how to make building with windows

I cant find any tutorial how to do good looking windows on a
building. Im not talking about glass windows but the ones that
are in the editor. How can i make a building that has windows and
a door that looks good. This has been my main problem since i
started mapping. Can someone make a tutorial for that? or help me
over a messenger. Thanks!

give this a perusal...

http://www.snarkpit.net/forums.php?forum=6&topic=4378&highlight=windows

Doc B....

Im sorry but i dont understand that. Is there a visual tutorial? id really appriciate one :biggrin:

"Good looking" is a subective statement. Whats good to my eye, could look grotesque to you.

Really its all based about skill of the mapper. And if your new to mapping, its hard to hear "Just make one" and understand.

Really there isnt much we can do to help you "Make a good looking
window", but we can tell you how to make the most basic of windows. The
rest is up to you.

The way you make a window is you create a brush (the wall). Then you
clip out a square hole in the center. There you go....a window.

Now if you wanted to add little things to it, you can add in models
like explained in the link above, or you can add more brushes (eg: make
a platform out side of the window and hang a planter from it). Really
the rest is left up to you, its your map, what you do with it is your
decision. There isnt much we can to to tell you "How to make a window
good looking". Thats YOUR job, thats whats fun about mapping.

---

Posting And You

Ok i mean make a building that has non see through windows that i can
mass produce for a map. Can someone make a really fast video tut
how to make a building with non see through windows like the ones in
the campaign you see when you walk out of the building with the combine
soldiers. How do you make buildings like those? with non see
through windows. Can someone make a tut because it would be a
really good add to the tut section

Whats a non see-through-window? That would contradict the purpose of a window.....

Can you give us a screen shot of the so called area that has these non-see-though windows.

---

Posting And You

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=1/720260661.jpg&s=x11 thats a good
pic so how do i make a building out of that window texture including a
door on the building so it doesnt look like crap. ? can someone
make or show me a visual tutorial of that please! thanks

im not gonna assume this......do you know how to use the clip tool, the hollow tool, the texture application tool, and draw walls?

Doc B

Yes but it doesnt make good looking buildings :sad: can you make a quick tut :? lol it would help a lot!

well, i dont have a webspace, and i cant upload vmf's or bsp's to my pit.....so.....send me an email addy thatll handle a half meg download....ill send ya what i whipped up

Doc B

....ps....half the fun of mapping is seeing YOUR CREATIVITY come to fruition man...... :wink:

Ok i sent you an email and i added you to icq :smile: hope to speak to you
like tomorrow because i think im turning in for the night! thanks

Practice is what will give you a great looking building.

Yes but it doesnt make good looking buildings :sad: can you make a quick tut :? lol it would help a lot!

We cant really teach you how to make it look better outside of the
techniques of clipping, vertex manipulation, and adding in brushes. Why
not experiment with many different things:

Add in pillar brushes

Clip the window out and move it in a little bit. Or even do it on the top bricks.

Outside of these suggestions we can't really tell you what to do!! And
as Rs6 says: practice will help, not being weak and asking for help at
the littlest moment you dont know what to do.

---

Posting And You

Some images in this post have been automatically down-sized, click on them to view the full sized versions:

open your texture browser and type "template" (without the quotes) into the filter field. this will give you a bunch of texture sets for different styles of buildings.

choose a set that you like, and apply each of it's textures onto it's own 128x128 brush. then you can move the different bits around, and see how they look next to each other.

holding down 'shift' while dragging a brush will create a new, identical brush. which is good if you want the same window or whatever repeated.

[edit]

here's a pic that might explain it better for you. i simply made one of each of the 'building_template001' texture set, and clone-dragged the ones that i wanted for my building.

---

i eat paint

And to prevent a building from being all window... just spit it up into
multiple brushes, so you have different area's to give different
textures. Voila, door problem solved. I think you were struggling with
the idea buildings could only exist from one brush? You'll see you have
a lot of freedom in that... :smile:

The clipping tool does a good job here: select it and draw a line in
one of the 2D views, then hit Enter to confirm the clipping. The
selection will now be cut up along this line. There are 3 clipping
modes which you can cycle through by clicking on the button again, or
by using it's shortkey (I believe that's Shift + X or Ctrl + X or so).
One clipping mode will cut off the left part of the line, the other
will do so with the right part, and the last mode will cut the
selection in two, leaving both halves intact.

---

Create-ivity - a game development blog

I get the impression you think of mapping as creating a few cubes and then letting the game make it look good- you are greatly mistaken my friend...

If someone can, take a picture of a complex map of yours through the plan or elevation axis and post it, so you can see the complexity that builds up.

---

-[Better to be Honest than Kind]-

Wireframe screenshot good too? Here's one then. It shows dismaps rather than a lot of brushes, but hey... :biggrin:

---

Create-ivity - a game development blog

Wonderful! yes i will try this now! thanks a lot!

<div class="abouttext">Message submitted 1 minutes after original post:</b></div>
Sorry to double post but should i use fit texture to block size to make it even?

most textures are meant to be used at 0.25 scale, which is the default scale in hammer. and as most textures are 512x512, the quarter scale means that they fit perfectly onto a 128x128 brush, which all of the big blocks in my pic are.

other textures normally have dimensions that fit perfectly onto other grid sizes. if you're unsure, just make the brush too big, apply the texture at 0.25 scale (x and y) and then reduce the size of the brush untill it's just right for the texture.

---

i eat paint

I guess ill never be good at buildngs :/ i want to create ones similar
to the ones in the town you walk into in the first level.
Buildings you cant see into but look good :sad: those ones with the 7 texs
and 128 by 128 blocks are ok but they dont look quality
unfortunatly. I want to create a good looking city.
Displacment is way to easy unlike buildings.

hmmm...i'd have thought it exactly opposite.... :/ dont get frustrated man, hang tough, work through it....the tools are there. common sense and fortitude....ya gotta know what the tools are capable of first...if it makes ya feel any better, ive been mapping for what....4 years now, and i still havent released anything.....you think you're picky??...

Doc Brasso... :dodgy:

btw, yer email must have been snatched up by my junk blocks.....sorry...post one in my PM's and ill send you this vmf, and bsp

How long have you been mapping Cheeseballs? You can't just expect to
pick up mapping one day and be good at it. It takes a long time to get
good. Just keep practicing.

---

Posting And You

Iv been mapping for a few weeks. Im good all over but i cant do
buildings!!! terrain and everything else is fine water as well.
But buildings... i cant do em :sad:

Just keep practicing, Skills come with time... :wink:

-Peace

---

.::Dark|Masta::. - One name. One legend.

Yep i know but i need to make awsome buildings fast! i got my reasons :biggrin:

Iv been mapping for a few weeks. Im good all over but i cant do
buildings!!! terrain and everything else is fine water as well.
But buildings... i cant do em :sad:

It takes more than a few weeks to become good at something. Terrain is
easy enough, as is water (stuff that doesnt rely on brush
manipulation). As for the meat and potatos of mapping (brush
manipulation), thats gonna take a while.

Mapping is like art, you just can't one day decide to pick it up and
automatically be good at it, you have to start somewhere (in your cases
I recomend you stick to box rooms and expand from there). Here are some
helpful tutorials on how to spice up your maps though:

http://www.snarkpit.net/editing.php?page=tutorials&game=HL&id=10

http://www.snarkpit.net/editing.php?page=tutorials&game=HL&id=93

http://www.snarkpit.net/editing.php?page=tutorials&game=HL&id=92

Once again you just cant pick up mapping in 2 weeks and expect to be
good at it. Most people here have been mapping for 4+ years!!!!! And we
are JUST NOW getting good at it.

---

Posting And You

Are there any video tutorials? im TERRIBLE at reading tutorials :smile:

I don't think there are any videotutorials in the Snarkpit, but when
mapping remember that patience is a virtue. Rome wasn't built in one
day. Experiment. And also note that breaking up the wall with
supports and other details helps a lot in making more intresting
looking buildings. Again let your inner experimentative demon out...
Sometimes it also helps to draw somekind of layout on separate paper
when you're mapping. That's what I usually do when I start a new map.

Happy Hammering.

Goodbye and thanks for all the fish.

---

''Everyone wades in s**t until they're competent enough to walk on it. Jesus style.''
Dystopia - Empires

Does anyone know of any links to video tuts? id really appriciate one on how to do buildings then i can get to mapping!

<div class="abouttext">Message submitted 1 minutes after original post:</b></div>
Im really sorry to double post but can someone help me over a messenger
like msn or aim or any others? :biggrin: id really appriciate that

Are there any video tutorials? im TERRIBLE at reading tutorials :smile:

Do you realize how long it takes to make a video tutorial? Do you have
trouble reading english? (I know that sounds very condencenting, but at
the pit you never know whom english isnt their native language).
Because these are very simple and easy to read. If your not going to
take the time to do that, then I have to say that you have no place in
mapping if your not going to take the time to work for yourself.
Goodbye.

---

Posting And You

Are you saying their tuts arent in english? well can you show me any
way? i learn by seeing something being done, and people have different
learning styles :biggrin:

Are you saying their tuts arent in english? well can you show me any
way? i learn by seeing something being done, and people have different
learning styles :biggrin:

No im asking CAN you read english.

You may be able to learn by seeing something done. But there is nothing
like that here. Nor can we really help you with your problem because
what your asking for is something that only comes with time. Its not
something you can just pick up and expect to be good at it.

---

Posting And You

in all my time mapping for hl and hl2, i've only ever seen 2 video tuts. so if "monkey see; monkey do" is the only method that works for you, you're not going to have much fun learning how to map.

---

i eat paint

I think there are some video tutorials here:

http://www.modsonline.com/Tutorials-read-196.html

check http://www.fileplanet.com as well. I know they have one on displacements, there may be more.

I understand you want video tutorials, but you really should give
written text a go as well. Otherwise you'll limit yourself to one form
of tutorials only and you will miss out on a lot of subjects.

---

Create-ivity - a game development blog

Or he could just map for UT

---

Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

http://www.mnemic.tk/ has lots of video tuts. as said above, most videos are rather specific and do not cover general aspects. but if this gets you on the way...

[edit:] this one is specifically for the basics of brushwork

---

These words are my diaries screaming out loud