Why there isn’t a stable version for Panda3D with a GUI…It will be easier to place models and light system in the GUI mode…I think this engine deserves something like that
Thanks in advance
Hi,
While I can agree that a tool like this could be helpful,
I think that it would be best that panda3d keeps aiming towards coders, with a GUI ‘game-builder’ it can be hard to do nicer things for your video game…
What I am saying is that panda3d + python is almost easy enough that you could probably build a game-builder for a specific type of game that would be really nice.
This is only my thoughts on the subject, though.
~powerpup118
Maybe he means a scene editor? There is one in the snapshot builds, developed by Disney. Its still work in progress. Outputs a .py file.
You’ll need wxPython to try it out.
I’m sometime suffering from placing models in the environment then run the program to see if that is suitable? no it’s not,I’ll increase the x value of character a little then run…yes it’s good but y value must decrease so I close the game then edit my values…that gives a headache
I saw something about the sceneEditor in the manual page:
panda3d.org/manual/index.php/The_Scene_Editor
but I didn’t understand from where I could open it.
I don’t know if that what you mean about scene editor
Thanks
That would give me a headache too. This is Python, not C++, you don’t have to stop the program to edit its values. You should use a Python editor that allows you to open an interactive Python prompt, then you can edit values without having to restart.
David
Those videos are 7 years old. They are probably talking about an old scene editor which isn’t usable anymore with the newer panda3d versions.
When the new scene editor is finished I could contribute such videos to update the manual, if noone else is willing to do it.
I’m using PyPE 2-8-8 as it is recommended by the manual and its simple without extra abilities that make me get confused…could you recommend me a good free editor other than that??
I didn’t notice that these videos are old specially when I realized that these videos are downloadable
I wish this scene editor comes fast
Thanks
I recall emacs being used in the past but I am sure many (most?) can as well. There is also code which puts an IDE within panda too.
i was having this idea in mind, to build a game-builder written in python, who will use the game engine directly (a kind of “what you see is what you get” concept)
but i d’ont know enough about panda, but this idea is one of my main goal
if i succed, then i will release it open source, cause, yes, it really give headache
that’s the bigest mistake of panda 
Try notepad++, works for me.
You might consider using a 3D app such as Blender as your object placement method. We use Softimage and it was easy enough to write a simple Python script to write out information from locators in the 3D scene to a YAML file. You could use any format, we like YAML because it is easy to read and edit by hand if needed.
Each game level will have a matching object placement file with entries like this:
door8:
class_name: Door
locked: true
position: [68.009221401767036, -13.05103848570182, -79.4979393054589]
rotation: [0.70699791458420791, 0.0, 0.70721563103029694, 0.0]
template_name: alley_door
garbage_bin1:
class_name: Prop
position: [-1.1221372309182125, -0.15366906242519746, 2.1187450739088787]
rotation: [0.70694401273884666, 0.02189432678548936, 0.70692587084409753, -0.0025718550934950013]
template_name: garbage_binThe benefit is that you can edit your environment geometry and object placement at the same time, and it would be fairly simple to add a reload function to update the objects in a running game.
I use Blender and Chicken, and it works quite well. For everything Chicken doesn’t export (such as lights) I use Empties with some tags assigned to it, so that my code knows what to do with them. And if I really need to make some adjustments in-game I just use NodePath.place() method – it’s not perfect, but does the job.
Regarding WYSIWYG… that’s the direction the industry is heading I guess, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the best thing to do. Especially when you have Python. And no matter what, you still need to code your actual game. Placing map assets around is a very small part of the actual process and, as was said, any 3D modelling program capable of exporting to egg (or something else that you will read in Panda with custom code) can do the job of making levels.
A Panda-specific level editor is not a necessity, nor would it be a remedy to all your level-dev pains.
i know… im just telling that will be more easier to make a game level with a kind of world builder, and i know we can do this for this engine, i red alot the manual,
and i understand that this game engine, is for pro, but,
let’s be honest:
this is…well…how can we know about those position and orientation 
maybe if we can write something helpfull like a kind of position and rotation printer, then it will me very usefull!
i think that this game engine need to be the perfect world for both side:
desinger, mapper, and texture
and
coder, programming ai, and gameplay script.
there’s an engine like that called hpl1 engine (open source released not so long ago, but incompilable(338 error, XD) but for other people, hpl1 work, but for my kind of game i wanted to make, it’s not really recommanded, mostly for little indie’s)
if we can do this, i think panda will really be taken in a next step, in my opinion
who knows?? may this engine will be on the internet very soon…keep the good work
I tried it before but didn’t understand how to run the command…so I get bored and stop using it
What I’m doing to place models is that to make my world firstly in blender then export it with its current position and orientation to the egg (or bam) format…but it will slow down the game as the world is still big
Yes…I agree with you about nodepath.place() but sometimes you need to rotate and move the camera in the scene in different directions and angles to see if that model is really placed in the suitable place or not…but yeah it is the best solution right now
I was a user of programs like Game Maker (then Quest3D but for short time) and the level editor was great…all you have to do is that after programming the main characters and objects,you will place the objects in your world in a very simple way only by pointing and clicking.
THIS IS WHAT WE NEED BRO! 
a little level editor, just to place our model, modelized in blender, export .egg/.bam import .egg/.bam in the level editor, place it in the world (scale, rotate, position), texture the model, and enable physX for certain object (mostly entity’s)
this is the only thing i need, and evreything will be perfect! like, Ultra-suppa-awesomeness-professional-open-source-game-engine!
That is exactly what I am suggesting you write for yourself.
It only takes 4 lines of script to loop through a selection of objects and print off the name, position, and rotation in ANY 3D app.
An in-game editor works well for fine-tuning or placing a few objects but nothing beats the powerful manipulation tools of a proper 3D app.
Maybe a picture is worth a thousand words, this is what it is like editing objects in our project.
This was rigged up in just a few days using a tutorial and SDK as reference.
this.