making a sky island floating up and down.

[Billo]

how can i do a sky island ( a small one ) floating up and down?
and also i would like to ask you, sky fortress is a acceptable name for the update?
because i was looking for some guys to help me with music or animations and some of them told me about the saxxy 2014 sky fortress animation.
and one last thing i want to ask you. how can i make to the sfm animation the ground to crack-break?
i would be greatful if all those questions would be answered.
thanks for the help so far guys!

 

[Muddy]

Making stuff bob up and down isn't too hard to do, provided you know about func_tracktrains and path_tracks. It's also worth pointing out that you can't do this for playable areas, since Source doesn't handle players on moving objects terribly well (plus, stickybombs roll off brush entities, and Engineers cannot build things on them), so make sure these islands are purely decoration. I'd also advise having too many of these in your map, since having a lot of them will cause you to hit the entity limit.

Developer Wiki article about func_tracktrain
Developer Wiki article about path_track

1. Make your island (without using displacements, because Source doesn't support displacements as entities) and make it a func_tracktrain.

2. Make two path_tracks called "island_path_1" and "island_path_2". These will be the points where the island moves. (It doesn't matter what you name them really, these are just examples)

3. Set island_path_1's Next Stop Target to island_path_2, and island_path_2's Next Stop Target to island_path_1. This makes the island's path loop endlessly.

4. Set the func_tracktrain entity's First Stop Target to island_path_1.

5. Set the func_tracktrain's Initial Speed to something other than 0. Experiment until you find a speed you think looks good.

6. Set func_tracktrain's Change Angles property to 'Never (fixed orientation)'. This ensures that the island doesn't change direction when it moves.

7. (optional) If you want to put props on the island, first name the func_tracktrain entity "island". Then put the props on, but make sure they're all prop_dynamic, and they're parented to "island". (Again, example name, call the func_tracktrain whatever you like) Try not to go overboard with props though.

Can't help you with any of the SFM-related things I'm afraid.

 

[Crowbar]

^ won't work with displacements which you most probably have. Solution is keep it brushwork (eughhh) or make models.

 

[Muddy]

Fair point. If you can make a prop (or get someone else to make one), it'll look nicer, plus you can animate the prop. Would be cheaper entity-wise too.

Still, brushwork islands can look fine from a distance, and if you can't get a prop done then the brushwork method works.

 

[Crowbar]

Yeah, brushwork can be gotten to look good from a distance and to keep players sure there is nothing interesting there (tc_hydro dev commentary near low fence), and then even skycards.
Having them move is a risky move (pun sure intended): it can either bring a calmer atmosphere to map or make players think there is something worth (failing at) examining.

 

[Kill_the_Bug]

If your play area is all on one level and you just want the appearance that the island is floating up and down (when it isn't) put in walls inside the skybox box, then paint them with the image you want. Turn it into a brush or something then have that go up and down using a train. On your playing area, it will look like it's going up an down.