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Catalog

Quick start
Basic operations and shortcuts
How to use components
Test the map
Packaging and unpacking components
Post your map
Appendix

1. Quick start

In this chapter, we will learn how to quickly create a simple level map and get an overview of the mapping process.

Step 1: Add the assets you want

After opening the BME, you will find that there are no objects in the BME that can be placed in the scene. What you need to do now is to manually import the assets bundles you need.

Menu bar command: File -> Import Assets

Clicking will bring up an interface that will display all available assets bundles and pick the ones you need.
(Because it is the first version, only one basic assets bundle is provided, and more expansion packages will be launched later)

After the correct import, the editor's Project panel will increase the resources in the assets bundle of your choice.

Step 2: Familiar with components

Take the standard assets package as an example. In the Project panel on the left, you can see that all components are divided into seven groups. Please keep in mind the contents of each group:

1. Extras
It includes everything that does not include the game's roads and machinery, including pillars, ball switchers, supplies, decorations, and functional areas.
 
2. Machinery
The Machinery group includes the functional items used in the game, such as pushers, jumping boards, conveyors, and TNT.
 
3. IronRail
Contains all rails, including guardrails, spiral rails, straight rails, and more.
 
4. StoneRoad
StoneRoad is a stone pavement, and all static stone roads are included, including corners and concave pavements.
 
5. WoodBoard
WoodBoard is a collection of wood-based pavements, and a variety of curved planks are included.
 
6. IceBoard
IceBoard group is similar to WoodBoard group, but the surface is made with ice. The pavement of this group has the physical property of ice surface (extremely low friction).
 
7. Pool
This group contains pools of various sizes.

Please click on these folders to browse through them in order to find the components you want when making the map. After the familiarization, we can begin to create a simple scene.

Step 3: Build your own world

The use of components is pretty simple, just a simple drag and drop can be added to the scene. Let's try to drag a wooden board into the scene first!

1. Find the required component

Click on the WoodBoard folder on the left and continue to open the 1_Board folder. This folder contains all the straight board, as shown below.

Tap and hold the WB_8x2 component and drag it into the scene.

That is done!

2. Use tools to place components into the right place

The position and direction of this board is not right. What should we do? These problems can be solved by using the tools on the right side of the menu bar.

There have three tools: Moving, Rotating, and Zooming tools. Let's take a look at how to use it.

Moving tool: Shortcut key W

The moving tool allows the object to move in three axial directions of XYZ. When the object is clicked, an object similar to the coordinate axis will appear. You can click on the three arrows and drag to change the position of the object.

Rotating tool: Shortcut key E

The rotation tool can also be rotated in three axial directions, similar to moving tool. Click on the swivel band and drag to make an axial rotation.

Zooming tool: Shortcut R

The zooming tool can change the size of the object, and it's similar to moving tool. The handles that can be dragged in three axial directions can be resized in three axial directions. Drag The square in the middle can be scaled simultaneously in three axes, it's called uniform scale.

Now, let's switch to the rotating tool and hold down the Ctrl key (Mac use the Control key) and drag the green axis to make it rotate 90 degrees.

And use the moving tool to drag out along the red axis.

Now we have finished placing the wooden board.

By the same operation, we can drag and drop other types of components, such as rails, stone pavements, etc.

If you want to change the view, try the following shortcuts:
 
1. Hold down Alt + left mouse button drag --> rotate camera
2. Hold down the middle mouse button or right mouse button --> move camera
3. Mouse wheel --> Camera forward and backward
 
If you have not been exposed to 3D software before, please try and be familiar with all the operations!

After some while, we completed a level that might not be so good.

3. Add destination and level information

Destination and LevelInfo are the two components that must be added for each completed map. Their location is in the menu bar.

We should add a LevelInfo to determine the information of this level. You can see the Inspector panel on the right After adding, the level information you need to fill in or select.

Menu bar command: Create -> LevelInfo

MapName : The name of your level
AuthorName : the author's name
Time: you can choose a large class of game scenes. They are day, night,  OverEarth, and the universe.
Weather: the "Weather" only affects the weather when it is selected during the day or night. They are: sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy, thunderstorm.
InitialBallType : The type of ball born at the beginning of the level: wood ball, stone ball, paper ball, ice ball, iron ball, rubber ball, glow ball

After filling in the level information, don't forget to add a Destination to the game.

Menu bar command: Create -> SavePoints -> Destination

After the addition, your destination is not in the right place. In this case, use the previously learned tool to place the destination in the correct position.

A simple and completed map is complete now!

4. Save your map

After making the map, don't forget to save it! Also keep it in the production process, otherwise you will lose it in some precipitate problems appear.

The saved shortcut is: Ctrl + S (Mac is Control + S)

If you don't want to use shortcut keys to save map, you can use the commands in the menu bar.

Menu bar command: File -> Save Scene

Note: the saved scene name requires the first letter in English, not use a number.

5.Test or export maps

In general, the production of a map requires a test step, let's see how to test the map.

Quickly test the map using the "Test Map" function in the menu bar

Menu bar command: File -> Test Map

Waiting for the end of the processing will open the map test mode.

Now, the map tester will automatically open and automatically load the map you want to test.
If the map tester does not open automatically, follow the instructions on the editor to manually find the location of the map tester and open it. The map editor will also automatically load the map you need to test.

You can walk around and test your map for finding problems. If there have some problems, you can close the MapTester and go back to the editor to continue editing.

How to close the MapTester and continue editing
1. Press "ESC" in the tester, find and click "Quit Game" button in the menu, then click "Yes".
2. Go back to the editor and press "Enter" key to continue editing the map.

If there is no problem, you can share the map and share it with everyone.

Now you should go back to the editor and export the map.

Menu bar command: File -> Export . bms File

After executing this command, a window will appear. After selecting the save location and saving name, click the "Save" button.

Waiting for the end of the processing, the .bms file will appear in the location you selected. You can upload this .bms to the workshop or send it to your friends. Please refer to Chapter 6 for uploading to workshop, which has detailed answers.

Congratulations! You already have the ability to make a custom map! If you want to continue to learn more about mapping, please read on.

2. Basic operations and shortcuts

Starting with this chapter, we'll take a closer look at the basics techniques of mapping.

1.View adjustment

Comfortably mapping depends on flexible view control. Let's take a look at the shortcuts for camera view control, which is also mentioned in the previous chapters.

1. Hold down Alt + left mouse button drag --> rotate camera
2. Hold down the middle mouse button or right click --> move camera
3. Mouse wheel --> Camera forward and backward
4. After selecting the object, press the S key --> to move the focus of the camera to the selected object.

**Note that when you find that it is difficult to move the camera or rotate the camera, you should use the fourth point above to reset the focus of the camera. **

2.Tool operation

List the shortcuts for each tool below. For quick start, please see the third step in Chapter 1.

Hand tool: Q --> is equivalent to the right mouse button / middle button function of any tool, that is, pan camera
Moving tool: W --> You can select one or more objects to move
Rotating tool: E --> One or more objects can be selected for rotation
Zooming tool: R --> One or more objects can be selected for zooming
World coordinates: X --> can convert world coordinate system mode or local coordinate system mode
Merge axis: Z --> Switch whether to unify the axis to move when multiple objects are selected

**Note that quantization will occur when you press the Ctrl key while the Moving/Rotating/Zooming tool is in use (Mac use the Control key). The moving tool moves in units of 1, the rotating tool rotates in units of 10°, and the zooming tool scales in units of 10%. **

Hand tool

The hand tool is the same state with the middle or right mouse button is pressed under any tool, the function is panning the camera screen.

Moving tool

When using the moving tool, it is best to hold down a certain coordinate axis arrow for single-axis movement. When necessary, you can press and hold the plane between the two coordinate arrows to move in the plane. The advantage of doing this is that you can better grasp and control the position of the object in the world.
When you need to align two components, you can use the shortcut: V (vertex alignment). The usage of vertex alignment is: after selecting the object by moving the tool, hold down V and move the mouse to a certain vertex of the selected object, hold down the left mouse button, drag to the vertex of the target model, release the mouse to complete the alignment.
(This step is more difficult, I hope you to practice more. Please refer to the GIF below.)