My thesis with Half-Edge, is that none of the current big modeling tools are made for game developers We have to suffer through woefully underdeveloped UV tools, wade through 5 aircraft panels worth of buttons we don't use, in order to find some advanced feature that's a workaround for not having something as simple as a way to, say, adjust normals the way we want I see Half-Edge as the [Procreate](https://procreate.com/procreate) of modeling apps - a smaller tool that excels at its niche and should feel miles ahead of its competition, by precisely catering to its intended audience, in my case, game devs~ ## What is Half-Edge? ✅ a professional grade standalone modeling tool, designed for level art ✅ currently in development by [Freya Holmér](https://x.com/FreyaHolmer) ✅ **exclusively** designed for game devs, for meshes in the ≤100,000 ish polygon range ✅ created by someone who is also the target audience ✅ uses a Maya-style UX paradigm, industry hotkeys by default ✅ sleek, fast, & with uncompromising performance. with a very strong emphasis on making the UX fluent, fast, and intuitive, rather than cramming in as many features as possible and neglecting how it feels to use ✅ fully fledged **polygonal 3D modeling**. proper modeling tools at that, not a shortcut, not a dumbed-down version ✅ a focus on **level art**, with power-of-two grids by default w. snapping features, transparent and effortless editing of in-scene geometry, and easily duplicating and creating exceptions of existing meshes without context switching ✅ a UV editor that doesn't make you hate yourself. interactive unfold, a gazillion alignment features, pixel grids, you name it!! I'm actually really excited to make these bc I unironically love UV mapping and I'm looking forward to these math puzzles 💀 🚮 completely devoid of AI ## Half-Edge is not *yet* ❌ a native/scene view plugin for unity (it used to be, but I'm putting that on hold!) ❌ for animation, skinning, or rigging ❌ for CSG/boolean operations ❌ for NURBS/Sub-D surfaces ## Half-Edge is not ❌ blender - I'll be using a maya-like UX paradigm for the most part! ❌ for cinema, there will be no cameras, simulation, VFX, or offline rendering tools ❌ free. I need to make a living and feed my feline children ❤️ this is my job after all! ❌ a CAD/brep tool ❌ designed for ultra-dense meshes like that of ZBrush or 3D scan data (though you can still try) ❌ designed for quick prototyping/whiteboxing (though you can still do it of course!) ❌ going to have any fucking AI features. I reject the obsessive focus on productivity at the cost of human creativity and expression. this modeling tool is designed for those who care about and enjoy the craft ❌ made using AI. this modeling tool is created without the use of AI, because I actually enjoy coding and solving fun math problems :) unlike AI grifters who just care about making Products for Consumers as Efficiently as Possible :) ❌ did I say im not a fan of AI yet