Actors

      Actors are objects that have a position in the world. These can be used to represent visual objects such as signs and buildings, or non-visual objects such as positional sound effects and waypoints.
 
      There are two ways to place an actor in your map. The first way is to place a new, or empty, actor in which you will have to setup all its' parameters. And the second way is to place a Prefab, which is a pre-saved actor or set of actors that have already been designed and set up. New, or empty, actors are listed in the "Actors" browser (Figure 5.1), while Prefabs are listed in the "Prefabs" browser (Figure 1.3). To place an actor or prefab of actors, drag the item from the list directly to the area of the map where you wish to place the actor or click the "Create Actor" button located at the bottom of each browser. Keep in mind that the initial list of Prefabs under the prefab browser will be a list of folders and not any actual resources, you can open a folder and view its' contents by double clicking that folder and you can return to a previous folder by double clicking the top item which looks like the icon in Figure 5.2.
 
 


Figure 5.1: The Actor Browser.

Figure 5.2: The Previous Folder Icon
(highlighted in a red box).

      Once an object has been placed, it will automatically be selected (highlighted with a red wireframe) and the STAGE gizmo tool will appear as shown in Figure 5.3. The gizmo tool can be used to translate, rotate, and scale any selected objects. Control of the gizmo tool is as follows:
  • Clicking and dragging the arrows on the gizmo tool will allow you to translate the actor along the selected axis.
  • Clicking and dragging the cubes beyond each arrow on the gizmo tool will scale the actor in that axis.
  • Clicking and dragging the sphere in the center of the gizmo will perform a unified scale on all axes of the actor.
  • Clicking and dragging the rings around the center of the gizmo will rotate the actor.
      To select new actors, quicly click on that actor without dragging the mouse. Additionaly, you can snap to grid, rotation angles, and scale by checking the Snap check boxes at the bottom of the viewports (Figure 5.4).  
 


Figure 5.3: STAGE Gizmo Tool.
 

Figure 5.4: Snap Check boxes.

 
 
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