Editing Levels
- Opening a Level
-
Editor Controls and Menus
- 3D View
- Object List
- Properties Area
- Saving
If you want to do any editing, you're going to need to open the level first.
There are two ways to do this: With the File Explorer, or the Level Selector.
File > Open (Keyboard Shortcut: [CTRL]+[O]) will give you a file selector which you will use to choose which file from the StageData folder you want to open. Pick a file from there and Spotlight will load the level. Certain levels may take some time to load (Like the Worldmap), but don't worry, Loadin G. Bar will accompany you through your wait.
File > Open With Selector will give you a Level Selector. It looks like this:
Basically, you pick the world that your level is in, and then from there you can pick what stage you want to open. Double click on an entry (Or single click and then click "Select") to load that level. It's worth noting that the files it loads from this menu are based on your settings. (See Spotlight Settings).
This is what the editor looks like with Super Bell Hill (EnterCatMarioStage) loaded. The right is the 3D View, while the upper left is the Object List and the lower left being the Properties Area. Just underneath the 3D View is the Quick Favorites bar.
The 3D View is the main part of Spotlight, as it's where you position objects in the level. It has two modes: Object Mode and Linking Mode. We'll get to those in a bit, first lets go over the controls.
You can move your view using the mouse. Right click & drag to rotate the camera, Left click & drag to pan the camera
Zoom in and out by using the Scroll-wheel. While zooming, Spotlight will zoom towards where the mouse is, so keep that in-mind.
This is the ViewCube.
It lets you quickly re-orientate the view-port by clicking on a cube face. (Excuse the glitchyness of the gif)
Select an object by hovering your mouse over the object and then Left Clicking. This will highlight the object and fill out the Properties Area (The lower left section of the window). Click the object again to deselect it.
Select multiple objects by holding shift and Left Clicking. You can also deselect one if multiple are selected by holding shift. Left Clicking any of the selected objects will deselect all of the selected objects at once.
Move selected objects by Left Click and dragging them. You can press [X], [Y], or [Z] to use the Axis Locks (Allowing you to move on a specific axis only). Alternatively, you can hold shift and press [X], [Y], or [Z] to do a Dual Axis Lock (It excludes the button you pressed). You don't have to hold shift after the Axis Lock / Dual Axis Lock appears (Two lines in the axis you can move in). All selected objects will move when you Left Click and drag.
While dragging an object, you can hold Shift to snap objects along a grid. This also works with the above Axis Lock and Dual Axis Lock.
To Rotate an object, Right Click somewhere on the object and start dragging. It will rotate until you let go of the Right Mouse Button. You can press [X], [Y], or [Z] to use the Axis Locks (Allowing you to rotate along a specific axis only). Dual Axis Locking is not available while rotating. All selected objects will rotate when you Left Click and drag. The pivot point is always the center of your entire selection so keep that in mind. You can hold shift if you want to use Rotation Snap to quickly align objects to a certain angle. Helpful for 90 degree rotations.
To Scale an object, Middle Click somewhere on the object and start dragging (Middle Click is often pushing the scroll-wheel down). It will start scaling until you let go of the Middle Mouse Button. You can press [X], [Y], or [Z] to use the Axis Locks (Allowing you to scale on a specific axis only). Alternatively, you can hold shift and press [X], [Y], or [Z] to do a Dual Axis Lock (It excludes the button you pressed). You don't have to hold shift after the Axis Lock / Dual Axis Lock appears (Two lines in the axis you can move in). All selected objects will scale when you Left Click and drag. The scaling center is always the center of your entire selection so keep that in mind. You can hold Shift if you want to use Scale Snap to quickly align objects to a given scale.
Object Mode is the main mode that you use for editing objects. You start off in Object Mode. The second editing mode of Spotlight is Linking Mode (You can switch to linking mode by going [Mode > Edit Links] or by pressing [CTRL]+[ALT]+[L]).
So, what is a Link? A Link is something that connects two objects together. For example, WarpCube (The Warp Boxes) has a link called DestCube which links the Warp Box to it's destination Warp Box. The link is represented by the line that goes between the two boxes. (The boxes have been pulled away from the stage for easier viewing)
Switching to Linking Mode will show all the links that exist in the stage at the same time. You can click on a link to select it. Details on the selected link will appear on the right in the Properties Area.
The Green part of the link (while it's selected) indicates the owner of the link and where the link starts. The Red part of the link (while it's selected) indicates that it is the destination. While a link is selected, you can press [Delete] or go [Edit > Delete] to delete it.
To create a link, go into Linking Mode and hold [CTRL]. Hover your mouse over the object that you're going to link (where you want the green to be) then click and drag to the destination object (where you want the red to be). Once the link is created, you'll be given a list of already existing link names for you to choose from. If you want to add a link that doesn't yet exist, change the text manually (click it and start typing). If it's not in the list already, it will be added.
Clicking the "Reverse Connection" button will reverse the connection so that the destination becomes the source, and vise-versa. The reason why one of the Warp Boxes in the gif is tinted red is because it's not referenced by any links and will be deleted if you were to save.