Feature Request: Nested objects

[agmcleod]

Hey there, what I would love to see added is the ability to nest objects, in order to define an object layer as a sort of scene graph.

This would include:

• The ability to select an object, and add an object to it as a child
• Repositioning the parent moves the children with it.
• Transform data stored in children is relative to parent.
• Data export formats would represent this relationship. Ideally with nested XML/JSON nodes, but foreign keys could also work.

The reason I want this, is so i can represent a hierarchy of UI and other things in my game. A grouped set of nodes by a single parent makes it easy to move them around together, hide/show them, etc.

[bjorn]

I definitely agree this should be added, though it will be a major change. I'd also consider if we can somehow unify the file structure towards an object hierarchy in general, which could both reduce code size and make things more flexible. It takes a bunch of "duplicated" code to handle nesting of objects inside of objects and the nesting of layers inside of group layers.

For nested UI, you could currently use group layers, but it's not exactly convenient.

[agmcleod]

I might give group layers a try as a work around, thanks!

Yeah I imagine this would not be an easy feat. Refactoring it to use a common concept of nested things makes sense as well.

If there's something I can start looking at to help, let me know. I just haven't written very much C++ or used QT before. I mostly come from the web world, and recently using Rust to build games.

[bjorn]

Just noting that this issue is related to the older #572.