Begginer Questions

[HiroProtaganist]

I've tried searching for the answers to these question but failed miserably. If anyone could clue me in i'd appreciate it.

1) Maps need to be sealed (this i get) but if your using a displacement map to create a terrain how do you seal the map?
2) Should things like architechture be created in Hammer? Or should i model them in a seperate 3d util? what are the advantages of either way.
3) If i need to build architecture in hammer are there any tutorials for this. I can not figure out how to create shapes like windows, doors, archs all the things neccesary for making a building.
4) Can building models pierce the displacement plane to make it seem like the ground comes right up to the building.

off the top of my head this is all i can think to ask. I've read the FAQ's many tutorials downloaded IChiI's VTM. But i've never attempted to use hammer before i'm kinda at a loss.

 

[NonStopableForce]

1. blocks with nodraw texture

2. depends how small/complex

3. many tuts for creating "archi" in hammer, check out the forbidden site.... www(dot)hl2world(dot)com, also http://www.snarkpit.net/editing.php?page=tutorials&game=HL2, http://forum.interlopers.net/viewforum.php?f=11

4. pierce?, but i think its a yes.

-NSF

 

[socK]

1) Maps need to be sealed (this i get) but if your using a displacement map to create a terrain how do you seal the map?
2) Should things like architechture be created in Hammer? Or should i model them in a seperate 3d util? what are the advantages of either way.
3) If i need to build architecture in hammer are there any tutorials for this. I can not figure out how to create shapes like windows, doors, archs all the things neccesary for making a building.
4) Can building models pierce the displacement plane to make it seem like the ground comes right up to the building.

1) Mmm, not sure on this one. I dont think there is a "caulk" texture in this engine, does nodraw seal?

2) Basic buildings and such should be build in hammer, any snazzy lamps or something of the sort should me made in a 3d app. Reason? FPS, models render faster than the

3) There is tons of tutorials. Quake based tutorials will also work fine here. Im rather lazy at the momment, so i'll just be a jerk and say check google.

4) Mmm, something going into displacements should not be a problem... Might be cleaner to make multiple ones that come up to this building and then sew em together.

[edit] Look up Caulkhulling (from quake mapping) and mitering edges for max clean and polysaveinggoodness in your map.

caulkhulling is building the map out of the caulk (or nodraw texture in this case) and texturing only the sides the player will see when the map is done being built. This way no unseen faces will be drawn.

Mitering is well...

 

[Raeven0]

I wish to see your proof that mitering corners helps in any way at all.

 

[Pesmerga]

I wish to see your proof that mitering corners helps in any way at all.

Not "mitering" causes extra faces to be split during compiling and also causes more faces than nessecary to be split while being drawn.

Edit - And also is convienant with texture alignment.

 

[Unvision]

I was under the impression that mitering made no difference over the other method, that the only problem was when brushes overlapped (one has faces inside the other.)

 

[Pesmerga]

As a matter of fact, I stand corrected. Mitering does not affect engine drawing. *Reminds himself to stop grabbing things out of his ass around people who know their shit*

But it does help texture allignment around corners! Although I reccomend not mitering corners until you've got a final product. Vertexing those damn corners is easy but adds up to a lot of frustration when you want to re-scale the wall.

 

[Raeven0]

It only helps texture alignment by removing a single face, which amounts to a single click less of work

 

[socK]

Think about it, if you have a million corners, thats a million pollies saved! Oh my!

 

[Phisionary]

It helps texture alignment on inside faces, sometimes. If you have a non-mitered joint (butt-joint, in cabinetry terminology ), you have a face being partially occluded by the adjacent brush. If you are using 'fit' to align you textures, this counts for something....

I like mitering, just for the cleanness it presents, but I don't regularily, since it does make resizing rather complicated. Maybe if I had time to redo some brushwork for a final version... but then again I'd probably get lazy and not do it, unless there was a pressing need.


Oh, and intersecting displacements and world geometry should not be an issue at all. They can intersect with the world, each other, models, func_details, func_brushes, water brushes, no prob...
Only intersection of world brushes with each other, and entites with the world present problems, AFAIK.

Think about it, if you have a million corners, thats a million pollies saved! Oh my!

If you have a million corners, the game will probably crash

 

[Raeven0]

Think about it, if you have a million corners, thats a million pollies saved! Oh my!

Mitering saves 0 polies. 1 000 000 corners * 0 polies is still 0.

 

[socK]

Mmm, in this engine it might not. But back in the day, oh no, it saved MILLIONS. (actually 1)

 

[uberDingo]

actually.. when you miter the corner you only see 2 faces instead of 3... that 3rd face can be covered in nodraw...

never thought to miter the corners before but makes sense to me.

 

[Phisionary]

the inside (hidden) face is removed at compile time; putting nodraw on it makes no difference.

 

[Raeven0]

Furthermore, if two faces are side-by-side, have the same texture properties applied to them, and their union would not create a nonconvex face, then those two faces are combined into a single face by VBSP.