Release 0.8.0 (1.21.50.28): The Sculpting Update

[bryhaw-ms]

Read the previous release notes here

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Summary

Hello! Happy Preview day 😊 This week we are officially closing the v0.7.X semantic iterations and considering our work towards v0.8 done. Next update, we will begin 0.8.X cycles, which will be focused on improving the core building experience by expanding the number of built in tools, improving performance + stability, and building upon features like the structure panel that were introduce in v0.7!

Read on for more details on this week’s exciting updates, as well as an all-up summary of everything that was done during the v0.7.X iterations.

As a reminder of Editor API support:

• Editor Extensions overview article and API reference documentation on learn.microsoft.com
• Starter Kit: Contains the compiler tools and various libraries required to get started making Editor Extensions
• Samples created by our team to jump-start your own Extension creations

Additionally, if you're new to the Editor GitHub this week, we encourage you to join the Bedrock Add-Ons Discord #Editor channel!

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Flatten Tool

Flatten Tool allows you to flatten the terrain quickly. Simply drag the brush over a block to remove blocks above it. You can customize the height and radius of this tool.

Fatten.mp4

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Fill Tool

The Fill Tool allows you to quickly change block groups from one block type to another.

Fill.mp4

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Smooth Tool

Did you cut too much of the terrain? The smooth tool allows you to smooth terrain to make it look more organic.

Smooth.mp4

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Quick Extrude

The Quick Extrude Tool allows you to select a face and extrude groups of blocks with the same block type. You can either add or subtract these blocks.

QuickExtrude.mp4

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Repeater Tool

The Repeater Tool allows you to repeat a selection volume along X, Y, and Z, making it easy to create patterns or complete repetitive tasks.

Repeater.mp4

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Farm Tool

FarmTool.mp4

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Directional Compass

The 2D Directional Compass acts like a real compass and tells you which direction you are facing. You can even click on the compass to snap to the closest cardinal direction.

Compass.mp4

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Fly Speed

We added the ability to change your fly speed. This makes it easier to fly around your world, especially when you are working on a large build. Go to View->View Settings and you will find a new slider to configure your fly speed.

NOTE: Fly Speed Multiplier only takes effect while in Tool/Editor mode

FlySpeed.mp4

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Friendly Names + Fuzzy Search in Block Picker

We made finding blocks in the Block Picker even easier by including their friendly name and fuzzy search.

FriendlyNames.mp4

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Full Change Log

Editor

• Added a new Flatten Brush: drag this brush over a block to turn blocks above it into air. This brush has a customizable height and radius
• Added a Fill tool to allow creators to quickly change block groups
• Added a Smooth tool to easily smooth terrain
• Added a Quick Extrude tool to allow creators to extrude block groups
• Added a Repeater tool to repeat a selection volume along X, Y, and Z
• Added a Farm tool to quickly drop in farms into a world
• Added friendly names in the Block Picker
• Added a 2D directional XZ compass to game viewport to aid with building
  • Added the ability to click on the compass to snap to closest cardinal direction
• Added a configurable Fly Speed Multiplier.
  • Added SpeedSettings
  • New Slider in View->View Settings to configure fly speed multiplier between 1 and 10
  • Fly Speed Multiplier only takes effect while in Tool/Editor mode
• Added quick action for Selection::Delete
• Added new axis and plane restriction options in the Widget Gizmo Component creation options. Creators can restrict which axes of movement are afforded by their gizmos
• Added Block Filter Disabled state
• Added M key to toggle between mask mode and disabled
• Added R key to toggle between replace mode and disabled
• Added support for persistence in hotbar block palettes
• Added context menu to the options button next to hotbar for creating and managing new palettes .
• Added a new session.extensionContext.blockUtilities object which will present a number of high-performance common block operations. First function added is a fillVolume function to perform large scale fill operation which honors Editors different block palette types
• Updated default filters with air (when not loaded previous state)
• Updated the icon for Selection::Deselect
• Updated block IDs in the UI to use localized names
• Updated checkbox labels to be clickable
• Updated property pane information tooltip icon to be more visible
• Updated the View->Log Panel menu item to now expand the panel drawer
• Fixed a bug that caused dropdowns to be truncated at the window edges

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v0.7.X Updates Aggregation

Here is the list of updates that have occurred in the Editor since v0.7.1 on August 15, 2024 to v0.8.0 on November 6, 2024.

Major Features

Grapple locomotion updates

We have made updates to Grapple to make locomotion around your world more easily. These updates include:

• Changing the grapple-to-selection hot-key from F to CTRL+SHIFT+F (G still works for general grapple)
• Added 'getRay()' to Cursor Service API
• Camera now rotates towards grapple target during flight and is less snappy
• Grapple now lets you fly 100 blocks towards the mouse pointer if there is no nearby block to grapple to

Widget Component Updates

We have made several updates to Widget and Widget Components making it easier to use copied blocks from your clipboard. These include:

• Updating ClipboardWidgetComponent to the client widget system to allow creators to be able to add clipboard items to widgets, and have them displayed as 'holograms'
• Added a flag to Widget and WidgetBaseComponent to allow the Y position to lock to the surface, based on the XZ position
• Added a flag to Widget to allow the widget to bind it's position to the 3D block cursor

Widget.mp4

Middle Mouse Block Selection

We have updated Middle Mouse Block Selection to work across all block selection, making it easier to switch to nearby blocks.

MiddleClick.mp4

Locate Biome

We have added a tool to allow you to find specific biomes within your world and teleport to them easily. This tool can be found under World Options->Locate.

2024-10-22.20-36-33.mp4

Select with Brush

We have made significant changes to the brush tool and have integrated it into freehand select (currently limited to 2048 blocks). Additional changes include:

• Brush shapes are visualized as grey wireframes, and show only affected blocks in yellow
• Cursor Control / Mouse Mode is now using a common control which is shared across extensions
• Brush Selection, Masking and Brush Properties is now using a custom control which is shared across extensions
• Brush Painting now visualizes only affected blocks

Cursor Control Mode Key Bindings

• B - Toggle Block / Adjacent target mode
• F - Toggle Fixed Distance / Key/Mouse Control Mode
• C - Toggle Key/Mouse / Mouse Only control input (Disconnect Mouse)
• ARROW / PGUP / PGDN - Manual key control of 3D Block Cursor
• ENTER - Perform action once (Same as Left Click) (Depending on what tool the control is attached to)

Brush Control Key Bindings

• M - Mask Mode (Mask)
• R - Mask Mode (Replace)

BrushSelect.mp4

Brush Carve

In addition to the key bindings above, we have added the ability to carve with a brush by clicking and holding CTRL. This replaces non-air blocks with air blocks. It also works with masking to exclude specific blocks.

Carve.mp4

Brush Offset

We have added the ability to offset brushes. This allows for more complex brush interactions and makes it easier to perform actions above or below the terrain.

BrushOffset.mp4

Toggle Group

We have added toggle groups, which allows users to toggle tool groups with selectable icon buttons. Extension creators can use the addToggleGroup function within the IPropertyPane API. Check it out in action in the Selection tool!

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/18107c8a-19a9-4c57-9a9b-ed098448b418

Updated Block Picker Modal

We have updated the block picker modal to make it clearer which block you currently have selected and which block you are about to replace it with.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f040f12d-812e-4d7a-95df-01aab2e734fd

Air Block Visualization

Since air blocks typically don't exist in the block picker in Minecraft, we needed a way to visualize them in the Editor. We now have an image representing air blocks to make it clearer when they are selected.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e7ddca28-cfb4-4d72-b448-0574c250c1ac

Custom Blocks in Block Picker

The Editor now includes support for custom blocks within the block picker. Simply download your preferred texture pack to experience this new feature!

CustomBlockPicker.mp4

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Thank you for being here! You're the best! ❤️