Flynn said:
smiley You are a funny dude aaron.

:dodgy:

Flynn said:
I think that would bring out some of the technical limitations of the .bsp game engine smiley

Well, I don't know if having too many models onscreen at once is such a good idea. With my dm_backwash map the performance is pretty disgusting and I attribute that too a few things I didn't know when I first started with the Source engine but mainly because there is an excessive amount on props both physics and static on screen at pretty much any view point.

Anyway, I know the Unreal 3 engine rely relies on models for most things and it may sound like there are 1000s of models but there really aren't, they really defined the level design so they could use a narrow set of models on the level many times on the level, kind of like the "prison" or "controlroom" or "combine" set of models in Half-Life 2.

You are a funny dude aaron. I think that would bring out some of the technical limitations of the .bsp game engine

Flynn said:
But you said it is better to focus on brush work. So you know brush work is inefficient but it looks better or what?

Right. Unless the walls and ceiling/floor and even some of the interior things like pillars and platforms and whatnot of your level are all models than your level is contained inside brush geometry and if the brush geometry doesn't look good, you've pretty much got rooms filled with props and not an attractive level

If you take a look at the Unreal 3 engine and games such as Gears Of War, they use models for alot more things that in Source you would probably use brush geometry for, to be honest, I think the Source engine is a little bit behind mainly because it depends on brush geometry alot for so many things, that and the loading screens :roll:.

Anyway, modeling isn't a very difficult skill to pick up, I spent two days in 3DS Max and came out with a metal shelf model and all the basic skills to get a model into the source engine. Two days well spent imo.

Flynn said:
I am damned if I get into modelling though, since I am a mapper, not a modeller.

Like it or not, models are a part of 3D level design now, and will probably become more so in the future.
Stand still if you like, but don't be surprised when you find that your skillset is out of date.

Func_detail, my friend. In my H.L.-1 days I always made detail props from brushes. Back in the days of prefabs... I downloaded some amazing prefabs which people had made. A passenger jet comes to mind, which an interior and everything. Astonishing work. It was the right scale as well.

Brush work is simply easier to create.

If you're doing physics objects or something very detailed that's just for looks, it should probably be a model, or at the least, one of the entities that doesn't split up other brushes and such (I can't really remember the names right now, it's been awhile)

But you said it is better to focus on brush work. So you know brush work is inefficient but it looks better or what?

BSP geometry is really inefficient, its far more efficient to use those stock pipe models than building them out of brushes.

I guess people like brushes because level designers can make props without learning any new skills and because these brush constructions will always be unique and interesting to look at.

Yes, that's something that I miss about Half-Life 1, since it was accepted for a mapper to make his own brush based details. I am damned if I get into modelling though, since I am a mapper, not a modeller.