Brushes smaller than one small grid?

My problem is pretty simple, I want to make a brush that's thinner than one block on the small bridge, but I can't figure out how to make it any smaller. Usually holding alt frees me from grid restraints, but that's not helping in this case. Any suggestions? Sorry for the simple/stupid question.

The smallest grid size is the smallest HL1/HL2 can handle. No exceptions apart from with models that need to be made out of hammer editor.

That doesn't seem to be the case, though. For instance, when I decompiled d2_coast_03 I found that the brushes they made into func_breakables appeared to be half the width of a standard small grid.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting beguiledfoil</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>That doesn't seem to be the case, though. For instance, when I decompiled d2_coast_03 I found that the brushes they made into func_breakables appeared to be half the width of a standard small grid.</DIV></DIV>
This is just a shot in the dark, but try using vertex manipulation on a brush that's made one grid thick. Will it let you merge vertices? Just a thought.

The smallest grid size is the smallest HL1/HL2 can handle. No
exceptions apart from with models that need to be made out of hammer
editor.

Wrong, its possible to make really small brushes.

If you want to make something small, make it four times larger than it's supposed to be and then
transform (CTRL+M) the object and scale it down (to 0.25).

Don't make brushes too small though, since that will count as a micro-brush error.

Oh yeah, it's also very difficult to move small brushes around since
they are placed edge-to-edge with the grabed side and the grid. You can
use the "move" function in the "transform" window if you want to be
more precise.

I've done that before and it doesn't compile the solid I make that small...

I've done that before and it doesn't compile the solid I make that small...

How strange, the panel on <A HREF="http://www.snarkpit.com/maps/HL2/images/1542_2.jpg" TARGET="_blank">this
screenshot</A> (the little one, glowing cyan to the left) is made out
of a couple of brushes that i scaled down. Its 0.5 inches wide, (i made
it before i knew anything about models :biggrin: ), and as you can see, it
compiled without any problems.

That doesn't seem to be the case, though. For instance, when I
decompiled d2_coast_03 I found that the brushes they made into
func_breakables appeared to be half the width of a standard small
grid.

Dont rely on decompiled maps for brushes, the only reason you do it is
to see how valve did something with entities, not brush work, because
the decompiler isnt perfected yet, and honestly you can never get a
true honest decompile that wil have perfect anything.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quote:</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>Dont rely on decompiled maps for brushes, the only reason you do it is to see how valve did something with entities, not brush work, because the decompiler isnt perfected yet, and honestly you can never get a true honest decompile that wil have perfect anything.</DIV></DIV>

I'd considered this.. that the brush thickness was just a result of an "error" in the decompiler, or more accurately, the result of compiling, but I can't figure out how this would get changed.

I'm going to try the ctrl+m idea, that seems like an excellent suggestion. Thanks for the help, guys.

edit: Yeup, the scaling of the depth worked out great, thanks a ton! And thanks for the specifics about when not to use it Lep, I'll try and keep my brushes larger than 1 cubic unit (hopefully that won't be too hard :smile: )

You can make brushes with fractional dimensions, but the surface area has to be larger than the microbrush area defined in VBSP (default 1 unit², I think?)

Hold Alt while doing your brush transformation to obtain more control over size (likewise for moving brushes outside of the grid range)

Try also making a brush 1 unit thick, then translating it whilst holding alt to take it off the snap lines.

Why you'd need a brush less than one unit thick is beyond me, though.

Actually, gwil, the editor won't let you use the alt dealy to make a brush smaller than the smallest grid size. Moving it once they're smaller does get tricky, as someone mentioned, and holding alt will sometimes (this is inconsistent for some reason) allow you to move the brush around.

As for my reason: I needed to make a panel of glass small enough to fit within the "bars" model used in the wasteland/car parts of HL 2. One unit thick resulted in faint, but visible z-fighting.

I'd say it is best not to do that becuase you can easly lose the brush
or create errors. But if you can handle it w/e right?