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making floors that are not perfectly flat
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 Re: making floors that are not perfectly flat
Posted by kdhunt2000 on Mon Jan 17th at 8:30pm 2005

ok, I want to make a floor that is not perfectly flat, one that is bump and such but I have no idea how to do it. COuld someone plz help me!



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 Re: making floors that are not perfectly flat
Posted by Orpheus on Mon Jan 17th at 8:37pm 2005

search out "displacement". or look here [addsig]



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 Re: making floors that are not perfectly flat
Posted by G.Ballblue on Mon Jan 17th at 8:48pm 2005

Vertex manipulation.

~_~

And do as Orph said, please check out displacements.

[addsig]



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 Re: making floors that are not perfectly flat
Posted by omegaslayer on Mon Jan 17th at 9:19pm 2005

Only problem with vertex manipulation is you run the possibility of getting invalid brushes, doing a displacement prevents this from happening, but remember to close off the displacement, because it doesnt stop leaks.
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 Re: making floors that are not perfectly flat
Posted by DocBadwrench on Mon Jan 17th at 9:33pm 2005

Omega, can you elaborate on that statement a bit? I'm curious about it since I'm dabbling in a map that most definitely has some uneven terrain and I'm unsure what constitutes an invalid brush.

Thanks in advance.




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 Re: making floors that are not perfectly flat
Posted by ReNo on Mon Jan 17th at 9:44pm 2005

You can never have a brush bend in on itself at any point, so if you wanted to make complex terrain out of brushes the best way is to use triangle terrain (search the HL1 tutorials for my series on how to do this). There is very little reason to use triangle terrain in HL2 though - you really ought to be using displacement surfaces. Check the tutorial Orph posted for more info on them.
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 Re: making floors that are not perfectly flat
Posted by omegaslayer on Mon Jan 17th at 9:50pm 2005

Hmmmm how to elaborate........remember geometry....all solids MUST be made of flat planes, no exceptions, if you take a square and move just one verticy up, then you are going to create an invalid brush (a plane is bent if you will). You will know this when you look at it in the 3d view, it will look distorted (because hammer doesnt know how to draw it), and when you hit alt-p it will tell you, you have an invalid solid.

How do you prevent this? Triangles, cut the square into two triangels, this way no invaid solid can be created (unless you do a really domb thing).

BUT the triangle method is already done FOR YOU in the displacement surface, notice that in the 3d view it is nothing but triangles. This way you will never get an invalid brush if you use a displacement.

But remember at the same time displacement surfaces don't "seal" your level. So you have to put a brush underneth to "seal your level". Perferably with the nodraw texture.

Also note that when doing outside terrain it is more logical to have a displacement surface rater than manny brushes, just look at the vehicle SDK.
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 Re: making floors that are not perfectly flat
Posted by Orpheus on Mon Jan 17th at 10:01pm 2005

? quoting G.Ballblue
Vertex manipulation.

vertex manip can be used to some quality ends, but i never ever recommend it 1st in any solution. vertex manip has been the ruin of countless maps, and i have counseled repeatedly against its use, to no avail.

vertex manip is to be used with caution AND with the understanding it is as likely to fail as succeed.

/ 2 cents

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 Re: making floors that are not perfectly flat
Posted by ReNo on Mon Jan 17th at 10:28pm 2005

There is nothing wrong with the vertex manipulation tool provided you know what you are doing - any problems it causes as user errors, not any inherent problems with the tool itself.
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 Re: making floors that are not perfectly flat
Posted by kdhunt2000 on Tue Jan 18th at 12:40am 2005

ok thx for all your feedback






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