The Q:A Complex Brushwork Thread

Pocket

Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
aa
Nov 14, 2009
4,697
2,581
That's because you tried to make a half arch inside a full square; of course it's going to stretch out to the full coordinates. Unfortunately, there's some sort of bug with how it generates half-arches inside half-squares too that I forget what it is, so you're going to have to make a full ring and then delete the bottom half.
 
MystycCheez

MystycCheez

L1: Registered
Apr 20, 2013
39
43
Perhaps try this:
hn5gy7I.png

tZ2OMyN.png

I hope you get the idea, I'm not great at explaining things.
 
Seba

Seba

ＤＲ． ＢＩＧ ＦＵＣＫＥＲ， ＰＨＤ
aa
Jun 9, 2009
2,364
2,728
2015-05-30_04-17-40.png
Click to expand...

I generally merge all the edge vertices into the corner, like so:

2gVgQxT.png


For maps in alpha this generally doesn't matter, but it may come back to bite you in the ass later when you're dealing with tjuncts, seeing as arches should be f_detail.
 
UKCS-Alias

UKCS-Alias

Mann vs Machine... or... Mapper vs Meta?
aa
Sep 8, 2008
1,264
816
Seba said:
seeing as arches should be f_detail.
Click to expand...
It fully depends on the method and placement. Small arches with parts sticking out are a good one for func_detail, without it you would get a large amount of visleafs both above and under the arch.

However, once the arch behaves as a tunnel (the tunnel ceiling is an arch, even if the tunnel is only 32HU wide), vbsp is in certain cases smart enough to only make it 1 visleaf (hinting is required for this though or it can still mess it up). But once its 1 visleaf there is no real need for a func_detail. The extra time vbsp would take barely would matter.

If i remember it properly de_dust (and if im right de_dust2 aswel) only func_detailed the sphered room, while the arch tunnels were just world brushes.
 
worMatty

worMatty

Repacking Evangelist
aa
Jul 22, 2014
1,258
999
Thanks, Tumbo. I will update my post. I was quite tired at the time, forgot to say to eventually replace the dev textures behind the arch brushes with nodraw. As you say, world brushes covered by func_details (annoyingly) are not culled.

Thanks, Alias. I have made a third arch in the VMF, left it as world brushes and grouped it, to demonstrate the visleaf behaviour you talked about.

And thanks, Seba. I avoided merging all those vertices to the top left because the resulting thin brushes looked like the sort of thing I wouldn't want to lump on to someone who's new to vertex editing. I've modified one of the arches and will update the guide with another screenshot.
 
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Pocket

Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
aa
Nov 14, 2009
4,697
2,581
UKCS-Alias said:
However, once the arch behaves as a tunnel (the tunnel ceiling is an arch, even if the tunnel is only 32HU wide), vbsp is in certain cases smart enough to only make it 1 visleaf (hinting is required for this though or it can still mess it up). But once its 1 visleaf there is no real need for a func_detail. The extra time vbsp would take barely would matter.
Click to expand...
This is also an easy way to avoid lighting issues, since it means you can just keep it like in killohurtz's picture here,,,

qxXUgjP.png


...instead of tapering it to a wedge and separating it from the flat wall like everyone else was recommending.
 
worMatty

worMatty

Repacking Evangelist
aa
Jul 22, 2014
1,258
999
Well bugger me. That is insane. Just did exactly what killo did, on your advice, steve, and the visleaf was perfect. No need to have any sealing brushes surrounding the arch, which of course makes sense now I think about it if you leave the arches as world brushes.

I'm not going to func_detail any interior decoration anymore until I've at least done a fast vis!
 
killohurtz

killohurtz

Distinction in Applied Carving
aa
Feb 22, 2014
1,016
1,277
sevin said:
Generally I'd agree with that Steve, but in this case there is actually a tapering edge in the reference picture so it makes sense to make it the more involved way.
Click to expand...

You can still surround the arch with more walls to get the same effect:

0lpqJcT.png
 
Empyre

Empyre

L6: Sharp Member
Feb 8, 2011
309
187
In his tutorial, worMatty said to make a quarter arch and then duplicate and mirror it. If you either do that or make a full circular arch and then clip it in half like MystycCheez said, it will not be distorted when you make it in a square.
 
seth

seth

aa
May 31, 2013
1,019
851
I keep forgetting to post this here but last week I asked the group chat how curved, sloped roads are made in Hammer. Idolon streamed and recorded his response, which was immensely helpful so I thought I'd post it here for future reference and for anyone else it may benefit.

 
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Pocket

Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
aa
Nov 14, 2009
4,697
2,581
I ended up using displacements (combined with a really complex custom dev texture) for 2street to make sure the textures line up perfectly on all four corners, but the drawback is that it leaves visible lightmap seams.
 
seth

seth

aa
May 31, 2013
1,019
851
This is probably a very simple one, but its got me confused. How do you create diagonal brushwork without it getting pulled too thin in the center? I keep wanting to create the brush with the thickness I want and then vertex edit the two ends in place, but that just stretches the piece out.

Stuff like this:

ae07a988b9.jpg
 
puxorb

puxorb

L69: Emoticon
aa
Dec 15, 2013
531
799
Or just get it close. Even when I'm working with diagonal brushes I leave them on the same grid. Who cares if its only 85% as thick as if it was rotated? Things in the real world are not perfect, especially wood beams. Plus, valve just makes a horizontal brush and then shifts one side up or down. Its pretty apparent if you look at the decompiled versions of the maps.

Most people aren't even going to notice that its not exactly the perfect thickness. In fact, I can't even tell right now.
 
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