Version:

Icon of a magnifying glass.

IN THIS ARTICLE

White Box component

White Box component

This feature is an experimental release and is subject to change.

The White Box component is a tool you can use to sketch 3D proxy meshes in Lumberyard Editor. Add the White Box component to an entity, select a primitive shape to use as a basis for your proxy mesh, then enter edit mode to access the tools to quickly rough out a mesh for your entity.

[White Box component interface.]

Because White Box is implemented as a component, you can create well-defined entities that accurately represent the size, shape, and function of the final production entity in Lumberyard Editor before investing the time and effort into building finished models for your entity. Meshes created with White Box can be saved to disk as white box mesh assets (.wbm) and reused in other White Box components. White box meshes can also be exported to .obj files and used as a template in a third-party 3D modeling application to build final production assets.

Topics

White Box properties

[White Box component interface.]

Default Shape
The default primitive shape of the white box mesh. From the list you can select a primitive shape, or choose to load a saved white box mesh (.wbm) asset. The default primitive size is one meter in world space.

White Box default shapes:

  • Cube
  • Tetrahedron
  • Icosahedron
  • Cylinder
  • Sphere
  • Custom Mesh Asset When Custom Mesh Asset is selected, a Mesh Asset file field appears in the component interface below Default Shape that you can use to select a saved white box mesh (.wbm) asset.

Save as asset
Save the proxy mesh to a white box mesh (.wbm) asset. You can load the saved (.wbm) asset in other White Box components. The .wbm file functions like an instance, and any changes made to the mesh propagate to all White Box components that use the .wbm file.

[White Box .wbm mesh instancing animation.]

Tint
Set a tint color for the white box mesh. Choose the swatch to open a color picker, or enter comma separated red, blue, and green 8-bit values into the field to set a tint color for the White Box component.

Use Texture
Enable **Use Texture **to display a checkerboard texture on the white box mesh. Each square is a half meter in size, and the texture is projected on the local X, Y, and Z axes of the mesh. This maintains an easy reference for the size of the proxy mesh, regardless of how the entity is oriented in the level.

Visible
Enable Visible to make the white box mesh visible at runtime. When you use White Box to create custom invisible collision meshes, disable the Visible property to hide the mesh at runtime.

Edit
Choose this button to enter edit mode and modify the white box mesh. For information on editing the white box mesh, see White Box edit mode. Choose this same button (labeled Done) to exit edit mode.

Export
Export the mesh to a .obj file. The .obj file can be loaded into a 3D modeling application and used as a template for creating the production mesh asset for the entity.

White Box edit mode

In edit mode, you can quickly sketch meshes for your entities in Lumberyard Editor by selecting and dragging the face, edge, and vertex components of the white box mesh. To begin, add a White Box component to an entity, choose a default primitive shape in the White Box component interface, and choose Edit to enter edit mode.

Move

Move polygon

  1. Hover over a polygon.

  2. Hold the left mouse button.

  3. Drag the polygon along its normal.

[White Box move face animation.]

Move edge

  1. Hover over an edge.

  2. Hold the left mouse button.

  3. Drag the edge.

[White Box move edge animation.]

Move vertex

  1. Hover over a vertex. The vertex will highlight.

  2. Hold the left mouse button.

  3. Drag the vertex along the edge guides.

[White Box move vertex animation.]

Scale

Scale polygon

  1. Select (left click) a polygon.

  2. Hover over one of the polygon’s vertices.

  3. Hold the left mouse button.

  4. Drag the vertex toward or away from the center of the selected polygon.

[White Box scale face animation.]

Scale edge

  1. Select (left click) an edge.

  2. Hover over one of the edge’s vertices.

  3. Hold the left mouse button.

  4. Drag the vertex along the length of the selected edge.

[White Box scale edge animation.]

Non-uniform scale edge

  1. Select (left click) an edge.

  2. Hover over one of the edge’s vertices.

  3. Hold Alt and drag the vertex along the length of the selected edge.

[White Box scale edge animation.]

Extrude

Extrude polygon

  1. Hover over a polygon.

  2. Hold Ctrl and left mouse button.

  3. Drag the polygon along its normal.

[White Box extrude face animation.]

Extrude edge

  1. Hover over an edge.

  2. Hold Ctrl and left mouse button.

  3. Drag the edge.

[White Box extrude edge animation.]

Extrude scale

  1. Select (left click) a polygon.

  2. Hover over one of the polygon’s vertices.

  3. Hold Ctrl and left mouse button.

  4. Drag the vertex toward or away from the center of the selected polygon to scale.

  5. Hover over the selected polygon.

  6. Hold the left mouse button.

  7. Drag the polygon along its normal.

[White Box extrude scale animation.]

Flip edge

Flip edge

  1. Hold Ctrl + Shift to show hidden edges.

  2. Right click on a hidden edge to flip its orientation.

[White Box flip edge animation.]

Hide/Show edge

Hide an edge

  1. Select (left click) an edge.

  2. Press H.

[White Box hide edge animation.]

Show edge

  1. Hold Ctrl and Shift to show edges.

  2. Select (left click) an edge to unhide it.

[White Box extrude edge animation.]

Hide/Show vertex

Hide a vertex

  1. Select (left click) a vertex.

  2. Press H.

[White Box hide edge animation.]

Show vertex

  1. Hold Ctrl and Shift to show hidden vertices.

  2. Select (left click) a vertex to unhide it.