I'm getting to really like Hammer. I wish I had actually picked it up and tried it wayback when it was recommended to me for another project (I elected to do a different project :(... )

Anyway, I'm building a "test chamber" that's more to test out everything I can think of then to be an actual playable (and enjoyable) room.

I've been happily building walls, etc. I placed a few lights, neat. I've got an "observation room" built (it's an empty room with a light in the middle right now, and two brushes for "windows" looking into my chamber), but when I tried to make the glass windows... didn't work. Hrm. Not to mention I don't even have a clue (yet) how they built the "frames" around the observation windows ingame.

Is there a tutorial anywhere about building observation rooms into Portal maps? Something that goes from "add another room off to the side" through "do this to create the window pane" to " add this to create the window frame" to "fill the room with stuff, so it looks interesting through the refracting glass"?

I wanted to use the observation room as my chamber's illumination... I could just use regular lamps, I guess...

If you open found in 'testchmb_a_05' in hammer, you can check out how they built the observation rooms in the game, and a few other helpful things.

The map should be located at: 'C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\yourUserName\sourcesdk_content\portal\mapsrc

Yeah, I've been looking at the room #5, and it's been quite a help.

I thought I built the window like in room #5, but while the radiosity light goes through the window just fine, the window brush itself isn't clear.

That's why I was wondering if there was a tutorial that went the other way... instead of reverse engineering.

There really isn't a need to make a tutorial on how to create the window part. Looking at the VMF, the glass parts are a single func_brush, and the window frame is a func_detail. You would create the window frame out of brushes like you would a normal wall, floor, etc. The reason it is a func_detail is 1.) to optimumize the map, and because 2.) func_details cast shadows like normal geometry, hence giving the shadows across the walls and floors.

msleeper wrote:
There really isn't a need to make a tutorial on how to create the window part.

But a tutorial on how to do the whole thing would be kickass. Volunteers?

The refract texture must be on all sides of the brush, and the brush itself needs to be a func_brush, not a func_detail.

actually the thin edges, the ones you dont see, should be nodraw

Not the frames. Looking at the Portal VMF, only the glass has a nodraw back; the window frame func_detail is fully textured (since nodraw does not cast shadows).

I should have been more specific, I was talking about the glass...

also any brushes you wont be able to see from outside the observation room, at any angle, can be given a no draw texture. sure you could noclip and see it, and it would look like a leak, but theres no use calculating anything for something you shouldn't be able to see

I decompiled maps a while back to look at the observation rooms, they used nodraw on anything not directly visible, then had a very bright spotlight in the room shining out.

Hober wrote:
But a tutorial on how to do the whole thing would be kickass. Volunteers?

Just a note that I'm working on a Wiki page tutorial of this:

http://wiki.thinkingwithportals.com/wik ... Room_Guide

I'm writing this as I discover the process, and adding to it as I have free time to play with Hammer. If you have an idea for something else I should add, add it to that discussion page, or better, add it here :D

Nice to see that you are taking the time to make a tutorial on this.

However, the way you describe making the "light tubes" is incorrect, and as you have noted in the wiki, bad mapping practice.

The tubes you describe are different dimensions to the valve ones, which isn't so bad, but also only contain 8 sides in total, which detracts considerably from the detail. Also, you should never carve something like this.

I have written a small guide detailing the way I make these. It is somewhat similar to how Valve appear to have made theirs, but not identical, mainly due to the fact they seem to have gone off the grid, which I personally think is bad, unless unavoidable.

Feel free to use any of the following in your tutorial, or modify it as you see fit for your purposes. I know it is a bit long, but I tried to be as detailed as possible. Sorry for the image-heavy nature of this post.

**

Observation Room Light Tubes**

Make a square hole in the ceiling that measures 96 x 96. Make it 40 depth from the ceiling upwards, and add nodraw to the walls and new ceiling.

Using the arch tool, make a brush that is 80w x 80l x 48h
In the dialog, set:
Wall width : 16
Number of sides : 6
Arc : 90

The result will look like this.

Enter vertex manipulation mode, and align each part of the brush with the grid, as shown here, so the only "curve" is the inside part of the brush. This will make life easier for the compile process later.

Using the clipping tool, clip the sides off your brush, so you are left with the following shape.

Copy > paste this brush, flip the new brush horizontally, and align it with the original brush to create a semicircular shape.

Select both brushes, copy>paste, flip the new brush vertically, and align to create a circular shape.

Build a frame around the base of the completed brush. Make each piece 8 units high, and 16 wide.

Texture the inside of the cylinder with plastic_light002c, and the base with plastic_light002a. For the base, check "treat as one", and use the "fit" button, to easily texture here.

Now, you should make a trim for where the base of the light tube meets the ceiling, although this is down to preference and room size.
Build an 8 high, 8 wide, 128 length block, and use the vertex tool to turn it into a triangle as shown. Click "yes" to merge the vertices.

Now, use the vertex tool to angle the outside corners to 45 degrees, so that when you have one of these on each side, the corners will meet up.

Copy>paste and flip as before, until you have the trim on all 4 sides. Texture the visible sides with plastic_wall002a

Turn the entire thing into a func_detail, and move it into the hole you created earlier. (Now might be a good time to save it as a prefab, so you don't need to do this again)

Texture the ceiling in your hole with the white009 texture.

It is worth noting that the texture scale you choose here can have a big impact on your room's lighting. The default scale of 0.25 will give a nice, bright effect, whereas scale 1.0 will be much dimmer. This can alter the mood of a map considerably.

Also of note, in the example map, Valve used a texture scale of 50, so virtually no light was given off, and they just faked the effect of light with a light and a light_spot. Why they did this is a mystery, but it was probably to give more control over the lighting in that scene.

Awesome. I'll make updating the tubes my next priority before I move forward, as I was incredibly dissatisfied with what I had built. :(

Is that on the wiki? If not, I'll link to this thread from the Wiki page, and wikify it later, if you don't mind.

Yeah, that ugly tube was built out of frustration and lack of experience* in Hammer, and simply put in there so I could move forward with what I was interested in; glass and light.

• By lack of experience, I mean I opened up Valve's map, broke up the tube... and then only saw "a whole bunch of brushes" but didn't have a clue on to how to duplicate that. And I claim to have done 3D work before, hah!

I'm glad you found this useful. Feel free to add it to the wiki, and modify it as much as you need to to fit in with your tutorial.

Also, I know what you mean about the feeling when you look at Valve's maps. I understood the brush work and lighting stuff because I used to map for HL1 many years ago, and nothing much has changed on that front, but some of the entity setups in source had me going "wtf??"

I'm slowly getting to grips with it now though, thanks to a few decent tutorial sites, and a lot of trial and error

Thanks a lot about your line telling things about the texture scale. Before that, I've always done 8*8 custom light texture and the lignt was so bright with a light.rad brightness set to 1. Now I've changed the size of the light texture and by tweaking the texture scale, it does all the work.

I belive their light and light_spot in the observation room has something to do with the light in the test room itself, as in the commentary, they use those windows as a light source.

http://wiki.thinkingwithportals.com/wiki/Observation_Room_Light_Tube_Tutorial

I think msleeper means

http://wiki.thinkingwithportals.com/wiki/Observation_Room_Light_Tube_Tutorial

Hurricaaane wrote:
The refract texture must be on all sides of the brush, and the brush itself needs to be a func_brush, not a func_detail.

Actually, my refraction glass has the observation room side as a nodraw, and the side you see as the glass texture. It works fine. Also, (I just found this out,) to get the lights to really brighten up the rooms, you have to open the light properties, find the variable, (or thing that you can change,) next to Quadratic, and type in 200000. This ensures that the light will cast all the merry way to the opposite wall.

I love how that wiki link just links straight back to this thread

**You can help by wikifying this article from its current location. Make sure to replicate formatting using the Wiki style, and to copy all the images from the forum thread to copies uploaded to the TWP Wiki. **

Yes Hober, I can read, but thankyou all the same. I just found it funny that MSleeper made a huge announcement of it, posting it in a link-breakingly large font, when all it did was link straight back here.