Pushing the boundaries of the builder
That 3DX can be a catalyst to creativity has been proven often enough on the pages of this gazette. Nobody embodies this better than Aspect though, not only a master builder but also a talented tools developer.
Aspect’s latest tool promises to open new horizons for builders by providing a way to import complex 3D models from tools such as blender into 3DX. Please check out the public beta of this amazing new tool.
Aspect was kind enough to grant the gazette an exclusive interview.
How did you get involved in building?
It’s funny you ask—building is actually what kept me in 3DXChat during my first few days. I know many people join for other reasons, but once I realized there was an in-game editor, I had to try it. I’m a software engineer in real life, and while I don’t work as a game developer professionally, game development has been a long-time hobby of mine. I’ve spent a lot of time in tools like Unreal Engine and Blender, so after a few days of experimenting, I started to get comfortable with how the editor works.
Compared to Blender, the 3DX builder must have felt primitive?
Haha, yeah—at first it did feel a bit more limited compared to something like Blender. I should mention I’m more of a coder than an artist. But once I adjusted to the workflow and the constraints, it became fun in a different way.
What motivates you to continue building?
For me, it really comes down to the joy of creating. If you’re the kind of person who feels that urge to make things, 3DX building scratches the same itch—it’s a way to express what’s in your head and bring it to life. And honestly, another big part of the fun is experimenting: finding little hacks and clever workarounds to make the editor do things it wasn’t originally designed to do.
Which builds are you particularly proud of?
Oh, there are so many. Some will most likely never be seen by the public but if I had to pick right now I’d say BlackBox, Fox, Weyland HQ. Some will recognize Black Box since many parties happened there when I used to be in Umbrella. The Weyland HQ I’d say is my best build (private for now).
Do you have any tips for beginning builders?
- Take your time learning the editor properly—especially shortcuts and workflow basics.
- Read the editor guide on the forum.
- Look up YouTube tutorials (there aren’t many, but they can help you get started).
- Use snapping/magnet tools to keep things aligned.
- For hard-surface builds, avoid freehand rotating/moving; save that for organic/nature elements.
- Download public builds and study how they’re put together.
- Don’t create huge rooms—scale wisely and break spaces up.
- Group your geometry and keep things organized.
- Clean up your scene: remove duplicate/unnecessary geometry when possible.
- Go easy on performance-heavy elements:
- Too many particle effects and moving things (smoke, bats, vegetation, dynamic lights, etc.).
- Too many reflective surfaces.
- Too many lights (if one light does the job, don’t place five).
- Don’t overcomplicate it—simple can be sexy.
Can you tell us a little more about the 3D model importer you made?
That’s the only tool I’ve decided to publish & share (at least freely for now). I’ve developed a few other tools that I often use if needed (deduplication, moving & rotating geometries, color swapper, object swapper and others). The importer is basically a workaround for the editor’s geometry limitations. In most 3D pipelines everything ultimately becomes triangles, and the 3DX editor already gives you a building block that’s essentially a right-angled triangle. Any triangle can be represented by splitting it into two right triangles, so my tool takes a triangulated .obj and converts each triangle into two right-triangle primitives that the editor can recreate.
It also preserves polygon groups (so different parts/material regions stay separated), which makes organizing the build much easier. The tradeoff is performance and size: object counts can rise quickly, and room files can get large. Ideally this would be far more efficient as a native feature—if direct model importing existed in the editor, you could do it with fewer objects and better optimization. I’ve heard importing custom 3D assets has been discussed, and I’d love to see that direction continue.
Do you have any parting words for us?
I want to thank my Wife, the only person that has always been there for me and the only reason I’m still involved with this game.
Be cool and have fun and don’t forget that this is nothing more than a game at the end of the day, just try not being a dick.
Finally I wish that the developers paid more attention to this game, there is potential. A lot of things can be improved and new features can be added fairly easy…
We can only agree to that last sentiment. With talented people like Aspect pushing the boundaries of what is possible in 3DX, we can all look forward to an exciting future!
With Special Thanks to Aspect