Those circlular things around an entities origin

[Sgt. Redneck]

I am not new to hammer at all, but I never have known what those circular things that you can pull from an entities orgin is/does. I guessed it might be something to do with render distance or something. I know it's a n00by question, but could someone clue me in... :rolling:

 

[Raeven0]

That's one of the helpers. Helpers correspond to an entity property; spheres of variable size represent the value of a distance property, such as how far light travels before it dies or the distance from a prop at which it is not rendered.

 

[Sgt. Redneck]

Ah, thats what I expected. If for a prop it is pushed in as far as possible (not visible in 3D view) is it always rendered, as long it is in a rendered VIS leaf?

 

[Raeven0]

I prefer setting the fade distances to 0 manually, but so long as both spheres are completely invisible, yes, that's the way it works. Unless the model is being unrendered by a func_occluder.

 

[_Meitsi_]

If you resize a circle, the its the fade distance. If you drag a blue ball, then it's job varies between entities.

 

[Limpet]

Usually an origin for blue spheres (almost said blue balls )