Giants Editor 4.1.7 Free Download 64 Bit
Nelson Suggs
The GIANTS Editor is the main application you will use to create mods. In the editor, you can run scripts, preview and manipulate models, and stage your creations before publishing them to the ModHub. In this chapter, we will explore the features and tools of the GIANTS Editor. Familiarizing yourself with the interfaces that mod creators work with is the first step in the path to making your own.
You will need to download the GIANTS Editor and optionally additional software for this chapter. As such, you will need an Internet connection and web browser available to you. The minimum requirements for the GIANTS Editor and other applications are as follows:
To begin this chapter, we will return to the GDN website ( -software.com) and head to the Downloads section. If you have not already made a GDN account, you will need to do so before you can download any of the free software on your computer. When you have navigated to the Downloads page, look for the most recent version of the GIANTS Editor available for your platform and game (e.g., Farming Simulator 22). By clicking the product name, you should be prompted to download the executable for the GIANTS Editor. You can see the relevant section of the Downloads page in Figure 2-1.
Once you have downloaded the executable, run it and proceed through the steps listed in the setup wizard. When the setup tasks have been completed, launch the GIANTS Editor application, and you should be greeted by a welcome menu. That is the first step complete!
The first option from this list is Camera, which allows you to set your perspective to any camera object within your scene. You may find this feature useful in instances where you want to test a camera object players will eventually use as part of your mod or simply to have multiple viewpoints available in different areas of your scene while in the Editor. Note that you cannot delete a camera object if your perspective is currently set to it.
The next option from the list is a toggle for Framed Rotate mode. When this option is enabled, you can move your camera around an arbitrary point in space; this is a very useful feature for examining an object in your scene. To do this, enable Framed Rotate, select an object and press the F key to bring your camera to it, zoom out, and press ALT+LMB to move your camera around its new pivot point.
This option enables a special mode that is useful for creating maps. It allows the user to walk through a map like a player using the mouse and the A, S, D, W keys for movement. Note that you should only enable this mode when editing a map as it requires a terrain object in the scene. Use the ESC key to disable the mode again.
Listed after these options are two modes for viewing your scene; these two modes are called wireframe and shaded. When viewing your scene in shaded mode (the default mode), objects will be rendered (displayed) with shadows and appear as they would in the game. In wireframe mode, you will always be able to see the topology of objects in your scene and see objects through other objects. If you are unfamiliar with the process of 3D modeling, topology refers to the layout of the smaller 3D components that make up your model, often called polygons or tris (triangles).
Following these viewing mode options are options for what objects you can see and interact with in your scene. The first Show option includes a dropdown menu and list of object types that are shown only when enabled. Similarly, the Selectable option also produces a dropdown menu where you can choose which types of objects you are able to select with your mouse in the viewport. These settings are convenient when you are working in complex scenes and want to filter only for the types of objects you want to interact with.
The Grid option shows a grid with 11 squares when enabled. The grid can help to give you a frame of reference when creating your scene when terrain is not present as well as keeping objects aligned.
Lastly, the Polycount option when enabled will show you additional information about objects you are selecting. This relates back to what you are able to see in the wireframe viewing mode. Because of how computer processing works, the lower the polycount of an object, the less computationally expensive it is to render.
As previously mentioned, the Scenegraph Panel is an important menu that allows you to see all of the objects in your scene. This will become important when you begin programming as you will need to refer to objects in your scene, and this reference will be based on the organization of objects in your scene. You can see how your Scenegraph Panel might look when there are multiple objects in your scene in Figure 2-3.
You may notice some objects in Figure 2-3 seem to be a list under another object. This descent is related to how objects are organized in the GIANTS Editor. Let us now explore what this hierarchy is called and how to navigate it.
In the GIANTS Editor (and many other applications like it), objects are stored in what is called a parent-child hierarchy. A parent-child hierarchy is one where an object is stored inside of something (its parent) and the object is the child to its parent. Each object in the engine is an entity with a unique ID used to access it. Please keep in mind that this ID is not persistent and can change on every game or editor startup. An entity can be a TransformGroup, a shape, a camera, etc. The entity type defines a feature set for the object. For example, a camera entity can be used as a viewport camera, a Shape entity has special functions like materials, and Transform entities can be used in the parent-child hierarchy and have a position in the world. Looking at Figure 2-4, you can see three objects: the Scenegraph, a Camera object named perspectiveCamera, and two Transform Group objects named parentTransformGroup and childTransformGroup. In the GIANTS Editor, the Scenegraph is always at the top of the parent-child hierarchy; that is, any objects in your scene are a descendant of the Scenegraph. In this example, perspectiveCamera and parentTransformGroup are direct descendants of the Scenegraph or its children. The Transform object named childTransformGroup is the child of parentTransformGroup; you can alternatively say that childTransformGroup is parented to parentTransformGroup:
The New button will reset the editor to an empty environment when pressed. Before the environment is cleared, you will be prompted to save any unsaved changes to the current file or to create a new file if you have not saved your work before.
The Save and Save As buttons will save your current environment to an .i3d file. If you have not previously saved your work to a file, only the Save As button will be available and will prompt you to select a location on your computer and file name for the file to be stored with. If you have previously saved your work to a file, only the Save As button will prompt you to choose a new location and file name, whereas the Save option will simply overwrite your existing file.
Clicking the Open Mod button will allow you to open mods that have already been exported to mod file formats such as .zip or .xml instead of an .i3d file. Alternatively, selecting the New Mod from Game option will allow you to import game assets to your environment and use them to create a new mod, creating all of the relevant files in a directory of your choice. You can freely use any of the assets or components of them in your new creations.
If you wish to export the 3D elements of your mod, there are three options to choose from. The Export all with Files, Export Selection, and Export Selection with Files options all allow you to convert the objects in your environment into 3D model file formats, such as .i3d and .obj. The meaning of with Files is that it will include files like textures in addition to the base .i3d file. Without exporting with files, textures are referenced only with absolute or relative file paths and thus will not appear if shared with others. The functional difference between the export all and export selection is that export selection will only include objects that you are currently selecting in your scene as opposed to every object in your scene.
The Preferences button will open a menu that contains various settings related to the tools and interfaces of the GIANTS Editor. Not all of these settings will be relevant to you as a beginner, but feel free to explore each of them. If you have set preferences in a previous version of the GIANTS Editor, you can select the Import Preferences option, and the editor will automatically transfer over your preferences.
Lastly, hovering over the Recent Files button will produce a dropdown menu of any files you have recently worked with in the GIANTS Editor. Do note that opening recent files from this menu will change your scene without prompting you to save. Save any changes you have made to your scene before opening a recent file from this menu.
The Edit menu contains a list of options related to actions you make in the editor in addition to the key bindings associated with them. Let us look at some of these options and what each of them does:
Some other options this menu provides include Freeze Transformation, Move to Camera, and Interactive Placement. Freeze Transformations will allow you to set the frame of reference for a selected object to its parent for different properties. For example, if an object parented to your scene (top of the hierarchy) is moved from the origin (global center of your scene) and you apply this option to the Translate property, it will treat it as unmoved from the origin. Another example is if your object is rotated and you apply this option with the Rotate property selected, the rotation arcs will reset as if the object was not rotated. You will likely not need to use this option until you are a more advanced creator or find a situation where this is particularly helpful.
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