I’m doing a short bit of writing about the assets I’ve purchased in the Unity Asset Store.

Unity and Voxels

First on the list: 2 fun voxel tools from the friendly guys at MindDesk.

Qubicle Constructor $80

Link to developer: http://www.qubicle-constructor.com/

I’ve had Qubicle and Unite since mid October. Yuuki bought 2 copies of Qubicle Constructor and I bought the Unite package so we can use optimized voxel models in our games. Constructor is by far the best voxel editing tool out there- but it’s not the most user friendly tool I’ve come across. It’s a bit slow and a bit rough. There’s talk from the developer about Qubicle Constructor 2, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll be here any time soon.  The key to Constructor is saving often. In multiple locations. With incremental backups. We’ve had so many corrupted files, strange german error spam, and buggy UI problems that I find it hard to believe that I recommend it so highly. Maybe it’s because all the other tools are worse? Probably.

Other tools are just so basic in comparison. This thing has mirror, flip, fill, hollow, hue, saturation, noise… It’s like the photoshop of voxels.

I’ll give Qubicle Constructor 4/5 stars. Even with the bugs.

Conclusion: Worth every penny… Assuming you love voxels like I do.

Qubicle Unite: $25

Look how optimized he is! Where’s all the polygons at?

Now, Unite is a tool built for Unity, to import Qubicle Constructor files as a mesh. There’s an optimization pass, and the resulting files are small and typically low poly. As long as you avoid too many smooth edges, Unite imported models will perform quite nicely. Keeping the art cartoony and boxy is key.

Importing is nearly instant, unless you’re importing 200 or so matrixes (essentially different mesh parts. You’ll catch the lingo if you use the tool. It’s weird.)

Unite gets 5/5 stars, as it does exactly what it is supposed to, and it’s quick. I’d enjoy some more options on importing (like using the point filtering option on all textures), but I’ve already written tools and adjusted my workflow to make imports perfect.

Conclusion: Totally worth it. Super optimized meshes with easy mass import? Hell yes!

I should also mention the community over at MindDesk. The help on the forums is great, and everyone there seems to be doing similar projects, so getting advice, or constructive criticism there is quite pleasant.  Everyone there loves voxels, whether for games, or just as art. It’s a cool place to get noticed too!