How do I make such well-designed buildings?

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Muddy

Muddy
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Sep 5, 2014
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It just takes a lot of practice. Taking a close look at the buildings in existing maps and figuring out what makes them look good also really helps.

So basically, practice and study.

EDIT: Oh, and you don't need to make your buildings look pretty in the early versions of your map. Leave all the detailing for the beta stage.
 
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biskuu

L2: Junior Member
Oct 25, 2014
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It just takes a lot of practice. Taking a close look at the buildings in existing maps and figuring out what makes them look good also really helps.

So basically, practice and study.

Yes, but how is the process of making them?
I try to make buildings like this one but it always ends up a mess :p

Edit: Just saw your edit :D
 

Freyja

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Jul 31, 2009
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It's not something that can be explained in words. If it was, then we'd all be amazing artists, we'd all be "able to draw like that." Nothing beats practice. However, I can give some tips.

Something few people seem to realize is the best way to detail well is to have a valve (or well made custom) map open in hammer/tf2 when you're making yours. Study everything that that map does to make those things look nice, constantly flip between yours and the valve/custom map and compare how they look. Observer where they place their windows and chimneys and vents and stains, how they use their textures, how they mix up the angles and rotations of their roofs, how they structure their architecture.

If you find an artist that says they don't use reference when doing their art, then you've found a liar. The advantage you gain from using reference is just too great to pass up.

For some specific tips, that style of building in badlands can look really good by simply just varying up the height, angle and rotation of the roofs. Even without anything else, just breaking up your big building into lots of "small ones," each with their own roof that's different from the surroundings goes a long way to making it interesting. Badlands goes the step further and makes each "small building" within the big building have slightly different wall placements, so parts are inset or protruding out from the average of the wall.
 

Idolon

they/them
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Feb 7, 2008
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While a lot of it is practice and learning, there is a bit you can learn from reading. You'll want to look into composition. Basically, it's the study of how to arrange elements in a scene to achieve a particular goal. Part of that is drawing the viewer's eye to a particular location.

In TF2, these locations would be where players will be. The player's eye will follow long lines, horizontal, vertical, and diagonal. You should make these lines intersect where you want the player to look.

I'll do a more thorough explanation later when I have more time, and show some examples of what Valve does with the composition of their buildings.
 

biskuu

L2: Junior Member
Oct 25, 2014
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While I'm sure all of this is helpful, I think bisquit is confused more on the technical aspects of actually how to construct a playable building in Hammer.

No I am not, I can do pretty much anything in Hammer, it is just the whole architecture of the buildings that I fail to understand.
 
Sep 7, 2012
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It's a good start, but there are some things which feel off.

First, you only have one way into the building by walking, which will put one team at a disadvantage no matter what.

Second, your roof is very thick everywhere and doesn't look very real because it doesn't give good rain coverage (which is what a roof is for, after all!)

Your walls are thick. Don't be afraid of switching to a smaller grid for doing thinner things, you just shouldn't have it on 1hu all the time.

Detailing wise, your displacement could be more complex. I suspect the whole thing is a power 3. You could break it up into smaller displacements with greater complexity to make the ground less angular.
Also, typically pallets are not stored on dirt or grass because it is difficult to get a pumptruck or forklift underneath them when you're not on smooth, level ground.
 

biskuu

L2: Junior Member
Oct 25, 2014
97
22
It's a good start, but there are some things which feel off.

Oh thanks for the feedback!
I always thought of very thick walls to be a problem but I never paid much attention to them because it didn't seem to be so important (of course that was wrong)

Also, should the terrain only be around the building but not under it? What is the point of having multiple displacements?
 
Sep 7, 2012
638
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Oh thanks for the feedback!
I always thought of very thick walls to be a problem but I never paid much attention to them because it didn't seem to be so important (of course that was wrong)

Also, should the terrain only be around the building but not under it? What is the point of having multiple displacements?

In Badlands the displacements go underneath the building, it doesn't really matter too much since they'll never be seen anyway. Multiple displacements are useful if you don't want to make a purely rectangular shape of ground, you can combine 3 to make an L shape, etc.
 

Muddy

Muddy
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Sep 5, 2014
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Multiple displacements are useful if you don't want to make a purely rectangular shape of ground, you can combine 3 to make an L shape, etc.
Actually, you can make an L shape with just two displacement faces. All it needs is a bit of vertex manipulation magic!
 

biskuu

L2: Junior Member
Oct 25, 2014
97
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Here, I made the roofs thinner and also the pallets are now stored inside a garage with concrete floor! :D
Still haven't added a second entrance, I think of making a tiny house that will have a staircase which connects it to the main building.
Here is the .bsp!: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gpagyedhybpgb89/cp_test.bsp?dl=0

[SCREENSHOTS]
- http://ow.ly/DLFUR
- http://ow.ly/DLFGI
- http://ow.ly/DLFN5

EDIT: I added the little storage with the barrels on top of the garage because it looked very empty, I might remove it.
 
Apr 14, 2013
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In badlands, it's all about the roofs. I myself tried to understand what they did there a while ago and it was mostly roofs in various shapes and sizes and heights and then lots of windows, hatches, ropes, lights and chimneys sticking out of the walls. Some roofs are displacements. Check out sdk_cp_badlands in your map folder to see for yourself.
In short: gray metal walls shaping out a oddly shaped building that has rooms and the building's parts sticking out of itself, light brown metal roofs in various sizes and shapes, and then detail on top.
 
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biskuu

L2: Junior Member
Oct 25, 2014
97
22
I'm back again.
Made this small house in 1.5 hours.
Damn I learned a lot on this one. Understood scale in hammer much better!
4hu roofs, 2 ways of entering the building by walking and also some windows and a couple of props.

BSP: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7bolzl572rs6kg3/cp_test_2.bsp?dl=0

Screeshot 1: http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/539631098020951995/BBF3BEB4CD6B979888CDA107BD47EFD97CE5E2FC/
Screeshot 2: http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/539631098020950202/0FB862209A49025DD02DF348463CE2D156C75992/