UDK vs CryEngine 3 SDK: Object manipulation

As I was testing things out for the article on whiteboxing, I realised that each editor has its own set of nice features that makes your life easier when placing meshes and various entities in the world. I thought it deserved an article of its own.

Why should I care?
Well, because the easier it is to mess about with level's objects, the faster I can work.

UDK vs CryEngine 3 SDK: Whiteboxing

Today 's post is focussed on the whiteboxing tools available in UnrealEd and Sandbox. And I've just realised I haven't written a glossary entry about whiteboxing, so I'll quickly explain what it is. Whiteboxing is the process of producing a very crude version of the level's layout. It focuses on the playable space and its purpose is to evaluate things like scale, navigability and timings. 

Why should I care?

As an evaluation tool, a whitebox level will be modified many times, and sometimes started over from scratch. This is why whitebox geometry must be cheap to produce and easy to modify, so people (especially artists) don't feel like their time is wasted. Ideally, the whiteboxing tool would be simple enough so you don't actually need modelling skills to create those basic shapes, allowing level designers to completely own that stage. That's why the tools must be easy to use and their result easy to modify.