Avoyd Voxel Editor Documentation

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Table of Contents

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• Introductory Tutorial: how to edit voxels in Avoyd
  • 1. Create a simple voxel shape with 'Set'
  • 2. Change materials with 'Paint'
  • 3. Erase voxels with 'Delete'
  • 4. Going further with Editing
• Documentation
  • Cameras: Moving around in the 3D World
    • Menu and Movement Modes
    • First Person and Arcball Cameras
    • Orthographic and Isometric Projections
    • Align Camera to Axes
    • Saved Cameras
  • Edit Tool: the Edit Cursor and using Anchor
    • Edit Cursor Brush Preview and Wireframe
    • Cursor Movement and Anchor
  • Materials
    • Materials and Material Types
    • Palettes
    • Pick and Inspect
    • Replace
  • Lighting and Atmosphere
  • Render: Raytracing Scenes
    • How to Render
    • Options
      • Preview
      • Accumulate
      • Denoise
      • Image Inspector
      • Mode, Auto-Save and Output Channels
      • Depth of Field
      • Exposure
      • Tips and Settings
  • Import
    • Minecraft Maps
      • How to Import a Minecraft Map or Structure into Avoyd
      • How to Explore the Map
      • How Minecraft Blocks are Represented in Avoyd, and How to Modify Them
      • Tips
      • Limitations
    • MagicaVoxel Models Vox files
    • Images as Heightmap and Palettisation
    • Colour Palettes
    • Raw 3D Binary Array
  • Export to Polygon Mesh
    • Exporting a Model
    • Options
    • Import in Blender Guide
    • Import in Unity 3D Guide
    • Import in Unreal Engine Guide
  • Graphics Settings and Performance
    • Level Of Detail
    • Power Saving
• Controls and Shortcuts
  • Camera Controls in Movement Mode
  • Edit Tool Controls
  • Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Mouse Controls
• Definitions

Cameras: Moving around in the 3D World

Menu Tools > Camera

How to switch from interacting with the menus to 3D movement, and how to use the camera in 3D.

Menu and Movement Modes

By default you are in "Menu" mode. It lets you access the user interface controls: opening tools and windows. To move around in 3D you need to be in "Movement" mode:

1. To activate "Movement" Mode, press the Tab key or hold the right-mouse button down.
2. Move around in 3D using the mouse and keyboard.
3. Go back to "Menu" mode: press Tab again, press Esc, or release the right-mouse button.
   Tip: The status bar indicates which mode you are in (bottom-right corner).

First Person and Arcball Cameras

When in "Movement" mode, you can use one of two types of camera: "First Person" or "Arcball".

• The First Person Camera lets you move around in 3D using the same controls as in a first person game.
• The Arcball Camera lets you circle around a centre point. Use the controls to move around and closer / away from the centre.

To choose the camera type, toggle to "Menu" mode and open Tools > Camera or use the context menu (right-mouse click).

Orthographic and Isometric Projections

In the Arcball Camera and Orthographic Projection section, tick Orthographic projection then choose the Pitch and Yaw angles.

For Isometric projections set the angles values as follows:

• Pitch a multiple of 35.264 degrees
• Yaw a multiple of 45.000 degrees

Align Camera to Axes

Cameras > Align to Axes automatically aligns the camera to the nearest axis, or aligns to an axis of your choosing.

When Align to Axes is on, use the roll controls to toggle the camera view up or down, or in quarters if Auto Align is on.

Saved Cameras

You can save as many camera positions as you want from the Cameras > Saved Cameras window. You can also use the shortcuts in the Status bar to add cameras and move to the next / previous saved camera.

To reuse saved cameras in other worlds:

1. Save them as a Camera Template File > Save Template > Cameras.
2. Load Camera templates with File > Load Template > Cameras or drag & drop the template file into Avoyd.

Edit Tool: the Edit Cursor and using Anchor

Menu Tools > Edit Tool > Shapes

When the Edit Tool window is open, the Edit Cursor is displayed. It is composed of three 3D elements: the Brush Preview, the Wireframe, and the Anchor guizmo. They are designed to help you place the shapes you're editing the 3D world with.

Edit Cursor Brush Preview and Wireframe

Menu Tools > Edit Tool > Shapes > Edit Cursor

• The Brush Preview is an approximation of the 3D shape you use to edit.
• The Wireframe is a box displayed as a grid that contains the 3D shape. The gridlines are the voxel edges. It is sometimes referred to as the AABB (axis-aligned bounding box).
• You can choose to hide them, both or individually, in the Edit Tool > Shapes > Edit Cursor. You can also change their appearance from Settings > Display > Spacial Interface

Cursor Movement and Anchor

The Anchor affects the movement of the Edit Cursor. It is set in the Edit Tool window or from the context menu (right-mouse click).

• When Anchor is off, the Edit Cursor follows the movements of the mouse.
• When Anchor is on, the Edit Cursor is fixed (anchored) in the 3D world.
  • The Anchor is represented in the 3D World by a guizmo showing the axis X (red), Y (green) and Z (blue). You can move the Edit Cursor around and resize it using the guizmo:
    • Click and drag the white square in the centre to move anywhere.
    • Click and drag on the coloured squares to move in a single plane: orthogonal to X (red square), Y (green square) or Z (blue square).
    • Click and drag the chosen axis to move along a line: along the axis X (red line), Y (green line) or Z (blue line). Each axis has a single colour in the positive direction and black stripes in the negative direction.
    • Click and drag the grey spheres to resize. Note this will cause the Edit Cursor to move.
    • If you Lock the Anchor position, the guizmo will only let you resize it, not move it. Its centre will remain fixed.
  • Whether the Anchor is locked or not, you can change the position of the centre in the Edit Tool or from the context menu.
    

Tip: Use the Camera functions Focus or Centre on Anchor (Tools > Camera or from the context menu).

Materials

When editing, each voxel added, painted etc. has a Material assigned. Materials are grouped in Material Types. You can choose any material from the Material Types list in the Materials window, the Edit Tool's Palettes, or using the Pick tool to choose from the world. Materials can be swapped using the Replace tool. You can create custom Palettes of materials for easy access.

Materials and Material Types

Menu Tools > Materials

Every voxel in Avoyd has a Material that defines its properties: colour, reflexivity, strength, etc.

Material Types

Material Types are groups of Materials. They can have similar properties or be unrelated. When you import a file into Avoyd, it creates a new Material Type and names it after the name of the file you imported.

Materials

When editing, you can choose the material to use from the Materials window or the Edit Tool Palette. You can also use the Pick tool to choose a material from another voxel in the 3D world.

To change the material of a voxel or a group of voxels, swap its material with another using the Edit Tool's Paint function. To swap a material with another throughout the entire voxel world, use the Replace tool.

Once you've placed a voxel in the world, you can edit its material properties in the Materials window. But beware: every voxel that uses the same material is also affected!

Each and every voxel in Avoyd is made of one Material. Materials have several properties. To modify a Material, select it, then modify its parameters in the Properties section:

• Name (optional)
• Colour in red, green, blue (RGB) or hue, saturation, value (HSV)
• Metallic
• Smooth
• Emissive
• Surface Transmission (Transparent) - see the section on transparent materials for explanations.
• Absorption Length
• Scatter Length
• Index of Refraction
• Phase
• Strength (read only) - affects how easily the material is damaged during gameplay.
• Unique Id (read only number, automatically assigned).
• Material Type and an identifying number within the Type. The type is the name of a group of materials, for example "Gold", "Clay", or the name of an imported palette. Example: the red material Id 240 is the 160th member of the 'Clay' type: '240 - Clay 160'.

Transparent Materials

Important: Transparency is currently only visible in the CPU path traced renderer available through the Render menu item.

Avoyd includes several default transparent materials showing a range of possibilities and the example settings to achieve them. To find them, open Tools > Materials and choose the following Material Types:

• Glass
• Water and Ice
• Cloud Smoke Fire

To make a material transparent follow these steps:

1. Open Tools > Materials.
2. Choose the Material Type and click on the swatch of the material you want to modify.
3. Set the Surface Transmission (Transparent) to any number larger than zero. This controls how much light passes through the surface of a material. The higher the transmission number, the more transparent the material is.
4. Set the following parameters to control how the light behaves in the transparent material:
   • Absorption Length - after passing this distance in the material white light will take on the colour set for the material. Set shorter for more absorption, longer for less.
   • Scatter Length - distance at which it becomes likely the light will scatter. Set shorter for more scattering, longer for less.
   • Index of Refraction (IOR) - controls the refraction (bending) and reflection of light. Glass is 1.5, water 1.3, air 1.0.
   • Phase - controls the phase of scattering; positive phase scatters more light forwards (in nature forward scattering gives water clouds their silver lining), negative for more backwards scattering.

Adding Materials

To add a new Material, you can:

• Add and customise a new Material Type; or
• Import an image (palette) as a Material Type.

Material Types can be saved as Material Template to be reused in other worlds: File > Save/Load Template > Materials or drag & drop the template file into Avoyd.

Palettes

Menu Tools > Edit Tool > Palette

Palettes are part of the Edit Tool and are there to make it easy to use a subset of materials when editing.

• You can add (and remove) individual Materials or entire Material Types to a palette.
• You can use the 'Default' palette or create and edit as many different palettes as you need.
• Palettes are saved together with the World.
• Palettes can be saved as Material Template: File > Save Template > Materials

Notes:

• When editing you don't have to use only the materials that are in the palette: you can also select them in the Materials Types or in the world using Pick.
• Creating and filling a Palette is probably easiest from the Materials window. The Pick tool is also useful to retrieve a material from a voxel in the world.
• Palettes are mostly used with the Edit Tool but also with functionality that enable a choice of Material, for example Import Image (File > Import > Image as Heightmap)

Pick and Inspect

Menu Tools > Pick Material

The Pick tool is used to get information from and select specific voxels in the 3D world. When open and active, the cursor size is reduced to 1 voxel so you can select one voxel at a time.

• Hovering over a voxel shows its summarised info in the Inspect section
• Clicking on the voxel selects it. You can then use it to edit with in the Edit Tool, add it to or remove it from the Palette and the Material window will show its type and potentially modify it.
• Note the currently selected material is displayed in the status bar at the bottom-right of the screen.

Note the Amount is independent from the material (it is not part of the material). Each voxel has an amount which affects the shape of the voxel. It is set using the Edit Tool.

Replace

Menu Tools > Replace Material

This tools work the same way as a 'Replace All' in a text editor, but with materials. In other words, when replacing, every voxel in the world with the first material assigned is assigned the new material.

To replace: open the Replace Material window. Click on the first material line and it will automatically update to the current material. (To change the current material, select a voxel in the world with the pick tool, or click on a material swatch in a material type or in a palette). Do this for the material to replace and the material to replace it with, then click the Replace button to update the world.

Lighting and Atmosphere

Menu Tools > Light and Atmosphere

The light and atmosphere settings are physics based.

• To change the position of the light source, modify the parameter 'Light Direction'. (Note the UI is evolving: we will make it easier to use in future releases).
• To add a fog effect, in the Atmosphere section decrease the 'Half Length' (how far before half the geometry is hidden by the atmosphere) and/or increase the 'Amount' (how dense the atmosphere is).
• Presets help to quickly change how bright or foggy the scene is: dawn, sunny, sunset, clear atmosphere, haze or fog. You can then adjust the parameters manually using the light and atmosphere settings.
• The 'Neutral' global preset renders the original voxel colours unaffected by e.g. the light colour or atmospheric scattering.
• For other visual modes such as ambient occlusion, shadows, pure colours etc. use Settings > Voxel Style > Display Mode
• Light and Atmosphere settings can be saved as template and reused in other worlds: File > Save/Load Template > Light and Atmosphere or drag & drop the template file into Avoyd.

Render: Raytracing Scenes

Menu Render

When the Render window is open, the Do Raytrace Scene button will render the scene with CPU path tracing using the Image Parameters and Quality Settings.

How to do a Render

• Open menu Render.
• Click Preview for a quick render.
• Adjust the Image Size, Depth of Field and other parameters.
• When you're happy with the scene, click Do Raytrace Scene.
• Click Accumulate to run the raytracing again and increase the quality of the render. Note that after several accumulations the result will stop improving.
• When you're satisfied with the result you can denoise the render to remove artefacts such as small white dots.
• Finally, save the image.

Options

Preview

Renders can take time to generate. Use Preview for a quick render to see how the final image will look like and adjust parameters.

You can denoise the preview to quickly improve it. It's especially effective if it's a scene containing emissives to quickly see how the emissive voxels (light sources) affect a scene:

1. in the Render window, pick a small image size (so the raytracing is faster)
2. set Emissive Material Intensity to a large number (e.g. 1000)
3. press Preview
4. press Denoise

Accumulate

The Accumulate function improves the quality of the image by running a render and adding the result to the current render / previous renders: it accumulates the results.

• Continuous accumulation will accumulate renders up to the Max Continuous Accumulate setting, improving image quality.
• You can add accumulations whilst the renderer is working by increasing the Max number.
• To pause the continuous accumulation press Stop or un-tick Continuous.

Denoise

The image can be denoised using the OIDN (Intel open image denoiser). Denoising smoothes the image but can introduce artefacts. Increasing the number of accumulations usually gives better results than denoising, but takes a lot longer.

• Installation: click the information button for instructions on how to download and install the denoiser.
• You can denoise both previews or raytraced scenes.
• Tick HQ Denoise (High Quality) to denoise the colour and albedo output channels prior to merging them together. This gives better results for transparency but is slower to run.

Image Inspector

Hovering over the rendered image with the mouse opens a zoomed in view of the area of the image under the cursor.

Mode, Auto-Save and Output Channels

• The Mode drop-down allows you to view different outputs from the renderer.
• If Auto Save is on, the Colour and Denoised Colour channels will save automatically every time the render is changed.
• The Save Current Image button can be used to save any of the output channels.

Depth of Field

To render an image with Depth of Field (DoF) blurring of the foreground and background:

• Use the Pick tool to select a focus point.
• Tick the Use Picked Position checkbox to use the focus point for the Focus Distance.
• set the Aperture to a non-zero value (this is in Voxel units, and a value of 0.5 is a decent starting point to use).
• Raytrace the scene.

Exposure

Exposure can be used to make the rendered image more or less bright.
Tip: the exposure can be set after rendering.

Tips and Settings

• The Samples Per Pixel setting can be used to change the rendering quality / speed, but using Accumulate gives better feedback for convergence.
• The Emissive Material Intensity setting can be used to modify the light emission from all materials.
• Enable the Full Voxels setting for faster renders, but be aware all voxels will represented as cubes.
• The saved Image Format (JPEG, PNG...) and Quality are set in Settings > System > Saved Images Properties, Render Image Format and Render JPEG Quality.

Import

Menu File > Import or drag & drop

Importing models, heightmaps or 3D binary arrays bring both shapes and materials into Avoyd. It helps speed up building worlds. It enables creating voxel shapes that would be too time consuming or difficult to create manually in Avoyd. You can also import designers' colour palettes directly as materials.

Minecraft Maps

Menu File > Import > Minecraft Map or Structure (*.mca, *.nbt)

Importing Minecraft maps into Avoyd turns all blocks into voxels. It enables you to explore them with large view distances and custom atmosphere and lighting, and to render them.

Make sure you have a Minecraft map available:

• Avoyd can load your own Minecraft maps generated when you play (stored in %appdata%.minecraft\saves\ )
• or you can download a map from PlanetMinecraft for example, and save it to disk, extracting it if it is a zip file.

How to Import a Minecraft Map or Structure into Avoyd

• Open the menu File > Import > Minecraft Map or Structure (*.mca, *.nbt)
  • Map: select the region file directory (containing .mca files) and 'Open' to import it. If you have 'The Nether' or 'The End' dimensions as well as the normal 'The Overworld', a pop-up will enable you to choose which dimension to import.
  • Structure: select the .nbt file and 'Open'.
• Press Import and wait. For large maps this operation make take a while.
• Once imported, save the map as an Avoyd world file.

How to Explore the Map

• First you need to lock the camera to the horizontal plane:
  • select menu Tools > Camera > Align To Axes
  • select y
  • set the Axis Preference to 0.80 or above
• To explore the world, hold the mouse right button or press Tab on the keyboard, then use the keyboard to move and the mouse to look around.
• The keyboard controls are listed uner menu Help > Controls > Camera Controls - Movement Mode.

How Minecraft Blocks are Represented in Avoyd, and How to Modify Them

• Avoyd does not use textures, but the materials used in Avoyd match the Minecraft default materials as closely as possible: their colour is based on Minecraft textures averages and they have specular reflection, transparency and emissive properties where relevant (water, glass, metal, lava...).
• Note that emissive voxels representing torches, lava etc only emit light when rendered. The same applies to transparent materials: they are only see-through when rendered.
• Each block and most of their variations are mapped to a material in Avoyd. We've mapped the vast majority of Minecraft Java Edition blocks to the appropriate materials settings in Avoyd
• For Minecraft versions prior to 1.13 (the flattening) we now use both both block Id and data value to assign the correct namespace Id to a an imported block. For versions post 1.13 we directly use the namespace Id provided. The namespace Id of every Minecraft block is part of the material name in Avoyd.
• To edit the Minecraft materials individually in Avoyd, open menu Tools > Materials and choose Minecraft from the Material Type drop-down. Click on a colour swatch to edit the material properties. You can also access the materials from the Palette in Tools > Edit Tool
• You can make specific block types (for example barrier) invisible in renders by making the material entirely transparent. In Tools > Materials, select the material and set its parameters as follows:
  • Colour = White (R=255, G=255, B=255)
  • Metallic = 0
  • Smooth = 0
  • Emissive = 0
  • Surface Transmission (Transparent) = 1
  • Absorption Length = 1,048,576
  • Scatter Length = 1,048,576
  • Phase = 0
• If you want to reuse your material alterations in other maps, save them as a template in File > Save/Load Templates > Materials. After you've imported a new Minecraft map, load your materials template and it will overwrite the defaults.

Tips

• Tune the Graphics properties under Settings > Graphics. Increasing the Graphics Quality improves detail but can reduce performance.
• Once a map is saved as an Avoyd world file, you can open it faster and use it as a paste brush.
• If you imported Minecraft worlds into a version of Avoyd older than 0.8.10, you should install the latest version of Avoyd and import again to ensure the latest transparent materials are used.

Limitations

• It is not possible to re-export any edits made in Avoyd back to Minecraft
• Avoyd only supports Minecraft Java Edition maps. It does not support Bedrock.
• Avoyd does not currently support schematics import
• Avoyd does not use textures nor block models so all the Minecraft decorations, half-blocks, steps, objects such as torches etc. appear as full voxel blocks made of a single material in Avoyd.
• It is currently not possible to hide block types in Avoyd: you have to delete them manually using the Edit Tool, or make the block type invisible (see tips section) before you render the scene. We intend to add block hiding in the future.

MagicaVoxel Models Vox files

Menu File > Import > MagicaVoxel (*.vox)

You can import both single and multiple models into Avoyd. You can either:

• Drag and drop the *.vox file into Avoyd
• Or use the menu:
  1. Open the menu File > Import > MagicaVoxel (*.vox)
  2. Select the *.vox file and click Open to import

Tips

• Once imported, save the model as a *.avwr Avoyd world file. This will enable you to open it faster and use it as a paste brush.
• The import creates a Material Type named after the vox file. You can edit the materials individually from menu Tools > Materials or from the Palette in Tools > Edit Tool
• To match the MagicaVoxel Palette display order (lowest index bottom left) in Avoyd: use menu Settings > Display > Layout > Invert Materials Grid Order.

Limitations

• When importing multiple models, they are merged into a single Avoyd world. They are imported in the same order as in MagicaVoxel.
• It is not currently possible to re-export any edits back to vox files. Avoyd can handle larger models than the vox format, and the material amount value is not supported by .vox so it would not be a 1:1 conversion

Images as Heightmap and Palettisation

Menu File > Import > Image (.jpg, .png, .tga) as Heightmap

You can import image formats .jpeg, .png and .tga and turn them into a heightmap based on their RGB information or the alpha channel.

• Open the menu File > Import > Image (.jpg, .png, .tga) as Heightmap
• Select an image file and Open
• Set the parameters and Import

Tips

• To import a flat image (1 voxel thick), set the following parameters:
  • Scale (maximum height) = 1
  • Amount = 255
  • Smooth Surface = Off
• Enable Palettise Image Colours to import the image colours. The principles are the same as for Import Image as Material Type (see the Colour Palettes section)
• Setting the Amount to 255 and enabling Smooth Surface results in full columns of voxels, except for the top one which amount is proportional to the remain and therefore morphs and creates a smooth surface effect
• Use Invert to get the elevation that would be produced by the negative image, but keep the colours
• Add a floor to avoid leaving holes if the value is 0 or max (depending on invert)
• When on, the Surface Layer Only option results in only the top voxels of the heightmap to be saved, like a cloth. You can adjust the thickness. This can be useful for creating complex curved structures.

Colour Palettes

Menu File > Import > Image (.jpg, .png, .tga) as Material Type

Images and colour palettes of type .JPG, .PNG and .TGA can be imported to create Material Types and Palettes in Avoyd.

How to Import a Discrete Colour Palette

For discrete colour palettes import we recomment to use the PNG or TGA format and set the 'Maximum Number of Colours' to the maximum value allowed. Discrete palettes can be downloaded from sites such as Lospec.

• Download your palette in .PNG or .TGA format and save it to your computer
• Open the Avoyd Voxel Editor and select File > Import > Image (.jpg, .png, .tga) as Material Type
• Find the palette file you downloaded and click Open
• Set the 'Maximum Number of Colours' to the maximum allowed. This ensures the discreet colours are kept as they are. (1*)
• Click Import and open menu Tools > Materials

Image Palettisation

You can palettise any image (JPG, PNG, TGA) by following the same steps as above and choosing the 'Maximum Number of Colours' during import. (1*)

Tips

• Importing an Image creates a Material Type with the same name as the image.
• the 'Maximum Number of Colours' setting defines the maximum number of Materials in the Material Type.
• Only colours are imported. Material properties such as Metallic, Smooth, Emissivity, Transparency etc. have to be set manually.
• You can quickly create a Palette directly from the Material Type using the Auto + Palette:
  • Open menu Tools > Materials
  • In the Material Types section, choose a Material Type from the drop-down
  • In the Palettes area, press Auto + to create a new Palette with the same name and Materials selection as the selected Material Type.
• You can add any number of Material Types or individual Materials to any palette

Notes:
1* To ensure that the imported colour values are identical to those in the original image, set the 'Maximum Number of Colours' to a number greater or equal to the number of colours in the original. Explanation: when the image contains less than the 'Maximum Number of Colours' requested, the exact colours are imported. If the image contains more colours than the 'Maximum Number of Colours', the colours are interpolated during import and therefore modified.

Raw 3D Binary Array

Menu File > Import > Raw 3D Binary Array

Avoyd can import raw 3D binary arrays of 8bit voxels. The data should be a continuous 3D array of bytes. Each byte should represent a voxel material with 0 being an empty voxel. All other values (1-255) will be mapped to a unique material instance which can then be modified after import. The amount of material will be set to 255. The 3D array is treated as a set of voxels in the order x + y * size_x + z * size_x * size_y.

• Open File > Import > Raw 3D Binary Array and select the binary file to import.
• The Raw 3D Binary Array import dialogue opens with settings for x and y size. The importer automatically calculates the z size using size_z = file_size / ( size_x * size_y ) and warns if the provided sizes do match the file size.

Export to Polygon Mesh

Menu File > Export > Polygon Mesh (*.obj)

Avoyd exports voxel models to a polygon mesh in the Wavefront .obj file format. Obj files are used in applications such as:

• Art Tools
• Blender 3D
• any other Art Tool which supports directly importing the .obj format
• Game Engines
• Unity 3D
• Unreal Engine
• any other Game Engine which supports directly importing the .obj format

Depending on what you plan to use the exported files for, the output varies:

• Art Tools: an .obj file and a .mtl material file are usually sufficient.
• Game Engines where further optimisation is needed for performance: the .obj and .mtl files are supplemented by .png texture files.

Exporting creates the following files (usually in the Documents/Avoyd/Exports directory):

• filename.obj
• filename.mtl
• potentially several texture files filename_*.png

Exporting a Model

To export a voxel model from Avoyd, follow these instructions:

1. Open the model in Avoyd. (Repository of permissively licenced .avwr Avoyd world files, voxel models)
2. Select File > Export > Polygon Mesh (*.obj)
3. Enter the .obj file name.
4. Set the export options according to what application you want to export to as in the following table:

   Avoyd Export Options - export to polygon mesh settings for art tools and game engines

   Export Option	Blender	Unity	Unreal
   Optimise Mesh	-	☑	☑
   Centre on Origin	-	-	-
   Export Normals	☑	☑	☑
   Export opaque and transparent materials with parameters in texture	☐	☑	☑
   Blender Compatible Metallic Materials	☑	-	-
   Unity style material properties in texture	-	☑	☐
   Export roughness instead of smoothness	-	-	☑

   
   
5. Select Export.
6. Go to the Blender, Unity or the Unreal import guide to learn how to set up the models in those tools.

Options

This section explains each parameter in the Options screen. To see how to set them up according to the export file destination refer to the options table in the export instructions

Optimize Mesh

Optimising the mesh reduces vertex and triangle count, making the files smaller and the models faster to manipulate in other applications. The option should be on by default. Turn it off if you want every individual visible voxel face to have vertices at their corners; or if you want to export faster.

The current optimization process works on 32x32x32 size volumes to reduce memory consumption for large models, so does not do a full optimization.

Centre on Origin

Translates the output model so that cente of the bounding volume is at the origin (0,0,0).

Export Normals

Export normals adds a face normal per vertex. This increaases file size and is sometimes not required as the program used to import the obj may calculate normals on import. If you are unsure leave this on.

Export opaque and transparent materials with parameters in texture

This options determines where the material data is stored:

• On: Avoyd exports the entire model using a single material. The material parameters are embedded in textures.
  • Usually more efficient for real time rendering.
  • As a downside, the import process requires extra work setting up the materials (unless only diffuse colour is required) and changing material parameters is harder once imported.
  • Explanation: limitations of the obj format mean that other tools will only import the albedo colour channel correctly. The other texture channels must then be assigned to control the metallic, smoothness/roughness and emissive parameters.
  • It emits the following textures (with Unity style material properties in texture off):
    • filename_col.png RGBA texture with:
      • Albedo Colour and Transmission in Alpha
    • filename_metal_smooth_emissive.png RGB texture with:
      • Metallic in Red
      • Smoothness (or Roughness if 'Export roughness instead of smoothness' is on) in Green
      • Emissive Intensity in Blue
• Off: Avoyd exports the materials separately.
  • More suitable for further modelling and offline rendering in 3D tools such as Blender.
  • Enables setting up and modifying materials once imported.

Blender Compatible Metallic Materials

Only available if 'Export opaque & transparent materials with parameters in texture' is off.

The materials output are in a non-standard format which Blender uses to represent metallic material parameters. Use this if you are exporting to use in Blender for further modelling.

Unity style material properties in texture

Only available if 'Export opaque & transparent materials with parameters in texture' is on.

Unity requires the metallic and smootheness parameters to be in the Red and Alpha channels of a texture, and emissive in another RGB texture.

Enabling this will thus emit the following textures:

• filename_col.png RGBA texture with:
  • Albedo Colour and Transmission in Alpha
• filename_metal_1_1_smooth.png RGBA texture with:
  • Metallic in Red
  • 1 in Green/Blue
  • Smoothness in Alpha
• filename_emissive.png RGB texture with:
  • Emissive Colour (emissive intensity * albedo) in Red/Green/Blue

See the Import in Unity Guide below.

Export roughness instead of smoothness

Only available if 'Export opaque & transparent materials with parameters in texture' is on and 'Unity style material properties in texture' is off.

Exports roughness as 1-smoothness in the Green channel of the filename_metal_smooth_emissive.png texture.

Import in Blender Guide

This section explains how to set up the model in Blender.

Exporting a voxel model for Blender using Avoyd creates the following files:

• filename.obj
• filename.mtl

To import, follow these steps:

1. Open Blender 3D and delete the default cube.
2. Select File > Import > Wavefront (.obj).
3. Select the .obj file.
4. Click on Import OBJ.

   

Your model should now be ready to use in Blender and have metallic, emissive and transparency working.

Import in Unity 3D Guide

This section explains how to set up the model in Unity.

Exporting a voxel model for Unity using Avoyd creates the following files:

• filename.obj
• filename.mtl
• filename_col.png
• filename_metal_1_1_smooth.png
• filename_emissive.png

To import, follow these steps:

1. Open up or create a Unity 3D project. (For this example the standard Unity 3D project is used.)
2. Drag and drop the files into the Assets window and wait for Unity to finish processing.
3. Drag the filename.obj model from the assets window into the 3D Scene window to create an instance of the model.

   

4. Select the filename_col.png texture in the Unity Assets window. It should open the texture Inspector.

   

5. Correct the default texture import settings as in the following table:

   Unity Material import settings for default texture

   Setting	Value
   Advanced > Non-Power of 2	None
   Advanced > Generate Mip Maps	Off
   Wrap Mode	Clamp
   Filter Mode	Point (no filter)
   Max Size	256
   Resize Algorithm	Bilinear
   Format	RGBA 32 bit

   
   Once these are changed the colours of diffuse (non metallic) materials should look more like they do in Avoyd as shown in this screenshot:

   

6. Adjust the shadow parameters Normal Bias and Bias for the Unity standard 3D pipeline. You need to tweak those values because Normal Bias does not work well for non-smooth polygons. It results in gaps in the shadows.
   As a general rule for default scaled scenes, lowering 'Normal Bias' to a very low value (0.001) and increasing Bias to 0.15 works reasonably well. Remember that you may need to take into account the scale you use for your Unity project.

   

7. Edit the Materials. Since Unity doesn't allow users to modify imported model materials, the simplest workaround is as follows:
   1. Select the .obj asset in the Assets window and click Extract Materials in the Inspector window.
   2. Select the folder you want the materials extracted to. You can now modify the new materials.

      

   3. Set the avoyd_transparent material to use the Transparent Rendering Mode in the material Inspector.

      

   4. Add metallic and smoothness properties to the materials as follows:
      1. Click on the circle before the Metallic property to open the texture selector.
      2. Select the filename_metal_1_1_smooth.png texture.
   5. Add emissive materials if applicable:
      1. Select the Emission checkbox.
      2. Click on the circle to the left of the Color property to open the texture selector.
      3. Select the filename_emissive.png texture.

      Repeat the steps above for both the transparent and opaque materials.

8. Correct the filename_metal_1_1_smooth.png texture settings using the same parameters as for filename_col.png above.
9. Correct the filename_emissive.png texture settings using the same parameters as for filename_col.png above, except the 'Format' should be RGB 24bit.

   

10. Correct the Unity High-Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) import settings if applicable. Use the same parameters as for filename_col.png above, except the emissive properties are handled slightly differently:
    1. Click the circle to the left of the Emissive Color property.
    2. select the filename_emissive.png texture.
    3. ensure Use Emission Intensity is off.
    4. Select the HDR colour picker and set the color to full white with a large Intensity - depending on your scene lighting you might need 10 or more.

Your model should now be ready to use in Unity and have metallic, emissive and transparency working.

Import in Unreal Engine Guide

This section explains how to set up the model in Unreal Editor. It is valid for UE4 and UE5.

Exporting a voxel model for Unreal using Avoyd creates the following files:

• filename.obj
• filename.mtl
• filename_col.png
• filename_metal_smooth_emissive.png

To import, follow these steps:

1. Open the Unreal Editor.
2. Import the .obj and the .png files in Unreal Editor.
3. Drag the static mesh into the view. (You may need to rotate or reflect the mesh.)
4. Set up the Materials as follows:
   1. Double click on the avoyd_opaque material. (It is in your content browser along with the imported mesh.)
      1. Drag the texture filename_metal_smooth_emissive.png into the node view.
      2. Set the texture up as in this screenshot:

         

   2. Double click on the avoyd_transparent material.
      1. Select the avoyd_transparent node block and set the following to make this work for transparency:
         1. Set Details > Material > Blend Mode to Translucent.
         2. Set Translucency > Lighting Mode to Surface Translucency Volume.
      2. Drag the filename_metal_smooth_emissive.png into the node view
      3. Set the texture up as in this screenshot. Note that the emissive channel (blue channel) isn't connected since it appears to cause problems for transparent materials.

         

   3. Save both materials.
   4. Close the material window.

      

Your model should now be ready to use in Unreal and have metallic, emissive and transparency working.

Graphics Settings and Performance

Menu Settings > Graphics

The graphics quality settings are:

• Very Low
• Low
• Medium (default)
• High
• Very High
• Custom

For a low end PC you may want to use Very Low, whereas for a powerful machine you can select Very High. Avoyd is designed to take full advantage of powerful machines, whilst still being able to run on the lowest minimum specification possible.

When tweaking the graphics settings, try to ensure the framerate stays above 30 Frames Per Second (FPS). To display the framerate, tick Show Performance. If you're still under 30 FPS at the lowest quality setting, you'll have to your keep voxel world size small, typically under 128 voxels a side (see menu View > World Properties > Dimensions).

Level Of Detail

The most visible difference between low and high quality settings rests with the Level Of Detail (LOD) system. On low settings it groups voxels together to render them easier, starting at a given distance. The lower the settings, the closer to the camera position the LOD starts simplifying scene. To see more details, increase the LOD Change Distance. (Note that there is also an LOD Far Change Distance which is a second level of LOD simplification, even further away).

Power Saving

Increasing the quality usually increases the energy consumption. To save power without compromising your experience, you should:

• Keep the Power Save Mode ON (default).
  It stops redrawing the screen when no computing nor user interaction happens (e.g. when the mouse doesn't move). This doesn't affect the graphics quality in any way.
• Turn VSync (vertical synchronisation) ON.
  If you experience motion sickness, turn it back off.

Camera Controls in Movement Mode

Camera controls are enabled in Movement mode (input trapped). In other words Movement mode gives you control of the camera: you can move around in 3D using the mouse and keyboard. To engage Movement mode click and hold the right-mouse button. Alternatively, press Tab to toggle between the Menu mode and the Movement mode. The camera controls in the voxel editor are similar to a first person shooter FPS game in zero gravity without collision nor inertia.

Function	Control
Engage Movement Mode	Mouse right click and hold, or Tab (toggles between the Menu and Movement modes)
Escape Movement Mode	Mouse right button release, or Esc, or Tab
Camera Aim	Mouse (Invert mouse Y and sensitivity in Settings > Controls)
Move Forwards	W
Move Backwards	S
Strafe Left	A
Strafe Right	D
Roll Left (counterclockwise)	Q
Roll Right (clockwise)	E
Move Up	Space
Move Down	Left Ctrl
Speed Increase	Left Shift
First Person Camera / Arcball Camera toggle	C
Saved Camera: Add	Alt + ↓
Saved Camera: Previous	Alt + ←
Saved Camera: Next	Alt + →

Edit Tool Controls

These controls are available when the Edit Tool window is open and active. Menu Tools > Edit Tool > Shapes

Function	Control
Open Edit Tool window	Menu Tools > Edit Tool > Shapes, or Alt+E (Shapes tab) or Alt+G (Procedural Generation tab)
Menu to Movement Mode	Mouse right click and hold, or Tab to toggle between the Menu and Movement modes
Movement to Menu Mode	Mouse right button release, or Tab to toggle between the Menu and Movement modes, or Esc
Show Edit Cursor	Edit Cursor section in the Edit Tool window: select Show Brush Preview and Show Wireframe
Move Edit Cursor	Mouse (in Menu Mode and with Anchor Off)
Move Edit Cursor closer/further	Mouse wheel (with Anchor unlocked; wheel sensitivity in Settings > Controls)
Anchor toggle On / Off	Alt + A
Shape (and edit cursor) size change by 1 voxel in all directions	↑ ↓, or Shift + Mouse wheel
Perform edit action	F, or Mouse left click over the 3D World, or [ Do... ] button
Cut from the 3D World	Ctrl + X
Copy from the 3D World	Ctrl + C
Paste into the 3D World	Ctrl + V
Undo the last change in the 3D World	Ctrl + Z
Redo - Reverse the last Undo in the 3D World	Ctrl + Y
Select custom Preset edit tool	0..9, or select from the 'Presets' dropdown
Context Menu	Mouse right click over the 3D World
Show / Hide all user interface elements	Ctrl + M
Take a Screenshot	F10 (screenshots are saved in ..\Users\username\Documents\Avoyd\Screenshots)
Open worlds, load templates, or import	Mouse click on file then drag and drop into Avoyd, or Menus File > Open; File > Load Template; File > Import

Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts listed alphabetically.

Note: keyboard shortcuts using the Ctrl modifier are disabled in Movement Mode so they don't interfere with the camera's Ctrl key (Move Down).

Shortcut	Function
0..9	Select custom Preset in the Edit Tool (Edit Tool active)
A	Strafe Left
C	First Person Camera / Arcball Camera toggle
D	Strafe Righ
E	Roll Right (clockwise)
F	Perform edit action in the 3D World (Edit Tool active, Shapes tab)
P	Pause game
Q	Roll Left (counterclockwise)
S	Move Backwards
W	Move Forwards
Alt + Enter	Toggle between fullscreen and windowed modes
Alt + ↓	Saved Camera: Add
Alt + ←	Saved Camera: Previous
Alt + →	Saved Camera: Next
Alt + A	Anchor toggle On / Off
Alt + C	Camera window Open / Focus on / Close
Alt + E	Edit Tool window Shapes tab Open / Focus on / Close
Alt + G	Edit Tool window Procedural Generation tab Open / Focus on / Close
Alt + L	Light and Atmosphere window Open / Focus on / Close
Alt + M	Materials
Alt + P	Pick and Inspect Material window Open / Focus on / Close
Alt + R	Replace Material window Open / Focus on / Close
Alt + X	Close all windows
Ctrl (left)	Move Down
Ctrl + C	Copy from the 3D World (Edit Tool active, Shapes tab)
Ctrl + M	Show / Hide all user interface elements
Ctrl + N	Create a new empty World
Ctrl + O	Open an existing World file *.avwr
Ctrl + R	Revert to last file save or import
Ctrl + S	Save current World to file
Ctrl + V	Paste into the 3D World (Edit Tool active, Shapes tab)
Ctrl + X	Cut from the 3D World (Edit Tool active, Shapes tab)
Ctrl + Y	Redo - Reverse the last Undo in the 3D World
Ctrl + Z	Undo the last change in the 3D World
Esc	Escape from Movement mode onto Menu mode, then onto Main menu
F1	Help window / In-game: toggle between first and third person view
F10	Take a Screenshot (saved in ..\Users\username\Documents\Avoyd\Screenshots)
Shift + Mouse wheel in / out	Shape (and edit cursor) size decrease / increase by 1 voxel increments, in all directions (Edit Tool active)
Shift (left)	Speed Increase (camera)
Space	Move Up
Tab	Toggles between the Menu and Movement modes
↑	Shape (and edit cursor) size Increase by 1 voxel in all directions (Edit Tool active)
↓	Shape (and edit cursor) size Decrease by 1 voxel in all directions (Edit Tool active)

Mouse Controls

Control	Function
Mouse (Menu Mode)	Move the mouse pointer when over the user interface Move the edit cursor when over the 3D world (if the Edit, Pick or Replace Tool is active and the Anchor is off)
Mouse (Movement Mode)	Camera aim
Left click over the 3D world / voxels	Perform edit action (if the Edit Tool is active) Pick a voxel and make its Material current (if the Pick or the Replace Tool is active)
Wheel in / out	Move Edit Cursor closer / further (if the Edit Tool is active and the Anchor is off or unlocked)
Shift + Wheel in / out	Shape (and edit cursor) size decrease / increase by 1 voxel increments, in all directions (if the Edit Tool is active)
Right click over the 3D world	Open the Context menu
Right click and hold / release	Movement mode (input trapped) engage / escape
Drag and drop a file into Avoyd	Open worlds, load templates, or import