Source 2 Engine Features > Tools

Source 2 comes with an integrated development environment (IDE), consisting of:


- Asset Browser

The Asset Browser allows quick searching, previewing, grouping, and managing assets.
It also serves as the hub for development, launching the other tools either by their icon, or by double clicking an asset.
Assets inside the browser can also be dragged into other tools (such as Hammer).

- Hammer Editor

The Source 2 Level Editor (Hammer) is a revolutionary leap above even contemporary level editors.
On top of the expected brush-based manipulation, you can edit individual faces, edges, and even vertices, making it a full model editor.

The new primitive in S2 is the Mesh, a vertex-based system, allowing concave, and complex geometry to be authored by the level designer.



Meshes can be exported for further editing in 3D applications, and then re-imported as DMX, OBJ, or FBX.
Legacy Source VMFs can also be imported.

- Material Editor

No more fiddling with text-based VMT files, slow material reloads, and trial & error debugging.
S2 MET Supports real-time editing and previews, with in-editor texture importing.



MET Also supports extensive dynamic functions, and the following image formats: PSD, TGA, TIF, PFM, MKS, PNG, JPG

- Model Editor

Model viewer, and editor. No more fiddling with QC files, this does it all.
Used to configure hitboxes, collision, poses, weights, LODs, animations, constraints, attachments, and anything involving models.



Model Importing supports the following formats: DMX, SMD, FBX, OBJ

- Particle Editor

With richer in-app documentation, model viewing support, control-point improvements, and expanded debugging information.
The Source 2 Particle Editor is further refined and cleaner tool than its predecessor.



- Filmmaker

The Filmmaker is used for rendering high-quality cinematics from in-engine.
With animation, audio, and offline rendering, this is an all-in-one film studio inside your game.



- VConsole2

Vastly improved over the simple in-engine console of yore. Using a networked API for engine communication it allows remote debugging.
VC2 also features multi-tabbed displays for multitasking, extensive filtering, and verbosity control.



Unreleased

- Faceposer

Used to make Choreo scenes.

- Modeldoc

Notice: Unknown.

- Snooper

Notice: Unknown.

- VMix

Notice: Unknown.

- Grapheditor

Notice: Unknown.