PlayCanvas Editor Feedback

Is the PlayCanvas Editor opensource?

I don’t think so, but am not sure. There is an API though.

Unfortunately, no. Source is viewable and public, but not open source.

Hey,

Let me start by saying the PlayCanvas Editor seems like a terrific tool. I’m looking into using it for client work, it really cuts down on dev time.

I have a few points that would improve the tool for me:

  • I want to be able to scroll in an input field to increase/decrease the numeric value
  • I want to be able to disable select on an entity in the scene (pinning / locking)
  • I want to be able to define the details (segments, rows, columns) of a cylinder, sphere, etc. Current cylinder is too low poly for my use-cases.

Most importantly:

Oh and of course:

  • Prefabs :wink:

Thanks!

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Hi BlueSteelAU (and/or others in similar situations :slight_smile: )

I know this is an old thread (5 yrs), but I have to share my discoveries within this area.
Many times I have forgotten my mouse while visiting family for some days. Here I try to work as efficient as possible, but difficult without having full control of editor without the middle-mouse button that isn’t available on a laptop mouse-pad.

Workaround:
A) Normal use of left mousepad btn will give you orbit around center object on screen, by finger swipe.
B) Hold down ‘shift’ + ‘Alt’ keys + Left mouse pad btn: for then to swipe. You will notice that you now are panning the camera view instead. This seems very useful, as one (at the same time) can use Right mouse pad btn to dolly camera view around camera’s own center.
C) For one-armed/disabled users: put tape on to hold down/keep down (or by other similar measures) the ‘shift’ and ‘Alt’ buttons. Then user free fingers to hold down left mousepad button/left mouse button to pan the view (cf B for dolly, as this still works while ‘shift’ and ‘Alt’ being down).

(ps: I am a bit busy, so bare with me if not all ‘camera movement terms’ are correct - as such please reply with updates for correctness :slight_smile: )

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how do you insert models.

What do you mean by ‘insert’?

Do you mean upload @Beckham_Olson ? In that case, upload your FBX file in the assets folder. Once that’s done, you’ll see a JSON file with the same name. Drag it onto the scene, and it’ll appear in your hierarchy.

The Editor becomes terribly slow today for my small project, it took me 3 minute to enter the scene editor and 10 minute to enter the code editor. Please help!!! (worked fine yesterday).

@Phoenix Is it still an issue for you? Where are you accessing it from too? The service can be slower in some countries than others unfortunately :frowning:

Edit: We’ve made some changes on the backend service, please let me know there is a still an issue

Thanks for your prompt response, it’s loading normal now. I am accessing the server from the major ISP from Taiwan. Wasn’t a issue before till today. But it’s OK now. Thanks a lot!

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I spent some time learning PlayCanvas and made simple game with it. I come from Unity background and found PS when searching for alternatives because WebGL is such a second class platform for Unity.

Overall, a lot of positive things - clean looking and feature rich editors, tiny footprint, fast deployment, super easy hosting. And as Unity user PC is very fast to learn, since it is also ECS based.

Some negatives about the editor:

-Adding a script/asset seemingly does nothing (no loading indicator). It takes several seconds for the asset to appear in the Assets panel. So better UX is needed. And worst thing is, sometimes the asset does not appear until a browser refresh is done!

-Comma is not accepted as a decimal separator, only dot seems to work. When using a scandinavian keyboard (where the num pad has a comma button) it makes typing numbers to input fields tedious - Unity accepts both comma an dot, so should PS. Sometimes the editor even crashes (shows error stating a refresh must be done) when an “invalid” value like ‘0,5’ is given to a text field.

-Creating a sprite is weird and tedious process - you first have to import a .png, then convert it to a texture atlas and then covert the atlas to a sprite. More streamlined workflow would be better (like, maybe ability to choose the target asset type in the .png import settings?)

3 Likes

Thanks for the feedback!

Good shout. Added a request to the repo: https://github.com/playcanvas/editor/issues/126

Are there any other issues you have with using a scandinavian keyboard with either the scene editor or the code editor?

There’s an option to cut one step of this in the project settings.

We are thinking about making a per asset import option pop up or something along those lines to make it easier.

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Blockquote[quote=“yaustar, post:323, topic:616”]
Are there any other issues you have with using a scandinavian keyboard with either the scene editor or the code editor?
[/quote]

Not that I can think of.

But I just noticed that export project -feature takes forever (= “Preparing - Your export will be ready in a few seconds.” never finishes) on Chrome. No errors are visible in console. On Firefox it worked as expected.

Something that would be really nice is the ability to download a scene’s json (as the ones that are downloaded using the publish button), sometimes I just get to change something in a scene and I have to redownload the whole publish file which can sometimes take forever to prepare. This could also make offline workflows a little bit faster.

I’ve been using PS for a couple of months now and im mostly happy. However, one of the most annoying bugs in the editor is sometimes when you create an asset (eg. script or texture atlas), it doesnt appear in the Assets until you refresh the the editor. The behaviour seem quite random. Is this a known issue?

Another related issue is the lack of feedback when creating asset - there is several seconds between the moment of the user action that triggers the asset creation and the moment something actually happens in the editor. There should be at least some “creating asset…” indicator in the bottom bar or something.

Also these collapsable orange circle icons in the inspectors are waaaay too small their state (collapsed or uncollapsed). Maybe make the arrow in them a lot more apparent?

image

Im on latest Chrome on Windows 10.

Unfortunately yes, it happens when the editor tab hasn’t been used for a while and disconnects. When it reconnects on focus, it doesn’t always get itself into a working state :frowning:

Ah, thats a bummer regarding UX…so are you working on a fix? Why does the editor even have to disconnect?

I believe it’s because the Editor is collaborative so at some point it just times out to reduce the number of connections the server has to keep alive.

I don’t believe it’s a straightforward fix (as odd as it sounds) otherwise I assume the team would have fixed it it already.

Ummm … the disconnect and re-connect is not limited to the editor being idle. It will happen at random even while being active in the editor. I think the same is true for the failure to update when a new asset is added. In fact, the very fact that you are adding the asset pretty much ensures that the editor has been used prior to the editor failing to show the new asset added. The frustration in this is that this occurs when you are deep in the middle of something and you have folders and object hierarchies opened and branched in a very nice way for what you are currently doing. Then you have to refresh (and that resets your view) in order to confirm or use your newly created asset. Very annoying.

I’ve assumed that some of this is due to imperfections in network connections. Also, since I’m in Arizona and I’m assuming the servers are elsewhere, and most Playcanvas employes are near Europe somewhere, I suspect that maintenance and any other system routines are more likely to occur during my normal working hours.

That said, the recent updates in the editor are very welcome. Here’s a feature idea. Freeze the editor status - either manually or automagically at intervals - so that it comes back to that state on re-fresh/re-load.

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