Doors and Lanterns in the Engine

Finished Lantern & Door HDA's

Lantern HDA

The rule that governs this asset is that the basic size/style of each piece has to match every other piece. We don't want a lantern that looks unproportional in the way it is built so each piece has to fit perfectly with all the other pieces, in size and in style. This is why I've opted for a switch node for each different section. Because I want all of my lanterns to be the same height and look very similar the variation will be minimal, which is why this switch method will work well. Eventually I would like to implement a button that will randomly select pieces for the lantern but I want to also give the person using the HDA to be able to pick their own pieces if they choose.

Lantern HDA Plan

The most minimal way I can think to represent my object would be boxes stacked on top of each other. My plan is to make a file that you can replace each 'part' of with a different part. So I will have 3-5 different shafts, roofs, bases, platforms, etc. that can be toggled between. This will be set up where each new piece sits perfectly on top of every new piece and scales properly that they still all fit together.

If I could only have two parameters I would have one that scales that height of the shaft and then another that randomly selects the different styles I have created for each piece of the lantern. This way I would get an array of lanterns with different styles and all different heights. But I'll make the lanterns similar enough that every combination of pieces looks natural with every other piece.