Updated 19 Sep 2023
This document describes how to use the Avoyd Voxel Editor to create voxel models and voxel art renders.
If this is your first time using Avoyd or a voxel editor, and even if you are familiar with MagicaVoxel, you should start with the Tutorial to learn the basics of how to edit voxels in Avoyd.
The documentation covers the following functionality of the Voxel Editor:
Step by step tutorial for making basic voxel shapes in the Voxel Editor with the Edit Tools Set, Paint, and Delete.
To begin with, download Avoyd from www.enkisoftware.com and install it on your machine. (If you get a virus warning, see the FAQ.)
The folowing steps show how to use the Voxel Editor Edit Tool to create a yellow cube made of 3x3x3 voxels:
Voxel Editor
in the main menu.Tools > Edit Tool
and open the Shapes
tab.Edit Cursor
section and enable (tick) Show Wireframe
and Show Brush Preview
.Move Edit Cursor here
from the context menu.Anchor
setting is off (unticked).Sticky
mode is off (unticked).Set
from the list of tools in the left-hand column of the Edit Tool > Shapes
.Cube
from the Shape
drop-down.Size
to 3
voxels.Amount
to 255
.Palette
and click on a yellow colour swatch to select it.
Tools > Materials
and click on Reset
.Move Edit Cursor here
from the context menu. This should bring the cursor in front of you.
Set
enabled.Painting changes not only the colour of the voxels, but more importantly the material the voxels are made of. The following steps describe how to paint voxels with a blue material:
Paint
in the Edit Tool > Shapes
.The following steps show how to delete voxels from the world:
Delete
in the Edit Tool > Shapes
.Set
with different shapes, a size 4x8x12 box for example.Amount
to less than 255: the cubes are smaller and deform to touch their neighboursContinuous
(untick Collide
) and keep the left mouse button pressed to draw a curved line with it.View > Show Tooltips
.Menu Tools > Camera
How to switch from interacting with the menus to 3D movement, and how to use the camera in 3D.
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:
Tab
key or hold the right-mouse button down.Tab
again, press Esc
, or release the right-mouse button.
When in "Movement" mode, you can use one of two types of camera: "First Person" or "Arcball".
To choose the camera type, toggle to "Menu" mode and open Tools > Camera
or use the context menu (right-mouse click).
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
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.
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:
File > Save Template > Cameras
.File > Load Template > Cameras
or drag & drop the template file into Avoyd.Menu Tools > Edit Tool
tab 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.
Menu Tools > Edit Tool
tab Shapes
, Edit Cursor
Edit Cursor
section. You can also change their appearance from Settings > Display
, 3D Spatial Interface
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).
Tip: Use the Camera functions Focus or Centre on Anchor (Tools > Camera
or from the context menu).
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.
Menu Tools > Materials
Every voxel in Avoyd has a Material that defines its properties: colour, reflexivity, strength, etc.
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.
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'.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:
Tools > Materials
.Material Type
and click on the swatch of the material you want to modify.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.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.
To add a new Material, you can:
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.
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.
File > Save Template > Materials
Notes:
File > Import > Image...
)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.
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.
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.
Menu Tools > Light and Atmosphere
The light and atmosphere settings are physics based. They control the following aspects:
To modify the light and atmosphere, open Tools > Light and Atmosphere
and adjust the following parameters:
Light Azimuth Angle
and the Light Elevation Angle
. (recommended)Light Direction
.Presets
to quickly change the Light and Atmosphere settings. You can then tweak the parameters manually.Fog
atmosphere preset or modify one or both of the following:
Half Length
which represents how far one has to go before half the geometry is hidden by the atmosphere.Amount
which represents how dense the atmosphere is.None (emissives only)
Light preset.Neutral
Global preset. Settings > Voxel Style
and select the property from Display Mode
.)Save your Light and Atmosphere settings as templates to use in other worlds:
File > Save Template > Light and Atmosphere
, name the file and save.File > Load Template > Light and Atmosphere
, select the template and open. Alternatively drag and drop
the file into Avoyd.Menu Render
When the Render window is open, pressing the Do Raytrace Scene
button renders the scene with CPU path tracing using the parameters you've set.
Render
.Preview
for a quick render.Image Size
, Depth of Field
and other parameters.Do Raytrace Scene
.Accumulate
to run the raytracing again and increase the quality of the render. Note that after several accumulations the result will stop improving.Denoise
the render to remove artefacts such as small white dots and smooth grainy appearance.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:
Render
window, pick a small image size (so the raytracing is faster)Emissive Material Intensity
to a large number (e.g. 1000)Preview
Denoise
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.Max
number.Stop
or un-tick Continuous
.You can denoise the image 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.
Hovering over the rendered image with the mouse opens a zoomed in view of the area under the cursor.
Mode
drop-down in the Post Process
section.Auto Save
in the Image Settings
.Save Render Image
button.To render an image with Depth of Field (DoF) blurring of the foreground and background:
Use Picked Position
checkbox to use the focus point for the Focus Distance
.Focus Distance
is the distance between the camera and the focus point. It updates automatically when you pick a different focus point or you move the camera. You can edit the value manually by unticking Use Picked Position
.)Pick
tool to select a focus point in the scene.Aperture
to a non-zero value. This is in Voxel units. A value of 0.5
is a decent starting point to use.Raytrace
the scene.Use Exposure
to make the rendered image more or less bright. You can set the exposure after rendering.
Samples Per Pixel
setting to change the rendering quality and speed. However you should consider using Accumulate
instead as it gives better feedback for convergence.Emissive Material Intensity
setting to increase or decrease the light emitted by all emissive materials.Full Voxels
setting for faster renders, but be aware all voxels will represented as cubes.Format
(jpg
, png
, hdr
and exr
), jpg Quality
and exr Precision
in Render > Image Settings
. For the highest quality results save your image as exr
with 32 bit float
precision in order to post process in an image utility whilst retaining the full dynamic range of the render.This video gives a good general overview of how to render in Avoyd (not limited to Minecraft maps nor isometric angles). You'll find the Transcript of the Video in the Avoyd devlog.
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.
Menu File > Import > Minecraft Map or Structure (.mca, .nbt)
or drag & drop
Importing Minecraft maps or structures into Avoyd turns all the Minecraft blocks into voxels. In Avoyd you can view entire Minecraft maps, explore the world with large view distances and custom atmosphere and lighting, and render your chosen views.
Before you start, make sure you have a Minecraft map or structure available:
%appdata%.minecraft\saves\
.In Avoyd Voxel Editor, follow the steps:
Drag and drop
a .mca
or .nbt
file into Avoyd.File > Import > Minecraft Map or Structure (.mca, .nbt)
.
.mca
files..nbt
file.Open
..avwr
Avoyd world file. .avwr
files open faster and you can use them as a paste brush.To move around in the voxel editor, you use the camera. You can control its position using the mouse and keyboard (WASD FPS controls) or by entering 3D coordinates. Before you begin check the camera is set properly.
Set the camera to First Person
and lock it to the y
axis to make it easier to use with Minecraft maps as follows:
First Person
Camera. You control the camera as if you were in a FPS game. (The alternative is the Arcball
camera where you rotate around a point you fix. It is more useful for editing.)
First Person
:
Tools > Camera
.First Person Camera
.Use First Person Camera
.First Person
and the Arcball
cameras using one of the methods:
c
.First Person / Arcball camera
button in the Status Bar
.y
axis. When you open a Minecraft map in Avoyd, check the axis of the camera is locked on. This defines the horizontal plane and makes it easier to move around the map.
y
:
Tools > Camera
.Align To Axes
.Align Camera to Axes
.y
axisAxis Preference
to 0.80
or above.Align Camera to Axis
button in the Status Bar
until it shows y
.There are several ways to move the camera:
Tools > Camera
Position
field:
Camera Position
field in the Status Bar
.Move Camera here
as follows:
Move Camera here
. You'll instantly move above the position you are pointing to.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
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
File > Save Templates > Materials
. When you import a Minecraft map, select your custom Materials template to overwrite the default values.Settings > Graphics
. Increasing the Graphics Quality
improves detail but can reduce performance.Menu File > Import > MagicaVoxel (.vox)
or drag & drop
You can import VOX files complete with all their material properties as set in MagicaVoxel. Avoyd merges scenes made of multiple models in the same order as in MagicaVoxel.
To import a .vox
file you can either:
Drag and drop
the .vox
file into Avoyd.File > Import > MagicaVoxel (.vox)
..vox
file.Open
to import.Tools > Materials
. Avoyd groups the imported materials under the same name as the vox file.Settings > Display
.Invert Materials Grid
.Menu File > Import > Image Heightmap (.jpg, .png, .tga)
or drag & drop
You can import image formats .jpeg
, .png
and .tga
and turn them into a heightmap based on their RGB information or the alpha channel.
File > Import > Image Heightmap (.jpg, .png, .tga)
Open
Import
Scale
(maximum height) = 1
Amount
= 255
Smooth Surface
= Off
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)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 effectInvert
to get the elevation that would be produced by the negative image, but keep the coloursSurface 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.Menu File > Import > Image (.jpg, .png, .tga) as Material
Images and colour palettes of type .JPG, .PNG and .TGA can be imported to create Material Types and Palettes in Avoyd.
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.
File > Import > Image (.jpg, .png, .tga) as Material
Tools > Materials
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*)
Tools > Materials
Material Type
from the drop-downAuto +
to create a new Palette with the same name and Materials selection as the selected Material Type.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.
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
.
File > Import > Raw 3D Binary Array
and select the binary file to import.Menu File > Export > MagicaVoxel (.vox)
MagicaVoxel .vox
is a popular file format voxel artists and game developers use. Voxel editors like MagicaVoxel, Qubicle, voxel game engines like IOLITE, RPG in a Box, and games like Teardown and Idu are applications that can open .vox
files. The MagicaVoxel .vox
format is limited compared to Avoyd's .avwr
worlds. Avoyd can handle some limitations automatically such as the number of materials, but for other such as scene size you have to edit the world manually before you export it.
To export a world file to MagicaVoxel .vox
:
File > Export > MagicaVoxel (.vox)
.When exporting an Avoyd world to .vox
, you should take into account the three main limitations of the .vox
format and how Avoyd can work around them:
255
materials - Use Avoyd's automatic palette reduction or the manual method.2000 x 1000 x 2000
voxels - Reduce the scene size or Enable Avoyd's larger scenes with the Unlimited Size option..vox
file size is 4GB by definition - This is a hard boundary but you can try to reduce the file size.There are additional limitations you cannot work around:
.vox
..vox
file that contains several models, Avoyd merges them into one world. When you export the world to .vox
, Avoyd creates new model boundaries..vox
will result in slight differences visible mostly in renders. As a consequence, importing then exporting a .vox
file is not idempotent. In other words the .vox
file you export may be different from the .vox
file you imported in Avoyd.
Check the number of Materials in use using View > World Properties
. If your world has a Number of Materials in Use
greater than 255
you have too many and Avoyd will use automatic palette reduction during export. Alternatively you can reduce the material count manually before you export.
255
. The automatic palette reduction always runs if you have more than 255
materials in use when you export. This method doesn't modify the source file.Tools > Materials
to display the materials.Edit > Merge Materials into one Material Type
to put all the materials in one group.Edit > Remove Unused Materials
to only keep the materials that are used in the scene.255
or fewer materials in use.
Refresh
in View > World Properties
to check the Number of Materials in Use
.Tools > Replace Material
to replace the materials you want to discard with the ones you choose to keep.Edit > Remove Unused Materials
to remove the discarded materials from the list.Check your world dimensions using View > World Properties
. Refresh
and if the Dimensions
are greater than 2000 x 1000 x 2000
voxels:
Tools > Edit Tool
and use Copy
to select a smaller volume to export.Save Paste Brush as World
..vox
.If the export fails because your .vox
file would be larger than 4GB
, you can try the following:
Remove Hidden Voxels
when you export.Remove Hidden Voxels
can potentially reduce the size of the .vox
file. Avoyd removes voxels which are surrounded by opaque (i.e. not transparent) voxels on all sides. It is similar to MagicaVoxel's "Hull" but applies to the entire scene (all models). You should only use it if internal voxels are not important.
Warning: you shouldn't use it if you intend to export the result to a mesh. It adds surface area which in turn increases the polygon count.
Fit Model Boundaries to Voxels
fits the MagicaVoxel model size to the AABB of the voxels inside it. You should leave it on by default. Turn it off for applications that require a specific size for their models, for example the game Idu.
Maximum Model Size
: MagicaVoxel's .vox
format only supports model sizes up to 256
voxels a side. As a consequenmce larger scenes are split into many models. By controlling the models size you can help performance when the model is imported in some engines such as the IOLITE Voxel Game Engine. This might help with exporting to Teardown but we've not tested it. Note that when Avoyd exports a single model, it centres it horizontally (xz plane).
Unlimited Size
ignores MagicaVoxel's 2000 x 1000 x 2000
voxels limitation. This is useful for applications that can handle large scenes such as IOLITE. Note that the material count and maximum file size limits still apply.
Use Avoyd's .vox
exporter to mod voxel games like Teardown or Idu.
Teardown support is untested
.vox
with the following options:
Remove Hidden Voxels
.Fit Model Boundaries to Voxels
.Maximum Model Size
to 128
or smaller.Use Avoyd to create maps for the plant growing game Idu.
Id in Avoyd | Material in Idu |
---|---|
0 | Concrete |
1 | ConcreteOrnament |
2 | Soil |
3 | SeedBox |
4 | Metal |
y
axis up. (Use the Edit Tool
's Anchor
guizmo to see it: +y is the full green arrow.)16
voxels a side. So you should build inside volumes that are, for example 32 x 32 x 32
or 80 x 80 x 80
voxels.32
, ensure all your voxels are within a 30 x 30 x 30
cube.128
. (In theory the maximum is 256
a side but larger than 128
may cause performance issues in Idu).View > World Properties
Dimensions
. Use Refresh
to update..vox
filename.vox
with the following options:
Remove Hidden Voxels
.Fit Model Boundaries to Voxels
.Maximum Model Size
to your world size: a multiple of 16
up to 128
.main.exe -c path/filename.vox
Menu File > Export > Mesh (.obj)
Avoyd exports voxel models to polygon mesh in the Wavefront .obj
file format. Mesh, material and optionally texture files are used in applications such as:
Depending on what you plan to use the exported files for, the output varies:
.obj
mesh file and a .mtl
material file are usually sufficient..png
texture files supplement the mesh and material files.When exporting, Avoyd creates the following files usually in the Documents/Avoyd/Exports
directory:
filename.obj
filename.mtl
filename_*.png
(game engines)To export a voxel model from Avoyd, follow these instructions:
File > Export > Mesh (.obj)
.obj
file name.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 |
- | - | ☑ |
Export
.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
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.
Translates the output model so that cente of the bounding volume is at the origin (0,0,0).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 into Blender, follow these steps:
Scene Collection
:
Camera
.Cube
.Light
.File > Import > Wavefront (.obj)
..obj
file then click Import OBJ
.
Your model should be ready to use in Blender and have metallic, emissive and transparency working.
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.obj
and filename.mtl
with filename.fbx
.)
filename_col.png
filename_metal_1_1_smooth.png
filename_emissive.png
To import into Unity, follow these steps:
Drag and drop
the files into the Assets
window and wait for Unity to finish processing. filename.obj
(or filename.fbx
if you've optimised the mesh in Blender) from the assets window into the 3D Scene window to create an instance of the model.
filename_col.png
texture in the Unity Assets
window. It should open the texture Inspector.
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 |
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.Bias
to 0.15 works reasonably well. Remember that you may need to take into account the scale you use for your Unity project.
Extract Materials
in the Inspector window.filename_transparent
material to use the Transparent
Rendering Mode in the material Inspector.
Metallic
property to open the texture selector.filename_metal_1_1_smooth.png
texture.Emission
checkbox.Color
property to open the texture selector.filename_emissive.png
texture.Repeat the steps above for both the transparent and opaque materials.
filename_metal_1_1_smooth.png
texture settings using the same parameters as for filename_col.png
above.filename_emissive.png
texture settings using the same parameters as for filename_col.png
above, except the 'Format' should be RGB 24bit.
Emissive Color
property.filename_emissive.png
texture.Use Emission Intensity
is off.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.
This section explains how to set up the model in Unreal Editor. It is valid for UE4, and UE5 with a workaround using Blender.
Exporting a voxel model for Unreal using Avoyd creates the following files:
filename.obj
filename.mtl
filename.obj
and filename.mtl
with filename.fbx
.)
filename_col.png
filename_metal_smooth_emissive.png
To import into Unreal Engine, follow these steps:
filename.obj
in Blender to convert it to .fbx
Camera
, Cube
, and Light
from the Scene Collection
.File > Import > Wavefront (.obj)
.filename.obj
then click Import OBJ
.File > Export > FBX (.fbx)
.filename.fbx
and click Export FBX
.filename.obj
(or filename.fbx
if you're using Unreal 5.0 or above or you've optimised the mesh in Blender) and the .png
files in Unreal Editor.filename_opaque
material. (It is in your content browser along with the imported mesh.)
filename_transparent
material.
filename_transparent
node block and set the following to make this work for transparency:
Details > Material > Blend Mode
to Translucent
.Translucency > Lighting Mode
to Surface Translucency Volume
.filename_metal_smooth_emissive.png
into the node viewYour model should now be ready to use in Unreal and have metallic, emissive and transparency working.
Menu Settings > Graphics
The graphics quality settings are:
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
).
The most visible difference between low and high quality settings rests with the Level Of Detail (LOD) system. It simplifies the voxel world in real time to keep the framerate high, grouping together voxels that are far away. In other words, on low quality settings the LOD system 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).
Increasing the quality usually increases the energy consumption. To save power without compromising your experience, you should:
Power Save Mode
ON
(default).VSync
(vertical synchronisation) ON
.Avoyd requires a mouse and keyboard. Controls and shortcuts are currently hardcoded.
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 + → |
These controls are available when the Edit Tool window is open and active. Menu Tools > Edit Tool
tab Shapes
.
Function | Control |
---|---|
Open Edit Tool window | Menu Tools > Edit Tool tab Shapes , orAlt+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, orMenus File > Open ; File > Load Template ; File > Import |
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) |
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 |
*.avwr
(Avoyd world). It is a heavily compressed proprietary binary format. In MagicaVoxel the file format is .vox
. Avoyd can open .vox
files. You can download free permissively licensed voxel models from our repository..obj
meshes to .vox
files. To voxelise models for Avoyd, follow this guide for voxelizing 3D meshes and textures for use in Avoyd using VoxTool and MagicaVoxel. For textureless .obj
files you can use MagicaVoxel.Avoyd is a voxel editor and game developed and published by enkisoftware • ©enkisoftware 2001-2023