walls

brokenshadows

L1: Registered
Mar 15, 2011
5
0
First off, I only started attempting to build a map late last week, so this is probably going to be something obvious to the rest of you... :blushing:

When building walls in Hammer, is it better to start with a block that is the size of the room you want and then use the "make hollow" function...or is it better to build each wall individually?

The "make hollow" route seems like it would be better to avoid gaps, but the individual route seems like it would be better for texturing and for odd shaped rooms...

I am fairly detail oriented, so watching out for gaps isn't a "huge" concern, however it seems to significantly increase my work-time when compared to simply hollowing out a big box...
 

brokenshadows

L1: Registered
Mar 15, 2011
5
0
yeah, i just figured out the shift-drag thing a little while after posting the question...

out of curiosity, why is the hollow (or carve) method "bad"? i'll be using the shift-drag thing to duplicate walls, as it gives me more individual control...but that whole "detail oriented" thing coupled with a morbid sense of curiosity makes me wonder why the other method is bad...
 

ardysqrrl

L4: Comfortable Member
Oct 26, 2009
173
159
using the carve method pretty much invariably results in more brushes than there'd be than if you used proper clipping techniques yourself. This results in increased compile times and more difficulty making adjustments down the line.

For what it's worth I sometimes use Make Hollow but only for very specific purposes, such as adding a new path where before there was only void
 

Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
aa
Nov 14, 2009
4,694
2,579
You're asking a machine to do a human's job. And a not-very-well-programmed machine at that.
 

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
1,443
710
Really carve isn't as bad as everyone makes it sound IF you make sure your brushes are snapped to the grid AND you don't try complex shapes.

The worst part about it using a block to carve a doorway for example, is that it'll cut the brushes in a rotation fashion. So you get a tall brush next to a door, then one that goes across, then one that goes down from there...

If you just cut by hand you can have 2 vertical brushes on each side of door, and one above that's easy to drag up/down to resize height (that's how I like to make doorways). It's just cleaner and gives you the results YOU want, not that Hammer wants.

If you use it to cut cylinders, etc... then brush work can get messy.
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Hollow is alright some, but same thing, you get what Hammer wants, which might not be what you want.
Plus if you make a room like that, then a room next to it you still have to delete one wall, and cut a doorway into another wall... So it's a quick way to make a room, but it'll always need some hand working anyway.