Portal 2 SDK look output?

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yohoat9
274 Posts
Posted May 12, 2011
So, in Portal 2, there were various times that Wheatley told you to look away as he "hacked" various doors. Is this a new trigger entity? If so, does anyone know what it is called? Because this could make some interesting puzzles.
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msleeper
4,136 Posts
Admin
Posted May 12, 2011
Replied 17 minutes later
The entity is a brush entity called trigger_look. Basically you would create a somewhat small, probably flat box on the wall opposite from where Wheatley is, and when the player looks at this volume then you have the entity trigger whatever needs triggering.

This is actually used in the original Portal during one of the first "fling" chambers, with the wall panels that extend and/or rotate to be angled. Go back and play these chambers again - they don't rotate or extend until you look at them.

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yohoat9
274 Posts
Posted May 12, 2011
Replied 3 minutes later
Oh, thanks! With a name like trigger_look, it seems like I'd know about it.

Also, did you know you don't actually have to look at the art in the beginning of the game? It's weird that they would make you look at it, even though you don't have to.

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msleeper
4,136 Posts
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Posted May 12, 2011
Replied 3 minutes later
trigger_look is really useful when you need players to watch something that is critical to your puzzle, again using the Portal 1 example. You are looking around the room for a portalable surface and suddenly something angles, and you know right away that it's important without having to actually be told it is.
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p0rtalplayer
1,366 Posts
Posted May 12, 2011
Replied 51 minutes later
Another thing, if I recall correctly, the trigger_look also can be set to fire when you look away from it, making it easier to trigger (e.g. rather than looking at a specific spot away from wheatley, you can just look anywhere away from him)
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msleeper
4,136 Posts
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Posted May 12, 2011
Replied 5 minutes later
Yeah you can set the radius on it pretty large to do something like that I believe. You might want to decompile the map that has this in it and see exactly how Valve did it.
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yohoat9
274 Posts
Posted May 12, 2011
Replied 1 hour later
Well I want to use it differently anyway, to make it so you DO have to look directly at an entity. (My map is going to be called "Out of Sight, Out of Mind".) But I want to make it so it only fires an output when I AM looking at it. Right now, for example, I have a door that will open if I look at a certain panel extruding from the wall, but when I look away, it remains open, I can't find an output for looking away, would I have to make a separate entity for looking away?
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msleeper
4,136 Posts
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Posted May 12, 2011
Replied 7 minutes later
I haven't used trigger_look in this way so I can't be 100% positive. Try using the "OnStartTouch" Output for when the player starts looking at the volume (and thus opens the door), and then using the "OnEndTouchAll" Output to close the door. In theory that should work.
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yohoat9
274 Posts
Posted May 12, 2011
Replied 29 minutes later
But wouldn't that be an output just for when in the trigger brush, not specifically looking at the target?
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msleeper
4,136 Posts
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Posted May 12, 2011
Replied 1 minutes later
trigger_look doesn't operate like other triggers. You are "in" the trigger when you are looking at it, that's it's entire purpose. Instead of being physically in the volume, your view is passing through it.
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yohoat9
274 Posts
Posted May 12, 2011
Replied 26 minutes later
Oh, that's awesome, I'm going to tie a trigger_look to some gel and see how it works.
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yohoat9
274 Posts
Posted May 12, 2011
Replied 2 hours later
Okay, so I tied it to 2 different sprayers, and this is what happened.

2011-05-12_00001.jpg

First of all, when I look at the blue, it turns on, all good.

2011-05-12_00002.jpg

But when I look over to the orange, they both stay on.

2011-05-12_00003.jpg

You have to exit the brush and come in facing the one you want to activate whenever you want to change which one is activated. Help?

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Stylus
50 Posts
Posted May 13, 2011
Replied 8 hours later
Did you add any outputs on stoping the gel flow when you stop looking at it?
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yohoat9
274 Posts
Posted May 13, 2011
Replied 12 hours later
That's the problem, I can't. The only output I can fire after activating the trigger_look is leaving the trigger area entirely.
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hanging_rope
435 Posts
Posted May 13, 2011
Replied 4 minutes later
In each trigger_look, send a "disable" output to the other colour gel.
i.e, if you look at the blue, blue turns on. When you then look at the orange, it first sends an outpu to the sprayer to stop the blue gel, then starts the orange.
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msleeper
4,136 Posts
Admin
Posted May 13, 2011
Replied 6 minutes later
You should send the "Disable" Output with the trigger_look's "OnEndTouchAll". That would be the best solution here.