When creating walls, do you prefer them in or out?

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iiboharz

eternally tired
aa
Nov 5, 2014
857
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What I mean by this is, do you prefer to rest them adjacent to the floor, or on top of the floor, and why?

Adjacent:
KD8y555.png


On top:
IT4dYZM.png


For me personally, it's situational.
 

Freyja

aa
Jul 31, 2009
2,994
5,813
It really depends on the situation but inside the map I almost always do on top because building walls don't hover like that.

Also I have an innie belly button.
 

nickybakes

You should've played Rumbleverse
aa
Jul 28, 2015
911
1,739
I usually would do on top, as it helps for structures that are on concrete bases like this house:
20170114130926_1-jpg.39523
 

iiboharz

eternally tired
aa
Nov 5, 2014
857
1,291
I mean obviously for cases like that you would go on top, I should have specified I'm talking specifically about structures that don't have a visible/tangible exterior.
 

Cole Slaw

L2: Junior Member
Feb 26, 2015
88
68
Adjacent all the way.

UNLESS two areas share a wall, then on top UNLESS i need two different floor types.
 

[Rx.] Christian Troy

L5: Dapper Member
Jan 23, 2017
223
64
On top usually. I use the old carpenter's methods when it comes to that.
 

Hotel Detective

L4: Comfortable Member
Dec 10, 2014
187
191
I always build on top of floors. Just personal preference I think but it helps me think things through visually better.
 

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
540
Usually top, because it's easier to handle the texture by pressing bottom, left, right or top if they are misaligned. If it's exterior wall, i do adjacent because even the slight corner touching seals the map.
 

Viemärirotta

sniffer
aa
Feb 5, 2016
1,013
590
Mainly adjacent, might use top in some situations where isn't really much space or taking up interior space doesn't do much.
 

Izotope

Sourcerer
aa
May 13, 2013
698
764
I'm going with adjacent wherever I can. If I have to do it on top I will, but I'd rather not :p
 

Crowbar

Spiritual preprocessor
aa
Dec 19, 2015
1,455
1,297
my style varies all the way up to this
 

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Another Bad Pun

In the shadows, he saw four eyes lit by fire
aa
Jan 15, 2011
801
1,844
When I map for Portal, I use the adjacent method always.
When mapping for TF2, it usually just depends on whether the exterior of the building will be visible. Most underground areas then are done in an adjacent style, while exposed structures are done the gross way.
 

Idolon

they/them
aa
Feb 7, 2008
2,105
6,106
Real Buildings™ generally use the latter method. This is not only because walls need to sit on the foundation rather than outside, but also because it makes exterior wall materials easier to deal with.

When you look at a wall envelope, you're combining multiple materials of bizarre sizes: 4" of brick, 3.5"-5.5" of wall stud, .25" of interior finish (drywall), etc. Interior materials (like drywall) don't need to protect against the weather, so they're weak enough to cut to whatever arbitrary size you need. Exterior materials (like brick) can't be so malleable, so they come in fairly regular sizes. (A building made of brick will probably have exterior dimensions that are divisible by 4".) As a result, you usually end up designing for an exterior wall size rather than an interior, since you can't fudge the numbers on the outside but you can on the inside.

Note that this doesn't apply to all exterior materials. If you look at a building that uses siding, usually the designed dimension is actually the structural wall, and the exterior sheathing sits on the outside. This only works because siding is easy to cut.

If you're excavating, then there is no exterior, so you'd design for interior dimensions.

If you don't do things this way, you're not "wrong" - you're basically just doing the first method but with a slightly larger foundation. If I'm working with a multi-story structure then I'll usually shrink the upper floors in to fit within the walls. The way that Real Buildings™ do this varies per structure, so neither method is really "wrong."
 

Hipster_Duck

L2: Junior Member
Dec 20, 2015
99
71
This is so wierd for me, ever since I started using Hammer I used on top and never even considered placing them adjacent, except when making displacements although that doesn't give much choice.