945 lines
36 KiB
HTML
945 lines
36 KiB
HTML
<html>
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<head>
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<title>Q3Radiant Editor Manual: Page 7.1</title>
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<link rel = "stylesheet" type = "text/css" href = "../styles/q3rad.css">
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1 class = "MsoTitle">Q3Radiant Editor Manual</h1>
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<hr>
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<h1><a name = "tools4">Tools 4: Working with Textures</a></h1>
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There are three skill and knowledge components to working with
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textures as they regard <i>Quake III Arena</i>. They are Texture
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creation, Texture Manipulation, and Texture Application. Only the
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third, Texture Application, is absolutely necessary for making
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maps. You need not master all three.
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<h2><a name = "brushprim">Brush Primitives: A New Format</a></h2>
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With the release of version 192, the Q3Radiant editor takes a
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new direction in the way textures are mapped to the surfaces of
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brushes. The texturing format will roughly be the same as the way
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textures are handled on curve patches. While there are no changes
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to the user interface within the editor, you should see a change in
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the way textures behave on brushes during transformation operations
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like move and rotate. Because textures are mapped to the S
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and T coordinates of a brush (as they are with curve patches),
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locked textures will now maintain their positions on brushes when
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they are moved or located. Even complex rotations should now be
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possible without the textures going askew.
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<p>Checking the Brush Primitives checkbox turns on this feature.
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<span class = "menu">(Menu: Project Settings… > Use brush primitives in map
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files)</span>. Once you change a map to Brush Primitives, you cannot go
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back to the earlier method of texture mapping with that map. The
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prudent mapper makes backups before making major changes to
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projects.
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<h2><a name = "newtex">Texture Creation: Making new Assets</a></h2>
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This is covered earlier in the manual.
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<h2><a name = "texman">Texture Manipulation: Shader Overview</a></h2>
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Technically, each texture already has a default shader that
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passes it through the pipeline to appear much as it does in the
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graphic program that made it. A shader is a short script,
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separate from the texture file, that the game engine uses to make
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further adjustments to the texture's appearance or function. The
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shader is to <i>Q3A</i> what the surface properties flags were to
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<i>Q2</i>, only ever so much more powerful. If you plan on creating
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your own textures, you should get to know and understand how
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shaders work. The Q3A Shader Manual contains the information you
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need.
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<p><div class = "subheading">Shaders and Multi-Pass Texture Effects</div>
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(<i>Drawn from an original essay by Small Pile of Gibs</i>)
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<p>Shaders give the mapper control over special graphics effects
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that require multiple redrawing passes before they are finally
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displayed on the game screen. Every shader that changes the visual
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component of a texture uses these "Multitexture" effects.
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Multitexture is ON by default in <i>Quake III Arena</i>. It is
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turned off with the cvar, "set r_ext_multitexture 0 (entered in the
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console or bound to a key) - see the Debugging section in this
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document for more details.
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<p>To understand how multitexture works, you need to understand how
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the <i>Quake III Arena</i> graphic engine renders a scene. All the
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faces you see in <i>Quake III Arena</i> are made up of triangles -
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you can see this by using the cvar command "r_showtris 1."
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Initially, each triangle adds one to the "tris" number in r_speeds
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(the numbers that are used to estimate whether a scene is too
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complex). With every frame that <i>Q3A</i> "paints", it draws
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triangles onto the scene in layers, starting at the back of the
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scene and drawing every triangle visible until it reaches the
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front. It takes time to draw each triangle. If a triangle is
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painted with a texture that is "see through" in some way (either
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transluscent, transparent, or containing cut-outs), any triangles
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seen through that triangle must be redrawn one additional time for
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each stage in the the shader. If a single transparent triangle
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takes up the whole screen, for example, a glass window - The whole
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area of the screen has to be redrawn. Each triangle of glass takes
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an entire screen worth of "overdraw" and each extra stage on the
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glass adds another screenful, which is why glass can be such a big
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framerate hit.
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<p>The simplest form of multitexture is a Lightmap. In most cases,
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the Q3A engine first draws the lightmap (precalculated light and
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shadow information). Then, on top of that, it adds in the
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information from the texture art specified for that triangle using
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a special effect (blendfunc filter) - which blends the lightmap
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with the texture to make areas of the texture look light or dark.
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Using the cvar command "r_vertexlight 1" (Vertex Lighting
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instead of Lightmaps) stops Q3 from drawing the lightmap triangles
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(which is why many gamers use vertex lighting to gain additional
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playing speed).
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<p>Every extra stage in a shader is an extra triangle drawn over
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and blended with the first triangle in a special way. Like the
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lightmap example above, each additional stage requires an extra
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triangle to be drawn for each frame. On certain 3D accelerator
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cards (like the TNT - TwiN Texture), the multitexture effect
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cancels out the real cost of the first pass of blending. The
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blending for the first additional stage is done before the triangle
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is drawn. However, if the shader takes 3 stages (like all the shiny
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metal effects) it costs an extra triangle for every triangle it is
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used on. Every extra triangle used adds a triangle to the r_speeds
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triangle count. Because there are cards that don't automatically
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handle this first blending pass, the map maker needs to
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occasionally check his r_speeds with the multitexture turned
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off.
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<h2><a name = "texapplic">Texture Application: Texture Handling
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Tools</a></h2>
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These tools manipulate textures within the editor. They do not
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create textures or shader scripts.
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<p><div class = "subheading">Escape (ESC)</div>
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This is the all-purpose deselect key. Use it to back out of
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operations you don't want to complete or to stop working on a brush
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face, a brush, a patch, or a group of brushes or patches.
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<p><div class = "subheading">View Textures</div>
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<div class = "menu">(Shortcut: T)</div>
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This is only used in the four-view and floating windows modes
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(as set in Preferences). It brings up the Texture selection window
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(also accessible from a folder tab). If the Entity window is open,
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you may need to click on a map view window first for the "T"
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command shortcut to work.
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<p><div class = "subheading">Show in <u>U</u>se</div>
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<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Show in <u>U</u>se)
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<br>(Shortcut: U)</div>
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This command affects the content of the Textures window. It
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filters the contents so that only those textures currently in use
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in the map are displayed in the window.
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<p><div class = "subheading">Show <u>A</u>ll</div>
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<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Show <u>A</u>ll)
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<br>(Shortcut: CTRL + A)</div>
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This command affects the content of the Textures window. It
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"un"-filters the contents so that all the texture directories
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previously loaded during the mapping session are re-displayed.
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<p><div class = "subheading">Surface Inspector</div>
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<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Surface Inspector)</div>
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<p><img src = "../Q3Rad_Manual_files/image035.png" width = 287 height = 376>
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<p>This brings up a pop-up dialogue box. This is one of the more
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complicated interfaces used during map development and may take
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some getting used to.
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<p><strong>Texture</strong>
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<br>This is the path/name (beginning in Textures directory) for the
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texture. You can copy from this field or paste into it. If you know
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the pathname of a texture, you can enter it here. It will load
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without having to first load the entire directory that contains
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it.
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<p>The next five commands work on both patches and brushes.
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However, the results of applying a Horizontal Shift to a brush and
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to a patch may be substantially different. When working with
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patches, the numbers in the fields do not change … although
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the texture on the map component may be changing.
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<p><div class = "tip"><b>Design Note:</b> When a curve patch butts flush up against a
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piece of solid geometry, as if it were an extension of that
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geometry, it may be difficult to align the textures exactly. In
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fact is often <i>extremely</i> difficult to align a texture on a
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patch with the texture on an adjacent geometry brush. It works best
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when the dimensions of the patch are an exact multiple of the
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dimensions of the texture being used. Otherwise, you may want to
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consider designing your architecture in such a way that it is
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logical for a new texture to begin at that point. Use your
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judgement.</div>
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<p><strong>Horizontal Shift</strong>
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<br>This allows you to change the Horizontal texture offset
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(position of texture on a surface). You can type an offset value
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into field or use the scroll buttons on the right to shift the
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texture. If "Snap T to Grid" is set in Preferences, the scroll
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increments will move a number of pixels equal to the grid size.
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<p><strong>Vertical Shift</strong>
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This allows you to change the Vertical texture offset (position
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of texture on a surface). You can type an offset value into field
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or use the scroll buttons on the right to shift the texture. If
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"Snap T to Grid" is set in Preferences, the scroll increments will
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move a number of pixels equal to the grid size.
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<p><strong>Horizontal Stretch</strong>
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This allows you to change the dimensions of textures as they are
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mapped into the world. You can type a size value into field or use
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the scroll buttons on the right to enlarge or reduce the texture.
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The default value is 0.5. This gives a presentation in the game
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world of two pixels for each game unit. A Horizontal Stretch value
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of 1.0 would double the amount of area covered by a single repeat
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of the texture. Of course, doing that also reduces the apparent
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resolution of the texture by half (can you say blurry?)! Making the
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stretch value a negative number horizontally flops the texture's
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normals (i.e.; flops the texture left to right).
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<p><div class = "tip"><b>Design note:</b> Textures are "projected" onto brush
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surfaces. This means that if a surface is angled, the texture
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stretches to fit the space upon which it is projected. To make the
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texture look "unstretched" you need to change the dimension so that
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it looks correct when stretched. Example: If you want to map a
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texture on a 45-degree angle, it should be scaled to 0.35 along the
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direction perpendicular to the axis of the angle.</div>
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<p><strong>Vertical Stretch</strong>
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This is the same as for the Horizontal Stretch, but along the
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vertical axis. Making the stretch value a negative number
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vertically flops the texture's normals (i.e.; flops the texture up
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and down).
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<p><strong>Rotate</strong>
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This rotates the texture around the center point of the brush
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(or patch). If the texture is not centered on the map component,
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the rotation will not necessarily look correct. The increment of
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rotation is set by the value given for the Rotation Inc field on
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the Preferences window. The default value is 45 (degrees), roughly
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1/8 rotation around the axis.
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<p><strong>Value</strong>
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(This <i>Quake 2</i> function is not used by <i>Quake III
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Arena</i>)
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<p><strong>Texturing</strong>
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<p>This next grouping of commands in the lower left corner of the
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window provides two separate sets of buttons. The top set deal with
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texturing geometry brushes. The lower set is for texturing curve
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patches.
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<ul><strong>Axial (Brush)</strong>
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<br>Realigns texture to the X and Y axes (removing the effects of
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rotation)
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<p><strong>Fit (Brush)</strong>
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<br>The texture is stretched to fit the dimensions of the brush. The
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width and height fields to the right are the number of repetitions
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to be used in the S and T dimensions (S corresponds to X on
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the actual texture and T corresponds to Y on the actual texture).
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The default value for the height and width fields is 1. You can
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type a size value into field or use the scroll buttons on the right
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to enlarge or reduce the texture. Only integer values can be
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entered (meaning that you can't enlarge a texture 1.5 times).
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<p><strong>CAP (Patch)</strong>
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<br>This function is most often applied to patches used to fill in
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the gaps between curves and solid geometry. It can also be applied
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to flat patches so that the texture doesn't appear to follow the
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arc of the patch. You may need to use the SHIFT + CTRL + N command
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to normalize the texture on the patch.
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<p><strong>Set… (Patch)</strong>
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<br>This command functions almost like the "Fit" command above for
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brushes. The texture will be fit across the patch based on the X
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and Y values given. However, there is a notable difference. The X
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and Y fields will accept non-integer values (e.g. 6.4 x 3.8). It
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may take some experimentation to determine which dimension of your
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patch is considered to be "X" and which is thought to be "Y". If a
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value of 1x1 is given, the texture will be "fit" to the
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patch.
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<p><strong>Natural (Patch)</strong>
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<br>The engine does its best to map the texture onto the patch in a
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"natural" appearing manner. This means that the texture will curve
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and flow with the curves and bends in the patch. Unless you are
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texturing a cap, this should be your first choice when applying a
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texture.
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<p><strong>Fit</strong>
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<br>The texture's coordinates are mapped to fit the patch
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(with no repeats).
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</ul>
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<p><div class = "subheading">Find / Replace</div>
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<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Find / Replace)
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<br>(Shortcut: none)</div>
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This feature allows the user to replace a texture within a
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single brush, a set of selected brushes or globally throughout the
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entire map. Selecting the command from the menu opens up a dialogue
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window. The top line is for the texture path and name of the
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texture to be replaced. The second line is for the texture to be
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used for replacement. Several checkboxes allow fine control over
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what, exactly, is to be changed. This command does not respond to
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UNDO. If you accidentally mistype a texture name in the replace
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line, you will need to enter it again (as mistyped) on the find
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line and then enter the correct texture on the replace line.
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<p>Texture replacement is global (throughout the map) unless the
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selected checkboxes state otherwise.
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<ul><b>Replace within selected brushes only.</b> Only the hi-lighted
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brushes that contain the texture to be replaced will be
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affected.
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<p><b>Force replacement (ignore current texture name).</b> <i>
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All</i> textures in the map will be replaced. Best if used with <b>
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<i>Replace within selected brushes only.</i></b> Be very careful
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with this one.
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<p><b>Live Updates from Texture/Camera windows.</b> Using
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Live Update the user can find and replace textures with a fully
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point and click interface.
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<p><strong>Texture Replacement using Live Updates</strong>
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<br>Click on the Find box, then click on any texture in either the
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Camera window or the Texture window. The texture path/name for that
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texture appears in the box. Next click on the Replace box and click
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on the replacement texture. That texture's path/name appear in the
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Replace box. Select "OK" and the replacement will occur.</ul>
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<p><strong>Step-by-step for replacing a texture on a brush face
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(if live update is not used).</strong>
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<ul><li>In the Camera window, hi-light (CTRL+SHIFT+mouse1) the texture
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to be replaced.
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<li>Open Surface Inspector. If the name of the texture is not
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hi-lighted, then hi-light it.
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<li>Press CTRL+C to copy the texture name.
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<li>Open the Find/Replace window.
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<li>Paste (CTRL+V) the name into the find window.
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<li>Hit ESC to deselect the texture in the CAM winow.
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<li>Open the Textures Window. Find the texture you want to replace
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with and select it.
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<li>Open Surface Inspector again.
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<li>Copy the texture name there.
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<li>Open Find/Replace again and paste the new texture into the
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Replace box.
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<li>Select OK. Replacement occurs and the dialogue window
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closes.</ul>
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<p><div class = "subheading">Texture Lock</div>
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<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Texture Lock)
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<br>(Shortcut: none)</div>
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Opens Pop-up window with two options for "locking" texture
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shifting during brush or patch movement. <b>NOTE:</b> If you have
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selected the BRUSH PRIMITIVES option under Project Settings…
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then Texture lock will always be on.
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<ul><strong>Moves</strong>
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<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Texture Lock > Moves)
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<br>(Shortcut: SHIFT + T)</div>
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When this option is checked, textures stay locked in position on
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the brush as brushes are moved around the map. If unchecked, the
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texture appears to shift across the brush, because they are fixed
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to the world, not the individual brush. On small brushes and small
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textures (such as the small square lights), some "creepage" may
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occur, with textures shifting 1 or 2 units off their locked
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position.
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<p><strong>Rotation</strong>
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<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Texture Lock > Moves)
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<br>(Shortcut: SHIFT + R)</div>
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When this option is checked, textures stay locked in position on
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the brush or brushes as they are rotated around the map. If
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unchecked, the texture appears to shift across the brush, because
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they are fixed to the world, not the individual brush. On small
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brushes and small textures (such as the small square lights), some
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"creepage" may occur, with textures shifting 1 or 2 units off their
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locked position.</ul>
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<p><div class = "subheading">Load from List…</div>
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<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Load from List…)
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<br>(Shortcut: none)</div>
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Opens a dialogue box listing all texture directories currently
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recognized by the editor. Hi-light a directory title then
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click on the "Load" button. The textures in the selected
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directory will be loaded into the Textures window.
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<p><div class = "subheading">Shaders</div>
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<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Shaders)
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<br>(Shortcut: none)</div>
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This command pops up a Pop-up window with two shader-related
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commands.
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<ul><strong>Load All (Reload)</strong>
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<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Shaders > Load (All) Reload)
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<br>(Shortcut: none)</div>
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This command loads or reloads all the .shader scripts recognized
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by your shaderlist.txt file. When you change and save a shader
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script, execute this command, then reload the affected texture
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directory to see any changes.
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<p><strong>Show</strong>
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<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Shaders > Show)
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<br>(Shortcut: none)</div>
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When checked, this command surrounds all shader-manipulated
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textures in the Texture window with a thin white border.</ul>
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<p><div class = "subheading">Flush</div>
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<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Flush)
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<br>(Shortcut: none)</div>
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The flush command frees up texture memory and should improve
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editor performance. Exactly how much is flushed depends on your
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choice of commands.
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<ul><strong>Flush All</strong>
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<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Flush > Flush All)
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<br>(Shortcut: none)</div>
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This command flushes all the texture memory, restarts OpenGL and
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reloads the map from the last saved copy.
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|
|
<p><strong>Flush Unused</strong>
|
|
|
|
<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures > Flush > Flush Unused)
|
|
|
|
<br>(Shortcut: none)</div>
|
|
|
|
This command flushes all UNUSED textures from memory.</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p><div class = "subheading">Texture Window Scale-</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class = "menu">>(Menu > Textures > Texture Window Scale)
|
|
|
|
<br>(Shortcut: none)</div>
|
|
|
|
This affects the size of the texture images displayed in the
|
|
Textures window. Clicking on the menu entry opens up a pop-up
|
|
window with the following size selections: 200%, 100%, 50%, 25%,
|
|
and 10%. Adjust it to suit your liking. If seeing the detail in the
|
|
textures is important to you, set the size to 100% or larger. If
|
|
you know your way around the textures without having to see each
|
|
pixel, set it for smaller.
|
|
|
|
<p><div class = "subheading">Texture Directories</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class = "menu">(Menu: Textures)</div>
|
|
|
|
This is not a command. The entries on the Textures Menu below
|
|
"Texture Window Scale" are the names of the available texture
|
|
directories (all whose filenames are listed in the shaderlist.txt
|
|
script). Clicking on one loads the contents of the directory into
|
|
the Texture window.
|
|
|
|
<p><div class = "subheading">Texture Shift Key Shortcuts</div>
|
|
|
|
A brush, brush surface, or curve patch must already be selected
|
|
before using these shortcuts. This feature closely copies the
|
|
function of the Texture Shift fields and scroll bars on Surface
|
|
Inspector pop-up window. If Snap to T is selected in preferences,
|
|
then the texture shifts in pixel increments equal to the current
|
|
grid setting. Shifting textures on curve patches may produce
|
|
unexpected results.
|
|
|
|
<p><table class = "menu">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>Texture Shift Down</td>
|
|
<td width = 50%>(SHIFT + DOWN ARROW)</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>Texture Shift Up</td>
|
|
<td width = 50%>(SHIFT + UP ARROW)</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>Texture Shift Left</td>
|
|
<td width = 50%>(SHIFT + LEFT ARROW)</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>Texture Shift Right</td>
|
|
<td width = 50%>(SHIFT + RIGHT ARROW)</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
|
|
<p><div class = "subheading">Texture Rotate Key Shortcuts</div>
|
|
|
|
A brush, brush surface, or curve patch must already be selected
|
|
before using these shortcuts. This feature closely copies the
|
|
function of the Texture Rotate field and scroll bar on Surface
|
|
Inspector pop-up window. The texture rotates in degree increments
|
|
set in Preferences. Rotating textures on curve patches may produce
|
|
unexpected results.
|
|
|
|
<p><table class = "menu">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>Texture Rotate Clockwise</td>
|
|
<td width = 40%>(SHIFT + PAGEDOWN)</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>Texture Rotate Counter-Clockwise</td>
|
|
<td width = 40%>(SHIFT + PAGEUP)</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
|
|
<p><div class = "subheading">Texture Scaling Shortcuts</div>
|
|
|
|
A brush, brush surface, or curve patch must already be selected
|
|
before using these shortcuts. This feature changes the scale of the
|
|
texture (the amount of area that a single instance of the texture
|
|
covers). The texture scale seems inconsistent, except that opposite
|
|
directions appear to cancel each other out. The amount of increase
|
|
delivered by the first use appears to be about a ratio of 1:15.
|
|
|
|
<p><table class = "menu">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>Texture Scale Down</td>
|
|
<td width = 50%>(CTRL + DOWN ARROW)</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>Texture Scale Up</td>
|
|
<td width = 50%>(CTRL + UP ARROW)</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>Texture Scale Left</td>
|
|
<td width = 50%>(CTRL + LEFT ARROW)</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>Texture Scale Right</td>
|
|
<td width = 50%>(CTRL + RIGHT ARROW)</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name = "interactex">Using Interactive Textures</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
Interactive textures are the shader-manipulated textures that
|
|
have an effect on game play, not just the appearance of the map.
|
|
There are two classes of Interactive Textures: Special Content
|
|
Textures and Texture Entities. For more detail and
|
|
instructions regarding shader manipulation of textures, refer to
|
|
the <i>Q3A</i> Shader Manual.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Special Content Textures</strong>
|
|
|
|
Special content textures are textures where the "surface"
|
|
parameters of the texture actually change the physical nature of
|
|
the geometry brush and in so doing, affects the play of the
|
|
game.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Water</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br>Water is a content parameter that allows a player to "swim"
|
|
inside a geometry brush, causes a pulsing visual distortion of the
|
|
underwater geometry, and prompts the game engine to draw bubbles as
|
|
projectiles pass through it. A player can only remain under water
|
|
for a short time (without a battlesuit) and then begins to
|
|
drown.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Water usage rules:</strong>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>A water texture is defined by the presence of surfaceparm water
|
|
in the shader that creates it.
|
|
|
|
<li>Because water is typically a "transparent" surface, the shader
|
|
passes used to create surface effects on water are added to the
|
|
shader passes of textures seen through the water surface. This can
|
|
significantly increase the number of redraw passes necessary to
|
|
draw the game world and may negatively affect performance.
|
|
|
|
<li>If you place water brushes side by side, the touching sides must
|
|
be marked with the common/nodraw texture.
|
|
|
|
<li>Both the top and the bottom surfaces of a water brush must be
|
|
water texture.
|
|
|
|
<li>Water brushes cannot be stacked so they touch another water
|
|
brush vertically, only set side by side.
|
|
|
|
<li> If you want to be able to exit water easily, keep the
|
|
distance from the top of the water brush to the adjacent "shore" or
|
|
pool edge at no more than 16 game units. Somewhat less is actually
|
|
better.
|
|
|
|
<li>If fog is to be used as a part of a water volume, the water
|
|
surface should not deform.</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Fog</strong>
|
|
|
|
Fog content is used to block or diminish player vision and
|
|
provide "atmosphere" for a level. Like water, fog can affect game
|
|
performance, especially if one can see additional shader effects
|
|
within it. The following information is taken from the <i>Q3A</i>
|
|
Shader Manual regarding fog creation and usage.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>fogparms <red value> <green value> <blue
|
|
value> <distance to Opaque></strong>
|
|
|
|
<br>This surface parameter (or "surfaceparm") defines the contents
|
|
of the fog.
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Note:</b> you must also specify "surfaceparm fog" to cause
|
|
q3map to identify the surfaces inside the volume. Fogparms
|
|
only describes how to render the fog on the surfaces.
|
|
|
|
<p><b><red value> <green value> <blue value></b>
|
|
These are normalized values (number range from 0 to 1). A good
|
|
computer art program should give you the RGB values for a color. To
|
|
obtain the values that define fog color for <i>Quake III Arena,</i>
|
|
divide the desired color's Red, Green and Blue values by 255 to
|
|
obtain three normalized numbers within the 0.0 to 1.0
|
|
range.
|
|
|
|
<p><b><distance to opaque></b> This is the distance, in
|
|
game units, until the fog becomes totally opaque, as measured from
|
|
the point of view of the observer. By making the height of the fog
|
|
brush shorter than the distance to opaque, the apparent density of
|
|
the fog can be reduced (because it never reaches the depth at which
|
|
full opacity occurs).
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Fog usage rules:</strong>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>If a room (or rooms) is to be filled completely with a fog
|
|
volume, it can only be entered through one surface (and still have
|
|
the fog function correctly).
|
|
|
|
<li>The fog volume can only have one surface visible (from outside
|
|
the fog).
|
|
|
|
<li>Fog must be made of one brush. It cannot be made of adjacent
|
|
brushes.
|
|
|
|
<li>Fog brushes must be axial. This means that only square or
|
|
rectangular brushes may contain fog, and those must have their
|
|
edges drawn along the axes of the map grid (all 90 degree
|
|
angles).
|
|
|
|
<li>If a water texture contains a fog parameter, it must be treated
|
|
as if it were a fog texture when in use.
|
|
|
|
<li>Additional shader passes may be placed on a fog brush, as with
|
|
other brushes.
|
|
|
|
<li>If a light-emitting fog brush is placed beneath normal brush
|
|
geometry, the light may cause light artifacting on the solid brush
|
|
surface. Use with care.
|
|
|
|
<li>Brush models (trains, doors, rotating objects, etc.) within, or
|
|
partially within fog volumes will have drawing priority problems
|
|
against the fog. It is best not to place these entities in
|
|
fog volumes.
|
|
|
|
<li>There are unconfirmed reports of moving entities being made with
|
|
fog shaders.</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Lava</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br>Lava content, for most practical purposes, is a variation of
|
|
water content. The damage that it does to players in contact with
|
|
it is defined by game code and cannot be directly affected by the
|
|
map designer.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Slime</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br>Slime content, for most practical purposes, is a variation of
|
|
water content. The damage that it does to players in contact with
|
|
it is defined by game code and cannot be directly affected by the
|
|
map designer.
|
|
|
|
<p><div class = "subheading">Texture Entities</div>
|
|
|
|
There are a number of shader-manipulated textures that are used
|
|
in an entity-like fashion. The shader files that manipulate the
|
|
textures are what give them their game properties. These are
|
|
the ones that id used and their relevant properties.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Areaportal</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> Opaque Red Orange
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/areaportal)
|
|
|
|
<br>The bsp tool uses areaportals to create hard, visual breaks
|
|
between areas in the map. Until triggered, the areaportal blocks
|
|
geometry behind it from being drawn or seen. The area portal brush
|
|
should be a thin (2 to 4 units thick) brush. It should touch all
|
|
the brushes that form the hull of the opening being portalled. It
|
|
must be placed inside a door. The opening of the door triggers the
|
|
portal function. The closing of the door returns it to its former
|
|
state. The areaportal texture must completely seal off a volume
|
|
from another volume (although this can be in conjunction with other
|
|
areaportals). If a door is being used to block off an area from
|
|
view, consider placing an areaportal brush inside the door. Example
|
|
in Quake III Arena: All the doors out of the central courtyard in
|
|
Q3DM12, The Dredwerkz, are areaportalled.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Caulk</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (common/caulk)
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> Opaque Pink
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> Caulk, the miracle texture. It blocks vis.
|
|
It seals the world off from the void. It doesn't draw (so it
|
|
doesn't add to triangle counts). It keeps curves from competing
|
|
with textures behind them. It looks like hell if you see it in your
|
|
world. From the View menu (View > Show > Caulk), you can
|
|
toggle on and off the display of caulk brush sides.
|
|
|
|
<p><div class = "tip"><b>Design Tips:</b> When you build a brush entity (a.k.a.
|
|
b_model), mark all the brush sides that you will never see with
|
|
caulk. Otherwise, the game draws every one of them. Even if you're
|
|
only making a one-piece door, mark all the non-viewed sides with
|
|
caulk. The same holds true for detail brushes. If you can't
|
|
(or won't ever) see a brush face on a brush that's been marked as
|
|
detail, paint it with caulk. Next, whenever you build a curve, try
|
|
to build the brush geometry immediately behind it out of caulk.
|
|
Finally, look around your map for brush faces that you suspect are
|
|
being drawn, but are never seen: door pockets, bars, underneath
|
|
bridges or very low railings and so on. It may sound like work, but
|
|
attention to detail like this buys you both the appearance of
|
|
greater geometric detail in the map AND faster game running
|
|
speed.
|
|
|
|
<p><b>More Design Tips:</b> Finally, and this should be used with
|
|
great care, a caulk brush can be used to create an invisible
|
|
support for entities. If you place a very thin caulk brush floating
|
|
above a surface that would otherwise not support an entity
|
|
(example: a grate made of clip brush), the brush will not draw in
|
|
the world, but will support the entity. The reason for this is that
|
|
SUSPENDED entities are not "seen" by bots unless they can be
|
|
reached by a jump pad.</div>
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Clip</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/clip)
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> Transparent Red
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> If you look at a professionally made map,
|
|
quite often you'll see that nearly every bit of wall surface is
|
|
covered in a transparent red texture called "common/clip." Clip is
|
|
a nondrawing texture that blocks player movement. Clip does not
|
|
block weapon fire. Entities, such as ammo or weapons, are not
|
|
supported by clip brushes. If placed or dropped on a clip brush,
|
|
they will pass through them.
|
|
|
|
<p><div class = "tip"><b>Design Tips:</b> Place clip brushes to smooth the passage of
|
|
players through the world. This could mean creating a slope that
|
|
allows the player to slip past a piece of architectural trim, or
|
|
filling a window to keep players from getting into it. It can be
|
|
used to create an artificial ceiling that prevents players from
|
|
flying or jumping too high.</div>
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Cluster Portal</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/clip)
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> Translucent lavender
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> Works like an area portal, but for the bot
|
|
navigation file only. Cluster portal is used by the bspc utility to
|
|
subdivide the map into smaller areas for calculating bot
|
|
navigation. Appendix C: Bot Navigation Files contains the specific
|
|
details for using cluster portal texture entities.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Cushion</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/clusterportal)
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> Translucent pale aqua
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> A player falling on this does not take
|
|
damage. They also don't make a "landing" sound, so use with
|
|
caution.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Do Not Enter</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/donotenter)
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> Transparent Pale Orange
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> It is a tool used to solve bot navigation
|
|
problems. Use it like a clip brush, but sparingly. When you observe
|
|
bots doing stupid things in your map, try to block off the area
|
|
with this texture. The Bot Navigation Files appendix contains the
|
|
specific details for using the Do Not Enter texture entity.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Hint</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/clusterportal)
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> Transparent Yellow Green
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> Helps determine the vis portals. It is
|
|
used as a suggestion to the compiler during the vis phase, when the
|
|
world is subdivided. Generally speaking, they are used to correct
|
|
vis problems, whose chief symptom is the "hall of mirrors" effect
|
|
seen during game play. These can often be corrected by careful
|
|
placement of a hint brush. If you fill the volume where the
|
|
error is seen or the volume adjacent to it, the problem may be
|
|
corrected in the next compile. This is really more art than
|
|
science.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Invisible</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/noimpact)
|
|
|
|
<br>Color:
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> This was used to create a surface that
|
|
would be marked by weapon fire, but would not be drawn in the
|
|
world. This was created specifically to resolve a problem where
|
|
func_static brushes were being used to replace floor textures that
|
|
marked the location of weapons in Q3DM8. Because the rocket
|
|
launcher was located in different places between the team and the
|
|
deathmatch games, the designer wanted to make floor markers that
|
|
would not only change between game types, but would be marked like
|
|
adjacent floor pieces.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Nodrawnonsolid</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/trigger)
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> Opaque light yellow
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> This is the same as nodraw.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Noimpact</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/noimpact)
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> black
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> Used to create a surface which does not
|
|
block weapon fire.
|
|
|
|
<br>Weapon fire will pass through this. This usually used as a
|
|
shader key on other textures.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Origin</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/origin)
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> Opaque Orange
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> Used to create origin point in moving
|
|
b_models, such as trains, plats, and rotating objects. This
|
|
texture, applied to a square or rectangular brush, is used to
|
|
create the point of origin for moving b_models, such as trains,
|
|
plats, and rotating objects. It is used by func_trains as the point
|
|
that passes through path entities and the source for sound
|
|
attachment
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Skip</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/skip)
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> Transparent yellow
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> Do not use in Q3A. This texture was used
|
|
in Quake 2 maps to discard sides of hint brushes. It is
|
|
nonfunctional in Q3A.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Slick</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/trigger)
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> Translucent Pale Blue
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> Not stick coating for map surfaces.
|
|
Reduces friction. Use like a very thin clip brush over surfaces you
|
|
want to be low friction.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Trigger</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/trigger)
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> Transparent Dark Yellow
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> Used to make trigger brushes.
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Weapon Clip</strong>
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Location:</b> (textures/common/weap_clip)
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Color:</b> Transparent Red
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Game Function:</b> This version of the clip brush only stops
|
|
weapon projectiles from passing through it. No marks are left on
|
|
the surface.
|
|
|
|
<br><b>Design Tip:</b> Use to create clip surfaces for map object
|
|
models.
|
|
<p align = "center"><a href = "../ch06/pg6_1.htm">Back</a> | <a href = "../index.htm">Home</a> | <a href = "../ch08/pg8_1.htm">Next</a>
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