Modular assets are the future, but not just modular assets. In Modulator, we are talking about fuse-able modular assets. Why fuse-able? Because if you can fuse assets together you create a workable environment for further editing. To name a few: edge-, and face-loops, modifiers like subdivision, boolean and bevel. Modular means also that you use a component or part of a component multiple times in the scene. This saves a lot of time and you can build huge scenes, and maintain them better. 

In short, the Modulator addon provides a set of tools that work with such modular assets as placement, management, editing, import, and export. 

Features

• Place assets on a grid. You can move the grid up and down and change the axis:
  
  
• Snap assets on the face of other objects:
  
  
• Scatter assets with a brush:
  
  

Asset Management features

• Import assets (for creating an asset library). This can be obj, fbx, or Blend files. The Modulator will place them in rows and columns evenly spread. 
• Export Assets. Generation of an asset library and thumbnails. All you need to do is have some objects in collections, generate and save the .blend file.

Check the FAQ on how to make your own asset library.

Mesh Tools

• Make local. By default, the placed assets will be linked. This way, you save a lot of RAM, and you can build huge scenes. But if you want to edit them (make them local), there is one handy button for that. 
• Make single. The assets are linked, meaning they share the same mesh. That is where the magic starts; it open doors for a new workflow. But if you want to make a mesh unique, there is also a button for that. 
• Replace assets. Change the mesh data from selected to active. Pretty handy if you want to change all the windows, for example. 
  
  
• Join. This is a handy feature. There is a library included with assets that share the exact verts location. This means that you can join the objects, remove doubles, remove interior faces with one click!. Because that takes quite some steps, there is this one handy button for that. 
  
• Select same meshes. Selects all objects that share the same mesh of the active object. 

Edit Tools

• Tesselate. Is using the Tissue addon to tesselate profiles (provided) on selected faces. This works a bit faster than using the Tissue addon. You can adjust thickness in modifier stack: solidifier. 
• Edge2curve. Edit tool that works with edge loops. It converts the edge to curve, extrudes the curve, and adds a solidify modifier. In the UI, you can change settings for thickness, height, and offset. Very nice workflow. 
• Face2Weightpaint. A unique workflow: modeling with weight paint. Can get things done what is otherwise difficult to achieve. 

The benefits - Some magic

Those were the features, but let's talk about some magic.  Here are a few benefits:

• The Modulator is inspired by the addon called Level Builder, which was the best of its kind. But unfortunately, the addon didn't receive updates for two years, and the developer is not active anymore. So we used a few ideas and added some more magic features that will change your workflow in Blender.
• Edit one mesh, and see all the linked meshes following it.
• Merge modular assets and make them watertight. This is important for other operations in Blender to work correctly, for example, booleans, subdivisions, deformations, etc. This makes working on your scene flexible, manageable, and saves time. 
• Not happy with a particular kind of mesh? No worries, replace selected assets with another one in three clicks. 

Example libraries included with more than 250 assets in total. 

Modulator V2 released:

More tutorials and videos will follow soon. 

Changelog

27 September 2021: 

• Added more tooltips in the UI. Tooltips improve the user experience.
• Fix of the curves in the library: Curve deform was switched on, which caused assets to scale. 

28 September 2021:

Quite some updates, here they are: 

• There are loads of options in the Properties Panel > Active Tool for Grid-, Surface- and Scatter snapping. For the grid, this is like the appearance of the grid, Scale Step, rotate step (which is 45 degrees by default). For other Snapping modes, there are similar options. 
• There is now an option to Link or to Append the assets. The default has changed to Append. So now you can edit the assets right away. But if you want to take advantage of Linking, mark the checkbox "Linked."

29 September 2021:

• Update to version 1.6. Shortcut for the Selector changed to Ctrl + Enter. The EEVEE Production Suite has a light version of the Modulator and already has the shortcut shift + Enter. This caused an error in some cases and is now solved.

2 October 2021:

• Auto-hide/show of the N- and T-Panels. This way, you don't need to prepare the 3D view with Modulator, and you can use Ctrl+Enter straight away. 
• We have two versions of this update: 1.7: where the Blender's own grid is hidden.
• And version 1.8, where the Blender's grid is not hidden.  Let us know what you prefer. 

9 October 2021:

• Version 1.9: Fixed an issue when using background render. 

10 October 2021:

• Help panel with links to support, tutorials, and basic shortcuts. More shortcuts will be in the Selector (modal) in the next update.
• Edge2curve operator. Edit tool for modeling. It uses a curve with solidify modifier. 
• Face2WeightPaint. A unique tool that allows you to model with weight paint from selected faces to a new mesh. 
• Button: Select Linked (Object Data). There is a shortcut for that, but a button at the right place comes in handy. 

11 October 2021:

• Display shortcuts in Selector (modal)
• An operator that is using the Tissue addon to Tesselate selected faces with a profile. There are profiles included in the libraries. 

12 October 2021: 

• Bugfix tessellation. There are now also two modes: Tessellate only selected faces or the whole mesh. And there is a redo panel where you can choose between the two modes.  

13 October 2021: 

• Another bug fix in the tesselation feature. After the fix, we checked this feature more thoroughly, and it works stable—version 2.0.6.

16 October 2021:

• Libraries will be saved now. So no need to save a startup file in order to save the list of libraries. 

19 March 2022:

• Modulator is now compatible with Blender 3.1.  Version 2.0.4

The Roadmap

Short Term

• You can import Group-Pro objects, which is fantastic,  but the Modulator will render a black thumbnail. So, for now, you rely on text when you use Group-Pro.
• Done: Auto-Hide the N-Panel when you use the Selector. For now, you need to make some space in the 3D viewport. We are looking into that right now. 
• Done: Options to change distribution in the UI for active tools. This is an easy task, a matter of unhiding it in the UI. 
• Done: The option to link or append assets. For now, the assets are linked. This means that if you want to edit assets, you have to click Make Local first.
• Done: Info-Panel in Modal showing shortcuts
• Done: Advanced edge2curve operator
• Done: Save the loaded libraries as default startup. 
• Shortcuts adjustable in Preferences
• An indicator that shows on what level the grid is in the Z, X, or Y axis
• Paint asset in Grid mode with the Alt key. (There is already a paint asset, but not in grid mode).
• Combination of surface snapping and incremental grid snap?  I need to check if that is possible. 
• Done: Switch off a script that is using bgl and GPU module in background render. 

Long Term

• More modular assets
• More mesh tools
• Assets with Geometry Nodes. For now, we will wait for the new system of Geometry Nodes in Blender.

How to contact us?

• Discord is where you see updates, contact other users, ask for support, or hang around. 
• Twitter: @newmediasupply or @cgonfire (Tech-support)
• You see on the right of this page (if you are logged in): "Ask a Question." After a click, you will see a short form, and I will get a notification. Usually, I will reply within 9 hours unless I am on holiday.