how could I go about having 6 scenes that are placed on the sides of the bounding box of a mesh?

[vestal seal]

so that when you click and drag on any of them the mesh extends from that direction
starting from the bounding box part itself tbh

[hoary mantle]

Like this?

[vestal seal]

yeah

[hoary mantle]

I think I have a solution for this. I'm gonna wait till I'm on my pc so I can convey it be better, maybe in 2 hours.

[vestal seal]

ok so I looked into it
it'd basically be getting the middle of each face of the bounding box and storing them in an array. then instancing a handle scene with a function that returns true whenever it's being held down by the mouse, and when it is it performs whatever the procedure is, since I'm focusing on moving it would be start to move it up based on the mouse and that I'm not really that sure of but the direction could be gotten by the name of the handles being the same as the array index that instanced it

[vestal seal]

ok so this is basically the code I came up with for this

if selected:
                var aabb = selected.get_aabb()
                var center = aabb.position + (aabb.size / 2)
                var middle_faces = [
                center + Vector3(aabb.size.x / 2, 0, 0),  # Right face
                center - Vector3(aabb.size.x / 2, 0, 0),  # Left face
                center + Vector3(0, aabb.size.y / 2, 0),  # Top face
                center - Vector3(0, aabb.size.y / 2, 0),  # Bottom face
                center + Vector3(0, 0, aabb.size.z / 2),  # Front face
                center - Vector3(0, 0, aabb.size.z / 2),   # Back face
                ]
                var handles = load("res://scenes/xyzpresets/handle.tscn").instantiate()
                
                for check in selected.get_children():
                    if check.name != "Handle":
                        for c in middle_faces:
                            selected.add_child(handles)
                            handles.position = c
                    else:
                        break```

it only really puts it on a single face of the bounding box I think?

and it ends up copying thousands of times per frame instead of just once

which is what the check is supposed to do but it doesn't really work for some reason?

[hoary mantle]

I think you should make a custom Cube class

It should hold the position of all its 4 points

I think I figured out the math to make the mouse resize the box. But first you have to set it up.

[vestal seal]

Right.

Uh give me 20 minutes, I need to get something done first.

[vestal seal]

okay so I'm trying to restructure the code to account for the fact the actual thing is now under an additional parent that has the class but now nothing works at all

would the logic end up being different though?

because it's running the same code and getting the same values just somewhere else

[hoary mantle]

not sure if aabb might be useful here

I suggest making the mesh AFTER doing the math instead of before it and resizing it

You can create a custom mesh with SurfaceTool

With that tool you can also just make an outline of a cube instead of triangles, similar to the image I sent from Roblox but with lines being 1 pixel thick

[vestal seal]

I'm not making any meshes
like, the reason I'm using aabb is because it can get the bounding box of any object that is selected so it can properly spawn the handles on the faces

I'm not sure I'm following with everything else tbh

this is counting to 7 for some reason?

[hoary mantle]

wait. You want to resize the mesh even if its not a cube?

[vestal seal]

the handles are used as display for rotating displacing and scaling

[vestal seal]

and yeah, it's meant to work for everything

like how you can stretch meshes

[hoary mantle]

ok

So right now your issue is placing the resize gizmos correct?

[vestal seal]

the gizmos in general tbh

yeah

[hoary mantle]

ok in this situation you're right to use aabb, but I'm not sure how this will scale to other transformations types in the future

Also the mechanic for the mouse dragging the gizmo is relative to this too, so you gotta see the bigger picture in a way.

[vestal seal]

yeah since this is all on process in a check the bounding box would update after resizing or displacing or whatever

so what am I doing wrong that they only spawn on one of the sides?

# "updated" code

1: 
            if selected:
                var aabb = selected.get_aabb()
                var center = aabb.position + (aabb.size / 2)
                var middle_faces = [
                center + Vector3(aabb.size.x / 2, 0, 0),  # Right face
                center - Vector3(aabb.size.x / 2, 0, 0),  # Left face
                center + Vector3(0, aabb.size.y / 2, 0),  # Top face
                center - Vector3(0, aabb.size.y / 2, 0),  # Bottom face
                center + Vector3(0, 0, aabb.size.z / 2),  # Front face
                center - Vector3(0, 0, aabb.size.z / 2),   # Back face
                ]
                var handles = load("res://scenes/xyzpresets/handle.tscn").instantiate()
                for check in selected.get_children():
                    if not check.name.contains("Handle"):
                        for c in middle_faces:
                            faceIndex += 1
                            if faceIndex >= 6:
                                break
                            print(faceIndex)
                            selected.add_child(handles)
                            handles.position = middle_faces[faceIndex]
                    else:
                        break
                ```

[hoary mantle]

send screnshot

[vestal seal]

(ignore them being too large)

I'll probably have to figure out a different way to show they're selected too

[hoary mantle]

Blue is selected?

[vestal seal]

no

red is

blue is the handle

[hoary mantle]

Im still not sure what the code does, it cuts off and I dont know what the variables are

or what handle.tscb holds

[vestal seal]

basically just the blue sphere

and no scripts for now

[hoary mantle]

you should make mode an enum

[vestal seal]

what's an enum

[hoary mantle]

A cleaner way of representing constants (numbers)

now you know what mode is being set to rather than mere numbers with no meaning

[vestal seal]

not exactly?

[hoary mantle]

there u go

[vestal seal]

no yeah but it still prints kind of the same thing
or well... do you now have some idea of what went wrong with this?

[hoary mantle]

you can now use it on the match statement too

[hoary mantle]

i know im just trying to make the code more readable so I can know whats going on

mode 1 is move?

[vestal seal]

yes

mode two is scale

mode three is rotate

and four is add

[hoary mantle]

ok

[vestal seal]

uh

alright

[hoary mantle]

what is inside the handles scene?

[vestal seal]

nothing

[hoary mantle]

ok, and every clickable body has a Handle, got it

[vestal seal]

when you select it, others that are not selected don't so you don't get forty handles for a house

[hoary mantle]

You should make the meshes be children of the Body instead of the other way around

you're trying to get the aabb of the static body, not the mesh

[vestal seal]

I'm now trying to try and re arrange the code to make it work but now not even that works

[vestal seal]

no, of the mesh as well

and since the static body is supposed to be a convex hull of the mesh in the case of complex ones

[hoary mantle]

Static body has no function get_aabb...

[vestal seal]

yeah, which is why selected is the parent

[hoary mantle]

oh i see

I still suggest making the mesh a child of the body

[vestal seal]

is it really necessary or just good practice
because frankly I'm starting to lose track of how this gets around and why it's not and I would strongly prefer the one that works

[hoary mantle]

bodies are almost always on top

[hoary mantle]

Its good practice, but for now i guess you can leave it like that

are you trying to add handles to the selected parent or the Handle node?

[vestal seal]

I'm trying to add the handles to the mesh, which would be selected normally

I think

[hoary mantle]

(This is why having the staticbody as a child is also confusing, because the selected variable is actually the parent of the object you clicked, now we have to call the "the parent of the selected object" or something confusing)

[hoary mantle]

Why are you checking if a node has the node "Handle" then?

[vestal seal]

because the nodes being added are called "handle", and when I first did it it just added the handles over and over and over. that was how I assumed I could make them only spawn once

[hoary mantle]

um, idk what to say bout then then, i guess delete it?

Also here you're checking if the mesh PARENT has a child handle when in reallity the only node it has is StaticBody

this if statment will always break

Just structure the object like this, its less of a headache trust me

You should also set Rock to a group called "Selectable" or something like that

[vestal seal]

It is “slb”

[hoary mantle]

Selectable. dont shorten words or you will not know what they mean in the future. make everything as readable as possible

[vestal seal]

But then I’d have to do a for loop to find the object with the mesh instance3D since its name isn’t constant

[hoary mantle]

just get_node("MeshInstance3D")
There is only one mesh per selectable object anyways so there is no need to know their name

[vestal seal]

That’s
A thing?
I just made a whole find child of type function

I’ll see then brb

[hoary mantle]

There are a bunch of functions to get nodes

get_node, get_parent, and has_node are the most used

[vestal seal]

so now it's complaining abt this

[hoary mantle]

use MeshInstance3D not GeometryInstnace3D

[vestal seal]

that's what I did I just changed it

to see if it helped

[hoary mantle]

MeshInstance3D has a mesh property

you can then set the material with this function on the mesh

surf_inx is 0 since there is only one material on the mesh

[vestal seal]

and to get it?

lastMaterial = selected.get_node("MeshInstance3D").material_override

[hoary mantle]

selected.get_node("MeshInstance3D").mesh.surface......

[vestal seal]

just surface_mater

oh

js checking

[hoary mantle]

and to get it back use this one

Rename Rock2 to MeshInstance3D

[vestal seal]

sure
do keep in mind basically none of this should be name sensitive
or well it could but it's preferable if it isn't

okay it's not finding the node at all?

[hoary mantle]

ah ok one sec then

[vestal seal]

weird

[hoary mantle]

MeshInstance3D inherits GeometryInstance3D ,thats normal

If you want to set the mateirla of the MeshInstance then click the mesh and set it there

[vestal seal]

okay but in terms of the script it

oh

[vestal seal]

it's greyed out

[hoary mantle]

There might be two solutions. Make it index sensitive, meaning make the Mesh be the first child on top of the parent

and the other one is attaching a script to the Body with a reference to the mesh instance

[vestal seal]

you know what index is fine

prefer that to a script

[hoary mantle]

ok

So make sure the MeshInstance node is the first child of the Body

[vestal seal]

yes, I know

[hoary mantle]

and then use get child to get it

any more material errors?

[vestal seal]

alright so it didn't crash but it doesn't seem it's assigning the materials either

it does select properly which is good

[hoary mantle]

Did you remove the material from the geometryinstance part?

this

[vestal seal]

no

[hoary mantle]

If its too much work to move the materials to the mesh itself then we can go back

you can use material_override again in code

It seems to be that the problem was MeshInstance3D not being found, but we fixed that now with the indexing thingy

[vestal seal]

so

it still doesn't?

if lastSelect:
            lastSelect.get_child(0).material_override = lastMaterial
            lastMaterial = selected.get_child(0).material_override
            lastSelect = selected
            selected.get_child(0).material_override = barrier

this isn't wrong is it?

wait

oh

nvm nvm

it works

finallyyy

[hoary mantle]

[vestal seal]

ok so, next task

wait do I have to do the same indexing thing for the mesh here?

[hoary mantle]

yes

get_aabb is a mesh function

so selected.get_child(0).mesh.get_aabb()

[vestal seal]

.mesh?

I mean

ok so, I think just about the entire logic of this thing doesn't work

what I tried before was basically just, for each of the faces, make a handle that's linked by name to the index of the corresponding face on the array

and make its position said face

[hoary mantle]

Reading the code from top to bottom might help you refresh

[vestal seal]

var handles = load("res://scenes/xyzpresets/handle.tscn").instantiate()
for c in middle_faces:
var current = selected.add_child(handles)
current.position = c

ok so it might be because it's using the same var.current and instantiate only works once?

so if I moved the handles inside

wait why doesn't it let me it had worked before?

yeah, it did

[hoary mantle]

oh no not get_parent().get_parent().get_parent().get_parent().get_parent().get_parent()

[vestal seal]

it's to parent it to the root

[hoary mantle]

get_viewport()

that returns the project root node

[vestal seal]

oh

do you have any idea though?

[hoary mantle]

send me the updated code

[vestal seal]

Mode.MOVE: 
            if selected:
                var aabb = selected.get_child(0).mesh.get_aabb()
                var center = aabb.position + (aabb.size / 2)    
                var middle_faces = [
                center + Vector3(aabb.size.x / 2, 0, 0),  # Right face
                center - Vector3(aabb.size.x / 2, 0, 0),  # Left face
                center + Vector3(0, aabb.size.y / 2, 0),  # Top face
                center - Vector3(0, aabb.size.y / 2, 0),  # Bottom face
                center + Vector3(0, 0, aabb.size.z / 2),  # Front face
                center - Vector3(0, 0, aabb.size.z / 2),   # Back face
                ]
                
                for c in middle_faces:
                    var handles = load("res://scenes/xyzpresets/handle.tscn").instantiate()
                    var current = selected.add_child(handles)
                    current.position = c
                ```

[hoary mantle]

add_child doesnt return anything

[vestal seal]

wait

oh my

oh

[hoary mantle]

you cant set it to current

[vestal seal]

ohh

OK I THINK IT'S DOING IT

although it's still copying it over a few times

[hoary mantle]

how many times?

[vestal seal]

no it's not a set number it just instances it each frame I'm p sure

[hoary mantle]

and is this for one Body or all of them?

[vestal seal]

for the selected one, since the logic runs only for it

[hoary mantle]

I suggest putting your input logic on the

func _input(event):
function

it doesnt have to run every frame

[vestal seal]

ideally by the end they should all be gone when deselecting, and should only spawn once
even in the case it's only on input

[hoary mantle]

well. by the looks that you're using the projec root to instance stuff. I dont think its a good idea

[vestal seal]

what I could do is maybe like, have a counter or something that just goes up to 6 and it doesn't when it's 6
gets reset whenever something else is selected

so only the 6 spawn

right?

[hoary mantle]

um

you should spawn the handle as close as possible to the StaticBody, maybe make it a sibling

[vestal seal]

aren't they?

[hoary mantle]

idk lol

Im gonna eat. brb

[vestal seal]

alr

I'm gonna take a bath too
and yeah they're instanced on selected
the ones that are instanced on the root are the cubes

[hoary mantle]

I might have to see the entire script.

[vestal seal]

alright

[hoary mantle]

See. You're instancing them every frame

All of this runs every frame

[vestal seal]

I know
but like, even if it didn't it would after you dragged since that's an input as well

if I understand the _input thing correctly

[hoary mantle]

nope

_input runs whenever the user does something on the keyboard, mouse, controller...etc instead of every frame

Inse it you still have to check what inputs were pressed or released

Input.is_action_just_pressed
Input.is_action_just_released

[vestal seal]

so then what would happen when we get to the part where you actually drag the handles

[hoary mantle]

for example

[vestal seal]

like, if it only runs once for every input then the mouse holding would be a single run

[hoary mantle]

have a variable that is set to true if the mouse is dragging

[vestal seal]

okay

[hoary mantle]

now you can access dragging on _process

[vestal seal]

wait does dragging the mouse count as well

ookay it does

uh

you click and hold with the right click to move the camera around

[hoary mantle]

thats what the code does above

well, its using right click as an example

[vestal seal]

yyes but that's also input and as such the instance gets instanced in the process

[hoary mantle]

what?

[vestal seal]

input gets called whenever you move your mouse

[hoary mantle]

only if the if statment is true it runs the block

[vestal seal]

or click it or anything

[vestal seal]

so like

if the event isn't mouse related then it runs it?

or well, couldn't it just remove whichever the old ones were

[hoary mantle]

um

It runs for every input

[vestal seal]

yeah

[hoary mantle]

Think of it like a conveyor belt.

these if statements just check what is on the belt, and the TAKES it if its what they want, then does something with it and puts it back to the belt so other ifs can take it too

if not then do nothing and let the other if statements check it too

[vestal seal]

yes, but then like,

I don't get how that would apply in this context since it's not just for the mouse dragging

or well

[hoary mantle]

Its good practice to put input there, and let _process do other per frame tasks

[vestal seal]

alright

[hoary mantle]

also _input has an event parameter which you can use to check mouse motion and its position on screen.

[vestal seal]

yeah I remember from when I did the camera

[hoary mantle]

yup

anyways

this is running every frame

you dont want that

[vestal seal]

yeah but then it should only run once and that's when selected changes

sadly there's not magical way to have something run when a variable changes as an event

right?

[vestal seal]

or the mesh's properties are updated

sort of?

[hoary mantle]

Setters to the rescue

[vestal seal]

w

look atp my head hurts, it's already like 10 pm and I'm tired for today
so I'll come back to this tmr, k? I'm going to sleep

[hoary mantle]

ok

[vestal seal]

thanks

[hoary mantle]

you cna call functions from them whenever a variable changes

[hoary mantle]

gn

[vestal seal]

ok so, I moved most of the logic for changing the previous and current select to this set function

var selected:
    set(value):
        if lastSelect:
            lastSelect.get_child(0).material_override = lastMaterial
            for serov in lastSelect.get_children():
                print(serov.name + "sssss")
                if serov.name.contains("CSGSphere") or serov.name == "Handle":
                    serov.queue_free()
        else:
            lastMaterial = value.get_child(0).material_override
            lastSelect = value
            value.get_child(0).material_override = barrier
            print(lastSelect.name + "ajvreeajow")
        var aabb = value.get_child(0).mesh.get_aabb()
        var center = aabb.position + (aabb.size / 2)    
        var middle_faces = [
        center + Vector3(aabb.size.x / 2, 0, 0),  # Right face
        center - Vector3(aabb.size.x / 2, 0, 0),  # Left face
        center + Vector3(0, aabb.size.y / 2, 0),  # Top face
        center - Vector3(0, aabb.size.y / 2, 0),  # Bottom face
        center + Vector3(0, 0, aabb.size.z / 2),  # Front face
        center - Vector3(0, 0, aabb.size.z / 2),   # Back face
        ]
        
        for c in middle_faces:
            var handles = load("res://scenes/xyzpresets/handle.tscn").instantiate()
            value.add_child(handles)
            handles.position = c
    
    ```

and it works

but like

only on the first seleciton

and

selected is null when printing it for some reason too?

[vestal seal]

I personally don't see what the logic flaws could be from here

[vestal seal]

ok uh

update

it works now

like

perfectly

I'm gonna spend a bit making the handles look more like gizmos and figuring stuff like being on top or scaling out

uh

what was that math that you told me?

[vestal seal]

also made the gizmos look nicer too

so, what I was thinking is the things could have a function which would return true if they were being clicked

and it would check on _input() if that function returns true. so when it does, it runs whatever the math you told me would be, maybe?

[hoary mantle]

Its more complicated than I though, you might have to do the research yourself for a bit. Take a look at Vector math, Basis math, camera projections, planes, dot products, and cross products. I think it will be too much to explain all by myself here.

Much bigger in scope to what I can help with.

[vestal seal]

oh my

but can you give me an idea?

or smth

if you can