Quote from MasterLagger on December 20, 2011, 1:42 pm

Well, I guess you got to go with what sticks. If you look at the pictures I posted on the Showcase Thread, you can see I made up my own office themed area with cubicles, fabric walls, and a rug floor.

Quote from beecake on December 20, 2011, 2:14 pm

MasterLagger wrote:

Well, I guess you got to go with what sticks. If you look at the pictures I posted on the Showcase Thread, you can see I made up my own office themed area with cubicles, fabric walls, and a rug floor.

Yea and i love it! I am right now in process making a map of the aperture laboratories

I just thought that useful textures, models, and an explanation of it, could be something to add to this... i might be wrong

Quote from spongylover123 on December 20, 2011, 10:18 pm

What to put in a office:
Door frames.
func_doors or func_rotating_door
Look up office in model browser.
Alternate with tables and chairs and computers
Whiteboards
Boxes
Paper
Clipboards
Turrets in a chair
Look up office in texture browser.
If you want to go Portal style look up, observation in the texture browser.

Another thing I recommend adding is the theme valve used in the coop DLC maps.

Quote from Mr. P. Kiwi on December 21, 2011, 2:34 am

I though too of adding that new DLC theme; but first I need to finish writing about the 'basic' themes. Also, I fear now that adding how to make the theme in these pages would make them extremely long. I suggest that if I, or any other mapper, would want to explain the creation process it should be on it's on page, linked to the main pages. I tried to keep these pages simple to just give a small idea of the overall theme.
Thanks to the guy who wrote the 'tube ride' tutorial, I'm happy to see I'm not alone.

Quote from spongylover123 on December 21, 2011, 4:32 am

They used framework and plastic textures.
They used underground silver metal grates
They used square beams
They used yellow triangular beams
They put numbers on the walls
They changed the departure disassembly machines
They used factory props
They used pits with displacements.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention in my previous post.
Valve didn't use light_environment,
They used light_spot or env_projectedtexture

Quote from srs bsnss on March 29, 2013, 7:21 am

Ok, I realise that is a huge necro, but I just thought I'd mention that I wrote a guide for the Art Therapy style, in the format used on the VDC.

ART THERAPY
[spoiler]==Introduction==

This theme is seen only in the 'Peer Review' co-op DLC. It appears to be set after Old
Aperture, but before the modern facility. Tests take place in large, open areas, which are
almost like resevoirs. The test chamber itself is unfinished, and there are many gaps in
the roof and walls. This is not to be confused with it being 'destroyed' - it's simply
unfinished.

== Testing Elements ==

Because this theme appears to take place just after the Old Aperture area, gels are used in
almost every test. Toxic water is the main hazard, however it can be a bottomless pit, with
cliff faces around the sides. Excursion funnels, hard-light bridges and lasers are also
used often, but most elements work in this theme.
Arrival and departure elevators are connected to the test chamber by catwalks.

==Noticeable elements==

--'Resevoir' area--
Like mentioned above, the tests take place in a large open area, which is visible in
transitions as well as at certain points in the test chamber.
This area has to be larger than the test area, obviously, but usually isn't very full,
aside from occasional gantries on the walls, and long metal beams going from side to side.
There are also some large overlays of random 3-digit numbers. The chamber, as well as some
elements, is supported by trusses, scaffolding, square beams and cables.

In the official maps, the walls of the resevoir area are textured with the
props/plasticwall002 or 003 texture, with the texture scale at 0.50 (it is 0.25 by
default). The floor is sometimes solid, but can be goo as well. If you use goo as a floor,
it's recommended that you add a 'tideline' overlay on the surrounding walls.

--Test chamber visual style--

Throughout the test chamber, there are missing wall panels, sometimes exposing the
'anim_wp/backpanel' or 'props/plasticwall_002' textures, sometimes giving the player a
glimpse into the area beyond. But remember - this isn't a destroyed theme! These gaps are
sealed off by squarebeams and grating.
The roof is usually missing entirely, exposing hanging cables, square beams, trusses, and
long metal beams. The floor is mostly pristine, however sometimes there's missing segments,
exposing 'anim_wp/backpanel' textures.

Panels are used occasionally for things like staircases or barriers, but not often other
than that.

--Lighting--

Due to the nature of this time, you'll be hard pressed to find a good place for observation
rooms, the usual light source. Instead, lighting comes either through the roof, or through
gaps in the walls , by means of the 'stadium lights' seen in Old Aperture, supported by
trusses and square beams, with a 'light_spot' and an 'env_sprite' in the center of each of
the 9 light fixtures.

The settings for the light_spot are usually:

Brightness: 255 255 255 1500
Outer (fading) angle: -60

The settings for the 9 env_sprites are:

Render Mode: Additive
FX Color: 247 228 170
Sprite Name: sprites/glow04.vmt
Scale: 0.9
Size of Glow Proxy: 4

Placing an env_projected texure behind the square beams near the roof casts some epic
shadows across your chamber - in fact, ALL of the official maps use an env_projectedtexture
coming from the roof.

Note: It's OK if it doesn't come from a visible source, as long as you don't make
it obvious.

The official maps also put groups of standard 'light' entities near each corner of the
resevoir area, with the following settings:

Brightness: 120 140 160 15
Constant: 1000000002

There are 9 of them in a 128x128x128 box (4 at the front, 4 at the back and 1 in the
middle)

== Further Reading ==

It is recommended to look at the official maps to see exactly how this style is executed.

In alphabetical order, the maps in the coop campaign that use this style are:

"mp_coop_2paints_1bridge"
"mp_coop_bridge_catch"
"mp_coop_catapult_catch"
"mp_coop_laser_tbeam"
"mp_coop_paint_rat_maze"
"mp_coop_paint_conversion"
"mp_coop_paint_crazy_box"
"mp_coop_separation_1"
"mp_coop_tripleaxis"[/spoiler]

Is this worth putting on the VDC?

Quote from BenVlodgi on March 30, 2013, 4:22 pm

srs bsnss wrote:

Ok, I realise that is a huge necro, but I just thought I'd mention that I wrote a guide for the Art Therapy style, in the format used on the VDC.

ART THERAPY
[spoiler]==Introduction==

This theme is seen only in the 'Peer Review' co-op DLC. It appears to be set after Old
Aperture, but before the modern facility. Tests take place in large, open areas, which are
almost like resevoirs. The test chamber itself is unfinished, and there are many gaps in
the roof and walls. This is not to be confused with it being 'destroyed' - it's simply
unfinished.

== Testing Elements ==

Because this theme appears to take place just after the Old Aperture area, gels are used in
almost every test. Toxic water is the main hazard, however it can be a bottomless pit, with
cliff faces around the sides. Excursion funnels, hard-light bridges and lasers are also
used often, but most elements work in this theme.
Arrival and departure elevators are connected to the test chamber by catwalks.

==Noticeable elements==

--'Resevoir' area--
Like mentioned above, the tests take place in a large open area, which is visible in
transitions as well as at certain points in the test chamber.
This area has to be larger than the test area, obviously, but usually isn't very full,
aside from occasional gantries on the walls, and long metal beams going from side to side.
There are also some large overlays of random 3-digit numbers. The chamber, as well as some
elements, is supported by trusses, scaffolding, square beams and cables.

In the official maps, the walls of the resevoir area are textured with the
props/plasticwall002 or 003 texture, with the texture scale at 0.50 (it is 0.25 by
default). The floor is sometimes solid, but can be goo as well. If you use goo as a floor,
it's recommended that you add a 'tideline' overlay on the surrounding walls.

--Test chamber visual style--

Throughout the test chamber, there are missing wall panels, sometimes exposing the
'anim_wp/backpanel' or 'props/plasticwall_002' textures, sometimes giving the player a
glimpse into the area beyond. But remember - this isn't a destroyed theme! These gaps are
sealed off by squarebeams and grating.
The roof is usually missing entirely, exposing hanging cables, square beams, trusses, and
long metal beams. The floor is mostly pristine, however sometimes there's missing segments,
exposing 'anim_wp/backpanel' textures.

Panels are used occasionally for things like staircases or barriers, but not often other
than that.

--Lighting--

Due to the nature of this time, you'll be hard pressed to find a good place for observation
rooms, the usual light source. Instead, lighting comes either through the roof, or through
gaps in the walls , by means of the 'stadium lights' seen in Old Aperture, supported by
trusses and square beams, with a 'light_spot' and an 'env_sprite' in the center of each of
the 9 light fixtures.

The settings for the light_spot are usually:

Brightness: 255 255 255 1500
Outer (fading) angle: -60

The settings for the 9 env_sprites are:

Render Mode: Additive
FX Color: 247 228 170
Sprite Name: sprites/glow04.vmt
Scale: 0.9
Size of Glow Proxy: 4

Placing an env_projected texure behind the square beams near the roof casts some epic
shadows across your chamber - in fact, ALL of the official maps use an env_projectedtexture
coming from the roof.

Note: It's OK if it doesn't come from a visible source, as long as you don't make
it obvious.

The official maps also put groups of standard 'light' entities near each corner of the
resevoir area, with the following settings:

Brightness: 120 140 160 15
Constant: 1000000002

There are 9 of them in a 128x128x128 box (4 at the front, 4 at the back and 1 in the
middle)

== Further Reading ==

It is recommended to look at the official maps to see exactly how this style is executed.

In alphabetical order, the maps in the coop campaign that use this style are:

"mp_coop_2paints_1bridge"
"mp_coop_bridge_catch"
"mp_coop_catapult_catch"
"mp_coop_laser_tbeam"
"mp_coop_paint_rat_maze"
"mp_coop_paint_conversion"
"mp_coop_paint_crazy_box"
"mp_coop_separation_1"
"mp_coop_tripleaxis"[/spoiler]

Is this worth putting on the VDC?

I think so

Quote from Gemarakup on March 31, 2013, 3:53 am

I've looked for this a long time.

Quote from srs bsnss on March 31, 2013, 5:47 am

Yay, the Art Therapy wiki page is now up! If anyone wants to add anything to it, go ahead. I'm planning to add a couple of pictures.

Hopefully this will make more people map with this style, it's such a nice theme. But my map is the only know that I know of that uses it, which is a shame.