Basic Editor vs Code question?

Hi,

New here but have been developing software for a LONG time. We have been using Threejs for the web side of things for a while, but now I am looking at Babylon.

I basically just have one question: What is the relationship between the Editor and the engine itself?

I understand I can grab Babylonjs in the same way as Threejs and build a web app just by using an html file and a bunch of javascript files; my own and those that I would need to extend basic babylonia.

But then there is the Editor which looks like a basic copy of Unity. The output from that is a bunch of node files, a very basic index.html and game.js, and an obscure scene file.

Unless I am missing something there is a gap here. I would have hoped that the editor would spit out scene generation code that I could use further to manually add code in a normal web-dev context (ie. in the javascript files of my own making).

But instead this feels like an either/or case. Either you script everything from scratch, or you use the Editor and everything gets “compiled” and bloated for you.

I would really appreciate some clarification, as I am hoping I misunderstand things. :slight_smile:
Thanks in advance!

Hi foxis,

Welcome to Babylon! @julien-moreau is the creator, owner, and #1 expert on the Babylon.js Editor, so I’ll let him handle the specifics of that part of the question.

Depending on what exactly you mean by “scene generation code,” another feature that might be of interest is that you can export a glTF file (packaged as a GLB) from any Playground or Sandbox scene.

With this, you can use the Inspector to simply arrange your loaded scene elements relative to each other, then save that arrangement to a file you can later load and use as a basis for arbitrary scripting. Best of luck!

Thank you!

Yes, to clarify a bit: I am a bit thrown by all the node-files being added to the web-template folder. There are numerous libraries besides what I understand to be the “normal” babylonjs files (ie. core, loaders, materials etc.). I mean, there are som 50-ish folders generated in “node_modules”… :slight_smile:

TIA!

Hey @foxis! I’m happy that you are looking for the Editor :slight_smile:
But to clarify, the editor you are using isn’t the last one. I’m working hard on the version 4 to be more powerful and stable . You can find the documentation (still WIP) here for the V4: Editor/doc.md at release/4.0.0 · BabylonJS/Editor · GitHub

And you can download the beta builds here: BabylonJS Editor v4.0.0 beta · BabylonJS/Editor Wiki · GitHub

I’m working hard to release the final version in few weeks. I HIGHLY recommand that you use that version from now. Then, I will be more than happy to get your feedbacks and answer your questions :slight_smile:

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