DTS files with degenerate faces.
 3. Fix: Crash when exporting a BSP Tree that has nodes that contain no polygons.
 4. Refused to export a map that has no brushes in an LOD (this would cause an error on 
     map load).
 5. Fix: Invalid Min/Max values calculated on portals.
 6. Fix: Crash when copying a polygon list that had no polygons.
 7. All of Matt's Previous fixes from the 1.03 update thread.

Thanks goes to GarageGames and Jaimi.

Q: Why is Constructor 1.0.3 having problems with collisions and/or zones?
A: If you don't want to upgrade to 1.04, you can update your original 1.03 to the last 1.03 version by applying the following patch to your Constructor folder: Constructor 1.0.3 patch

Q: How do I load a reference image in the constructor window?
A: Go to Edit -> Modify View Backdrop.
NOTES: "256" pixels is equal to "1" meter in Constructor.

Backdrop Properties:

 1. VIEW- Select which view window you want the background to be in, top, back, etc.
 2. TEXTURE- Loads your texture.
 3. CENTER- Changes the center of the image based on the origin.
 4. SIZE- Changes the size of the image.
 5. ANGLE- Adjusts the rotation of the image.
 6. TRANSPARENT- Changes the image's opacity.
 7. OVERLAY- Gives brushes a "glass-like" effect, so the background image can still be seen.
 8. PROJECTION- Projects the image onto different axies.

Q: Does Constructor have any brush building plug-ins?
A: Yes it does. Plug-ins include: Face extrude, Bevel, Column, Block stack, Make house, Obelisk, Stairs, Torus, and Ziggurat. Get the plug-ins here: Jaimi Constructor Plug-ins UPDATED: 11/29/07
NOTE: These are included standard in 1.0.5.1! (The plugin files need to be placed in the "plugins" of folder of the Constructor Directory.)

Thanks goes to GarageGames and Jaimi.