Space Engineers - Out Of Game Design Software ?

[Lex]

Is there a Software Paint / Photoshop like that will allow you to make a 2D blueprint up / side / front / back using or simulating blocks from Space Engineers? Maybe made by a 3rd party? To achieve good looks + perfect utility even creative get tiresome!

[VanGoghComplex]

I don't think so, but graph paper is a popular tool among builders who tackle huge projects.

Edit: I just remembered I know a guy who uses Excel to do his designs. Unless I'm mistaken, the basic student package of Office is free, or you can use OpenOffice.

[Aetrion]

I make plans on paper for huge projects, but perfect utility is kind of hard to define in Space Engineers, since there are so few genuine goals in the game.

I generally find that anything I build in creative mode is cool, but I don't apreciate it anywhere near as much as what I build in survival, because in survival you have to think about how economical a design is, which adds a dimension to building that defies the notion of perfect utility. Economy, efficiency and redundancy can't all be had at the same time.

[Tal Maru]

Blender 3d?

[SpannerMonkey]

There' s a guide, in the guides section on how to make blueprint style images from screen shots using Gimp a open source (free) graphics app


went looking for it , so heres a link
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=311634092

[Lex]

Originally posted by SpannerMonkey:

There' s a guide, in the guides section on how to make blueprint style images from screen shots using Gimp a open source (free) graphics app


went looking for it , so heres a link
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=311634092

You missinterpreted. I want a software that has blocks ~= space engineers where i can plan my ship before stepping into creative to make the blueprint to use in survival later.

Originally posted by Aetrion:

I make plans on paper for huge projects, but perfect utility is kind of hard to define in Space Engineers, since there are so few genuine goals in the game.

I generally find that anything I build in creative mode is cool, but I don't apreciate it anywhere near as much as what I build in survival, because in survival you have to think about how economical a design is, which adds a dimension to building that defies the notion of perfect utility. Economy, efficiency and redundancy can't all be had at the same time.

I agree.

[Darkkel]

Forwarded this to modders, they know so much things about external programs to ease the jobs.

[Gwindalmir]

Unless someone already made it and posted it on the Keen forums, it doesn't exist.
That is something someone would have to write.
While being XML, the format of the file I believe is still proprietary, so there's no existing tool that can generate a blueprint.
I know there's a way to export the blueprint from the game a create a 3D model outside the game, but not the reverse.
EDIT: Your closest bet is SE Toolbox (for importing at least). But I don't think that can even do it either.

[Tarka]

Such a program does exist, or did. There is a link to it buried on the SE official site, seems the developers were pretty impressed with it at the time. But it hasn't been updated for a year and may have never been released for other people to use.

http://imgur.com/a/qJIpP

Its a 2D design program that lets you design a basic ship shell whuch can then be imported. The resulting file must be manually installed into the save.

[Spirit Carrier]

Maybe SEToolbox https://setoolbox.codeplex.com/ is the closest to what you are looking for, even if it can not do exactly what you described. It can import 3D models and it can edit ships block by block, but you can not edit it by side/top/front view. (I haven't tested it much, so maybe it can do a lot more, but I'm not sure)

I hope I could help,
Spirit

[Lex]

Not searching for anything 3d :) ... i could possibly code it in html5 canvas with a dash of emberJS with extended JS logic to calculate different blocks and after everything is finished it can be outputed as a png or pdf via open source libraries ... but then i'd have to host it online and don't have time for extra projects :(

Thanks SE community for answers, love u guys!

[Lexe]

I use calc using squared cells and colors to plan the layout of my ships.

Advantages:
- Front view / top view
- easy changes by dragging cells (stuff wont float away here...lol).
- able to plan where the tubing and functional parts go
- less tiresome : no 24/7 orientation in a 3D world needed.
- Google Documents has a spreadsheet too. Can open it from the Steam overlay, can work on it anywhere.


disadvantage:
- not able to do angled blocks or round blocks

in a vector based program like inkscape you could use squares and a grid to snap to. which would also allow you to use angled and round blocks. That would work well if you care about the general silhouette the ship shows.

[Masheen]

Check this out
http://www.mathsphere.co.uk/resources/MathSphereFreeGraphPaper.htm

I also found this one

http://www.garrettbartley.com/graphpaper.html

[Masheen]

And for photoshop...

http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/20202/how-can-i-recreate-a-graph-paper-grid-in-photoshop

[Lex]

Already drawn on printed paper :) but this one is helpful. http://www.garrettbartley.com/graphpaper.html Thank you @masheen

[woostyboy]

I think you'd all like to see something like this kind of GUI - http://www.marblerun.at/ - Where you can drag and drop the different 'blocks' onto a grid.