Strange Inaccuracies With Irregular Shaped Brushes

JedediahJedediah Join Date: 2003-01-27 Member: 12847Members
edited January 2003 in Mapping Forum
I'm working on my first map and I just made the outer wall of a nice spherical room with windows. I used the vertex tool to create the latice work and windows. In worldcraft, all my vertices are snapped to a 4x4 grid and they match up perfect. I've checked and checked again and the room is airtight. However, when I test the map in-engine, there are all sorts of ugly gaps and inaccuracies. I've attached some screenshots to illustrate. Why is this happening and what can I do about it?

Sorry, I know this isn't exactly NS specific.

Comments

  • JedediahJedediah Join Date: 2003-01-27 Member: 12847Members
  • JedediahJedediah Join Date: 2003-01-27 Member: 12847Members
  • JedediahJedediah Join Date: 2003-01-27 Member: 12847Members
  • blue2kblue2k Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 4025Members
    worldcraft cant compile concave or convex surfaces very good at all. i suggest some other shaped geometry for that particular room.
  • OlljOllj our themepark-stalking nightmare Fade Join Date: 2002-12-12 Member: 10696Members
    Same problem less complex:
    <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=4&t=19602' target='_blank'>http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/in...=ST&f=4&t=19602</a>

    if there is a plane that is not flat (convex or concarve) the compiler makes it flat by moving some verticles.
    so it changes the objects shape.

    example:
    a cube, vertex manipulated so that the red face is no longer planar,flat ...
    You need to add lines (blue) to split the comvex/concarve face into 2 flat faces, or the compiler will transform it strange.
    there are always 2 solutions, one convex, one concarve. (or a manual vertex movement to make all faces flat)
  • JedediahJedediah Join Date: 2003-01-27 Member: 12847Members
    edited January 2003
    ah non-planar quadrilaterals.. I should have known.. I guess I will convert them all to triangles just to be safe. I don't suppose there is a way to do that automatically?

    thank you soso much

    EDIT: hmm this is tricky.. when I cut the faces into triangles I end up with concave brushes and I don't think worldcraft has an easy way to split them along a non-axis-aligned plane. Also, faces that fit together have to be cut the same way so they match up.

    it would be nice if I could create the room with proper angular geometry but I can't figure out how to do that in worldcraft.. it's a highly grid-based tool.
  • OlljOllj our themepark-stalking nightmare Fade Join Date: 2002-12-12 Member: 10696Members
    edited January 2003
    no automatic way, because you have the choice between convex and concarve everytime.
    If you make 2 neighbour faces; both convex, theres a hole. - both concarve they stick into each other.
    sometimes file converters have fixing routines for such, but most times you get the strangest 3d errors.

    do not split any planar (!) quadrilaterals.. into triangles. just split the non planar.
    The engine does not like 2 planar (and connected) triangles in one flat face.
    if theres one you get a "complanar faces in..." error message. notice the brush number and coords and rebuild that object.
  • CageyCagey Ex-Unknown Worlds Programmer Join Date: 2002-11-15 Member: 8829Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
    The sequence of commands to make the split : shift-V to enter vertex mode, select brush that contains face to split, select two opposite edge points on the offending quad (yellow boxes, if they aren't present hit shift-V until they are), ctrl-F to split the face, drag each newly created vertex to an opposite corner to form 2 tris out of the 2 quads that the split created and merge the vertices when prompted.
  • JedediahJedediah Join Date: 2003-01-27 Member: 12847Members
    edited January 2003
    <!--QuoteBegin--XP-Cagey+Jan 28 2003, 06:41 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (XP-Cagey @ Jan 28 2003, 06:41 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> The sequence of commands to make the split : shift-V to enter vertex mode, select brush that contains face to split, select two opposite edge points on the offending quad (yellow boxes, if they aren't present hit shift-V until they are), ctrl-F to split the face, drag each newly created vertex to an opposite corner to form 2 tris out of the 2 quads that the split created and merge the vertices when prompted. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    actually you can just split between vertices instead of faces.. so it's just click, click, ctrl-f

    but it seems what I really need to do here is split the brushes along their vertices to eliminate concave brushes and faces.. but I don't know of any way to split brushes like that in worldcraft

    another thing that would really help is to be able to snap vertices to other vertices on other brushes.. but as far as I can tell, WC will only snap to the grid
  • ImaTargetImaTarget Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 3415Members
    well jedediah thats like it is. no way around this. you CAN work not on the grid (check the helpfile of hammer its somewhere in there) but its not advisable. You have to keep in mind how OLD this engine is. Sadly this means you can´t have many of the things that may be no problem in UT2k or some similar advanced engine. Especially such really complex forms are more then tough to do. you can do em, its just a real pain to get them right. Just build something invalid and then split it up to be valid wont propably do it, i guess you will end up building this from single brushes instead of splitting up one brush.
  • YamazakiYamazaki Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 21Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    Use the clipping tool to slice a brush into two halves. Just select the brush, select the clip tool, and draw a line in the XY (Topdown) window over the brush. Click the cliptool icon again if it draws one half red (This toggles whether to toss away a half, or keep the whole thing but as two seperate brushes). You'll need to clean it up after clipping, or try clipping in a different axis, but it tends to get the job done without VMing.
  • Cash_Car_StarCash_Car_Star Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 6448Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--Jedediah+Jan 28 2003, 03:56 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Jedediah @ Jan 28 2003, 03:56 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> a nice spherical room <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    In HL mapping, that's an oxymoron.
  • bicballbicball Join Date: 2002-11-23 Member: 9751Members
  • OlljOllj our themepark-stalking nightmare Fade Join Date: 2002-12-12 Member: 10696Members
    if the contest is "reach max_map_planes as fast as possible"
    YES.
  • BiTMAPBiTMAP Join Date: 2002-11-08 Member: 7685Members
    lol Bic and his crazy "impossible" mapping stuff <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo--> and with the planes remover that wouldn't be too bad actualy <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • bicballbicball Join Date: 2002-11-23 Member: 9751Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--Ollj+Jan 28 2003, 06:15 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Ollj @ Jan 28 2003, 06:15 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> if the contest is "reach max_map_planes as fast as possible"
    YES. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Good, do I win a prize?
  • JedediahJedediah Join Date: 2003-01-27 Member: 12847Members
    w00t I finally got the room to work.. after 3 **** days! it involved a ton of vertex manipulation but I managed to eliminate all invalid brushes and vertices. those window panes are divided into triangle-like brushes and each window is different depending on the angles of the edges it connects to. some of the "flat" panes use as much as 4 brushes each. 68 brushes total for the entire ceiling

    it was a colossal pain but I think it was worth it.. it's a nice room, even with no details added.
  • JedediahJedediah Join Date: 2003-01-27 Member: 12847Members
  • OlljOllj our themepark-stalking nightmare Fade Join Date: 2002-12-12 Member: 10696Members
    edited January 2003
    <span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'>looks great</span>

    <b>Do you enjoy the dotty-shaddows like I do?</b>
    to fix this make shaddows more detailes (let RAD take ages)
    or...
    *drumroll*
    .. make that curved shaddow casting walls bigger. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->

    Problem with filling it up with triangles is that it uses a <b>large number of planes</b> that you will never see ingame because they are in the void.
    -> whole compiling takes a few milliseconds longer, you may get the max_map_planes limit earlier.
  • YamazakiYamazaki Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 21Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    In the future, I find it's best to keep all non-box brushes at 1:1, 1:2, and 1:4 slopes when you VM them. If you follow this rule of thumb it will usually keep you from having to chop them up into triangles later. It limits the sort of shapes you can create, but it saves on headaches.
  • ImaTargetImaTarget Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 3415Members
    very neat room, congrats! <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • doctopepadoctopepa Join Date: 2002-01-26 Member: 99Members
    looks a bit skew to me... <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • JedediahJedediah Join Date: 2003-01-27 Member: 12847Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--Yamazaki+Jan 29 2003, 11:21 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Yamazaki @ Jan 29 2003, 11:21 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> In the future, I find it's best to keep all non-box brushes at 1:1, 1:2, and 1:4 slopes when you VM them. If you follow this rule of thumb it will usually keep you from having to chop them up into triangles later. It limits the sort of shapes you can create, but it saves on headaches. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    That's one of the things I did.. changed the arch angles to simple ratios like 3:2, 1:5 etc.. but I still ended up with invalid brushes in places where I had to connect two arch segments who's slope differed on two axes.

    Another little problem I'm having is allowing the commander to see into the room. The windows are func_seethrough entities with 128 player alpha. Unfortunately, I have to make the opaque roof segments seethrough as well and that means they don't cast shadows.
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