Level Buddy
A downloadable tool
Level Buddy
Level Buddy is a CSG level modeling workflow add on for Blender 3D. It takes inspiration from old school editors like UnrealEd and DoomED. Level Buddy reduces iteration time while letting you test out ideas quickly and easily.
- Easy to use tools and interface.
- Auto texture/UV unwrap in world space.
- CSG modeling techniques including additive and subtractive inspired work flow.
- NOT BSP, you are work with poly meshes at all times. When you build the map you get a static poly mesh not a BSP tree of faces.
- Build and export your map to FBX with 1 button, great if you are working with Unity or any external game engine.
- Blender 2.79 now supported. Level Buddy now works with the new version of Blender 2.79.
***Update Version 1.3
- added support for Blender 2.79
- added the ability set floating point precision when rounding vertex positions for CSG operations.
- TextureBuddy is now automatically enabled when LevelBuddy is enabled.
- fixed bug when trying to auto texture a map that had no textures.
- fixed bug of trying to execute TextureBuddy if the addon was not installed/enabled
***Update Version 1.2
- added FBX export options. This is great if you are using Unity or any other external game engine. Build and export with 1 button click.
- added remove material feature that will remove faces with a specific material applied when the map is built.
- added auto UV mapping as an option.
- added option to flip map normals when the map is built.
- added the ability to build the map while in edit mode.
- added in the ability to tag sectors and brushes to a layer (A or B) to fix boolean operation orders where they had problems generating proper openings/connections when the map would be built.
- hid the light setting properties for the time being as they were dependant upon material node setups that were specific to a personal project I was doing. If you still need them you can jump into the code and uncomment out that code in the draw panel function. But in the long run I will be moving them out of this script and into another script.
- added support for Blender 2.78
note: Addon is still in development so there might be a few bugs here and there.
Version 1.0 is still available to download below.
Download
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Add it to blender 4
Found this ported to Blender 3.0 here
https://github.com/hickVieira/LevelBuddyBlender3
I have started the migration myself of this to Blender 2.8+.
https://github.com/Reticulatas/LevelBuddyforBlender28
This is early, but I have the basic functionality working. It's still quite crashy. If someone better at Blender Python picks this up, there is probably not much more to do to get it 100% functional.
EDIT: Looks like someone else beat me to this but didn't touch TextureBuddy - might be worth continuing regardless
Oh, and what about DoomED and GameBuddy in your workflow? Is there a way to get ahold of these? My E-mail address is Scott_Bro_1@outlook.com if it help to reach me quicker and once again great work I loved the video showing off more stuff.
Awesome! I like it. Do you have another version that might be more up to date? I would love to try it out. Yes, It reminds me of old school doom editor by here there is no need for computing BSP Trees though Duke Nuck'em used beck to front rendering. Love to see where this goes in the future and you might be ahead of this now that I look at it. So yes, I am very interested in any up-to-date information.
Hello,
I've modified the script and updated it for blender 2.92. However The 'FAST' solver does not provide decent result while the 'EXACT' solver (which is not similar to 'CARVE' apparently) takes a very long time to proceed all the operations (or fail to provide a good result). This one also requires 'clean' sectors work and tolerate less freedom than the 'CARVE' solver.
So until they update or add a new solver, my conclusion is that we're stuck with the good old blender 2.79.
btw thank you for this tool!
Could you provide a link to your github or gitlab where you have the updated script?
https://github.com/ormusto/BlenderScripts
Thank you :)
Kudos to you man! I've never liked the old blender UI so this is a game-changer since its what kept me from actually using this addon
Thanks but as I said it doesn't really work well because of the boolean solvers.
Your software looks great. I hope, my post can help to see, that there is interest in it. I know, hard times. Would be great to be able to use your Map-Editor in combination with Blender 2.80, 2.90 and up. I guess, if it would work with 2.80 it runs also on 2.9x. Thanks for making such a great tool. Wish you all the best. Kind regards from Berlin, Germany.
I hope this gets revisited at some point, if 2.91 has the features needed for this to work i would love for it to be updated!
Yup just discovered today! It also allows for booleans to be applied on collections.
Same I just discovered it as well, seems very cool.
Hi Matt,
not sure if you read the comments, but just fyi: it seems that it would now be possible to update to the newer Blender versions. There is the new 'EXACT' solver, that should be similar to the old 'CARVE' solver. I think from v2.91 upward.
I tried to update the addon and got pretty far, but I don't really understand the new Depsgraph stuff, so for now I gave up.
Cheers
Jan
The logic can also probably be simplified a lot now that boolean operations can be done between object libraries.
Hi, I loaded the add on as described, but the tool isn't showing up. Does this not work on 2.83?
I see now why it doesn't work for me. Its a shame, this was going to be so useful for my project, but I cannot downgrade the version of Blender. If you are ever able to make an update for this, please let me know.
You can download a version it works on by going to https://www.blender.org/download/previous-versions/
This is such a great little tool, And I'm hoping it hasn't been abandoned, can we get some kind of update? I would gladly pay for continued development!
After spending about a day getting the hang of Level Buddy, I really like the concept, but texturing is... very difficult :/
I suppose I could just unwrap by hand after the map is generated, but that's specifically one of the tasks that i feel is overkill for quake/half life style mapping.
Something that could really help is the ability to have a "detail" layer for some brushes/sectors that will merge with each-others, but not with the non-detail brushes/sectors
Ohhhh I've waited a long time for an addon like this, I'll actually try this in my old 2.7 install to give it a go
Could you update it for 2.8?
You can't use it in 2.8 because it requires the Blender game engine. It is meant for gaming. If Blender decides to bring back the Blender game engine this will be updated to that new version of the Blender game engine. So you are still stuck on blender 2.79 but look on the bright side. The blender game engine is still new on the 2.79 so that's all what is new right now. Whenever the new one comes out then it will be the old. So you're going to still need a second blender launcher to 2.79 if you want to use that so you are still stuck on two of them. If you know what I mean with two software.
how dose this require the game engine? farther down the page Matt mentions something about scripts working a little different but nothing about the blender game engine...
It doesn't require the game engine, but it does require a boolean solver that can deal with coplanar faces. Blender 2.7x had two solvers - BMesh and Carve - which was slower, but could handle coplanar faces. Unfortunately Carve has been removed from Blender 2.8x
So it wouldn't make sense to update until the BMesh solver is up to the task.
Can I use this as a stand-alone software? that would be easier for me...
Nice addon. But how do you start it.
At first I unzipped it in that addon folder of Blender 2.8RC3. No entry for Level Buddy showed up in the user preferenaces addons panel. So I deleted both files and then choose install from file. That worked with getting to the point where I can enable it in user preferences but now when I press the T key no interface for the addon shows up.
So I thought maybe it will only work with the OFFI ICAL version of Blender 2.8 So I deleted 2.8RC3 and downloaded and installed 2.81. I did an install from file again and enabled the addon in user prefs. And still no interface or controls.
I watched both videos and the author just already has the interface up and ready to go. I have enabled it in preferences, but cannot see where to get to it’s controls.
EDIT:
After doing more googling, I discovered that version 1.3 of this addonn was backwardly compatible with blender version 2.79. So I installed it in my 2.79 addons folder. So now I can at least see the interface. But I still do not know what does what. I will have to go thru Matt Lucas’ second video minute by minute and see if I can figure it out.
So does that mean this addon works with Blender 2.80+?
2.81 please.
2.8 handles boolean operations differently and a straight port does not work so I have to look into other options when time permits. Hopefully I will be able to find some time soon to look into it more.
Thank you for taking your free time to this project.
Hi, Does this tool have some configuration to make the transparency and see inside when build map? Like in video: Doom Style Level Editor Tools in Blender 3D 1:18 min or 11:05 min with red edges.
Mine always make close boxes. Maybe an error or I'm making something wrong? I'm using 2.79b.
you need to turn on blenders backface culling.
Thank you
I've noticed in your video DoomBuddy with options like Play! and some triggering and such. Can I please get a nice copy like that and how?
This is a very well made tool. The Texture Buddy tool in particular saved me a lot of pain and agony on my last project! It's so simple, but it handles almost everything I need (though, it doesn't behave quite so well with slanted geometry).
Please update this addon for blender 2.8
Any plans for 2.8 support? It is a big API change rendering this addon incompatible.
This tool is very cool, it would be nice to have it available for blender 2.8
I have to agree, Blender 2.8 is now available. Possible compatibility-breaking bugs may occur if the plugin is used in the latest version.
Great addon, fun to use. One question I have that I'm not sure if it's a Level Buddy question or a blender one cause I'm pretty new to both, how would I go about rotating textures when applying a material to a sector? Any help would be appreciated!
(edit: I'm using auto UV Map. I can rotate the 2d sector UVs manually but then the walls don't end up looking right so I'm confused)
I absolutely adore this addon!
I've tried updating it to work with Blender 2.80 just for fun. I got pretty far, but then I realized that Carve is gone and the newer BMesh Booleans can't handle coplanar faces... :( Apparently it's being worked on, but for now we seem to be stuck on 2.79..
Anyway, thank you for this inspiring tool! It will be great to use it with Armory in 2.8x one day
Matt your a legend!! Thx for this awesome tool! Any plans on updates and support for Blender 2.80?
This is so great. Thank you!
Are you going to upgrade this to 2.80? I have 2.78 on my PC. but I use 2.80 most though. Just wondering if you were plan on upgrading.
I get traceback call errors whenever i try to create any brushes or anything. Please ask for more information if needed, cause this looks like something i'd love to try.
So do I, another Blender plugin that does not work :(
IT DOES WORK!!!
It was my fault for trying to add new selectors or brushes in 'edit' mode. changing back to 'object' mode works perfectly.
what are the errors you are getting? what version of blender are you using?
Hello Blender 2.79b 32bit
It was me not using it correctly, I tried adding new 2D or 3D selector or new brush when in edit mode, changing back to object mode gave no errors so it does work. Sorry, thanks for the plugin and also for taking the time to reply.
Awesome! Really glad that you were able to get around that and thanks for the feedback. I'll have to put in an edit mode check to catch that, super helpful to get user feedback like that so I can smooth out the very rough edges. Thanks again!
what version of blender are using? and what are the traceback call errors you are getting?
Really wish the export button would also export Blender's meshes, rather than just the brushes.
it should export out the final map as well. For my own use I have always used the exported brush volumes as trigger zones but that involves a custom script on unity's side to catch that during the fbx import. It wouldn't be hard to add in a button to say export the built map only though so I will look into that.
Sorry but don't you have a toturial in how to use it (I'm dumb).
Can you upload in github? How about a patreon? Maybe I'm wrong but is seems an abandoned project. Thank you.
Sorry for the inactivity, the script is not abandoned just busy with work and family. Patreon could be interesting just not sure of the best structure setup. I thought about Github as well just didn't see the benefit since it is only two script files. Thanks for the interest in the project and hopefully I'll get some free time to do another update and some documentation soon.
Hey Hi Lucas, thanks for the editor :) Ok I understand you are very busy. Github even if is for two scripts, people can help in add new functionality or fix some bugs or update to a new blender version, maybe this even will help you in you own projects, and I pretty sure this can grow up a little more. BTW github have a wiki for you own repo giving the possibility to add documentation for you project, and its own page (http://github.io/), you can keep simple, all in one place, link to this page. For discussion some comments here, report issues on github. For Patreon, just an idea, not sure though... I think just for the incentive and see how much people are interested to see this grow, donating some bucks monthly for maintenance =) regards.
Thank you!
EDIT: Fix the problem with the exporter my fault :D
Hey I love the tool. Building lots of neat levels. I don't really understand how the texturing works though, and I broke the texturing of one of my levels somehow. Is there a little FAQ or guide about how to texture levels? non-video preferred.
I have a suggestion, the 3d sectors, they should have the same way of applying material for different parts (ceiling, wall, floor) I tried to go around that using multiple brushes with 2d sectors, but it wont work or sometimes blender just crashes.
You tool is really the greatest tool so far.
Hey man, don't you think about starting a Patreon?
This is probably the best add-on I've ever found for BGE.
I have a few questions:
1.are you planning on making parts separable so one can use occluders in BGE so only rooms that are visible will be rendered?
2.do you plan on adding features that are similar to the Hammer Editor?
3.will you add some instances such as PC controller, doors, skybox setup and activators(similar to what you showed off in your videos)?
Last one I promise, is there a more up to date version that maybe is still being tested? I would even be willing to pay for it.
keep up the amazing work.
Is there a way that I can use level buddy but have everything as a separate object so if it is ported to an engine mats can be assigned separately?
I'm testing your tool, and so far it is great. The 2D sectors works perfectly and they are allowing me to make my test level way faster than placing texturized planes. There is just one problem, the 3D sector only supports one material and there is no option to change it, is there a reason why? or do you have any plans to add support to that? (I'll rate this tool once I'm done with my level)
Edit: Brushes and 3D sectors are sharing the same material with the Ceiling.
Hi Dann, Glad you are having fun with Level Buddy. 3D sectors are just normal 3d mesh objects so they can be any shape they want so if you want to add more materials to the object you add them in the same manner as you would any 3d object in blender through the normal material tab. Since this was something that I built for myself without an initial plan to release it I didn't think it was important to duplicate the material window into the level buddy UI but now that so many others are using the add-on it is probably time to revisit the UI. This is also why there is zero documentation which is not great. Hope that helps!
stress alot! Not hard to understand at all. I just drew the map on paper
and boom it was done in just some minutes, didn't have to check for
empty gaps or anything, the only problem I'm having is the one I said
here, good job.
Edit3: I have fixed the issue, it was Unity's fault for not updating the .blend file while in Scene, I even edited your script to see if there was something missing but turns out it was really Unity's fault. anyway Keep up the good work, this Tool can be very usefull to everyone!