Getting To Know The Editor
By: Sevion
Since Andrewgosu says so, this is the best tutorial out there! No questions asked. I say it is so it is. If anything is wrong please point it out so I might fix it. I have bolded most of the important stuff.
Contents
- Interface
- Tool Palette
Interface
The interface is a fairly easy thing to use. Refer to the picture as needed.
The first button looking like a white piece of paper is the New Map button. The hotkey is Control + N. This button creates a fresh map for you to work with.
The second button with the picture of an opened folder is the Open Map button. Hotkey is Control + O. This opens a window for you to browse through folders looking for the map you want to open and work with.
Next is the Save Map button. It has the image of a floppy disc. Hotkey is Control + S. This saves the map to a .w3m/.w3x file for either World Editor or Warcraft to open.
The button with the scissors is the Cut button. It lets you move whatever you may be editing to a different spot. You can move units, doodads, terrain or whatever you're working with. Its hotkey is Control + X.
Next is a button almost exactly like Cut but this doesn't move the selection, it duplicates it. It is called the Copy button. The hotkey is Control + C.
The last in this block is the Paste button that finalizes the Cut or Paste. Hotkey is Control + V.
The next two are a set of very useful buttons to use. Undo and Redo. Hotkeys are Control + Z and Control + Y respectively.
The button after that with the dashed box is the Selection Brush button. It clears whatever you have selected at the time from your selection. Hotkey is Spacebar.
The next is Terrain Editor which is what you see every time you open the World Editor. This lets you, hence the name, edit the terrain of your map. The hotkey is F3
After that is the Trigger Editor. From here you can do things like make a unit spawn at the middle of your map after a few seconds in game. Hotkey F4.
Then comes the Sound Editor. Hotkey F5. You can import sounds with the Import Manager, which I will explain later, and use them as sounds or music with the Sound Editor.
Now is the Object Editor where you can make all of those custom units you've seen in DotA or that Ice Tower in Green Tower Defense. From here you can change models, build times, build costs, damage, health and so much more. Hotkey is F6.
Now is the Campaign Editor. The Campaign Editor is something I'm not very familiar with so I'll not go into it. Maybe someone commenting will know a bit about it and help me incorporate the information into my tutorial. Hotkey is F7.
The next is AI Editor. You can use this to change the behavior of the computer players in your melee maps. I would prefer triggers instead of the AI Editor but somethings can be done in the AI Editor better than the triggers can. The Hotkey is F8.
Then comes the Object Manager. This is different from the Object Editor. This lets you view all of the things you've put into your map. You can view a Map Summary, a list of Units, Items, Doodads, Regions, Cameras, Triggers, Functions, Variables, and Sounds that are being used in your map. Hotkey is F11.
Now we have the Import Manager. It lets you use custom Models, Sounds, Images, Buttons and a bunch of other things. Hotkey is F12.
Tool Palette
With this you can edit the many features of what appear on your map. You can edit the terrain, doodads, units, regions, and cameras that appear on your map. Refer to the pictures for the palette.
The first pictures shows the palette look and feel of the Terrain Palette. The second shows all of the Palettes you can use. I don't like using preplaced units and using triggers to spawn all of your units.
You can use whatever you wish with the Tool Palette. It can be your enemy as much as it can be your friend. You can be very confused yet it can be a powerful ally to enlighten your map. However, even as powerful as this is, the Trigger Editor can be your most powerful weapon to be armed with when whipping up a new map. If you work right, for all we know you could be Michelangelo and the Editor could be Shakespeare!
Terrain Palette
The terrain palette lets you customize the look and feel of the ground in your map. The terrain if you will. You can put different tiles of ground all over to make a terrain. You can make a prairie with some dirt and grassy dirt. Maybe even some grass on the outsides. There's also some options for cliffs. I'll say it. These are UGLY! Blizzard. I don't know why you made them like that but they are ugly! Well, no use ranting now. Good thing there's another way to make mountains. Height. You can make a plateau and smooth its edges. Now put some rock terrain on it. Well what do you know? You now have a mountain next to your prairie! Well you're probably thinking it looks kind of weird so put some rasied hills on top of it. Now put some more rocky terrain on it. Place some dark grass in some spots and have a nice tree line there. Good job. Moving on.
Doodad Palette
You're probably thinking "Well that's ugly. It's really blank looking without any flowers or trees." Well, we can fix that with the Doodad Palette. Select it in the drop down box in the Tool Palette. Now select Lordaeron Summer. Select some form of a tree and make a nice tree line following the nice dark grass you've placed for the tree line. Now at the bottom of the mountain make some dark grass and make a mini forest. Now the mountain is looking better right? Now in the prairie make a bunch of corn. Flowers couldn't hurt. River Rushes look nice in the prairie. Wheat also works. Don't use the Wheat Bunch. It would look weird in the prairie. Nice looking terrain you've got so far right? Good that's what the Doodad Palette is supposed to do. Give your terrain some nice spice. Now back to the mountain. Go find some rocks and place them on the mountain. Looks better right? Good. And to the Unit Palette!
Unit Palette
This is the one thing I don't like to use too much. I don't like preplaced units much. I prefer to spawn units with triggers. You can, however, use it. You can use this to place Units, Buildings, and Items. You can place them for Players 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9 , 10, 11, and 12. You can also place for Neutral Hostile/Passive. There isn't much else about this. Unless that is if someone found a hidden button that unlocked the ability to spawn a big unit that super pwns any custom unit regardless of their HP, Armor, and HP Regeneration.
The likes of which I've never seen before.Region Palette
With this tool you can create little blue squares used in triggers. You can use Regions, also known as Rects, to spawn units, make Special Effects, play music at that point, create terrain changes, spawn buildings. There are almost endless possibilities. There isn't much else about these though. Really simple right? Good.
Camera Palette
This is a really simple thing to use. What do you think it does? Give me your best guess. That's right! It makes cameras! Good job. Now what do the cameras do? Well you can use them for cinemas or just to create cool effects. You can, for one, create a first person camera. You can do many things. When you create a camera you'll have to set the angles of where it's looking at. To do this just move your camera around a bit with Control and Shift and your mouse. Select the camera you wish to change and then do Set Camera To View. Abracadabra! You've just set a camera! Good job. Now moving on.
Palette
You ask, "What am I looking at?" Well I've never known whatever Blizzard calls it but I just call it Palette. Mr. Palette can be helpful. It's like the Terrain Palette, Unit Palette, and Doodad Palette opened up at the same time. It's organized into a Tree View for easy use. It can be very useful if you don't want to have the Tool Palette opened all the time.
