I have a brush with an animating texture I only want visible when the player is touching it.

Haven't figured out how yet after looking here and on the SDK site. Any suggestions on how to set this up?

Thanks.

make a trigger around it , just a little bigger than you want sticking out where the player will touch it. Make it a trigger_multiple and add the outputs. The first output should be OnStartTouch -> enable visibility, the second OnEndTouch -> disable visibility

Thanks for the answer, but I'm afraid I'm not seeing the Enable Visibility or Disable Visibility options in the triggers.

Also I don't know how to start a brush with visibility disabled initially.

Use a func_brush for your block and set the "Start disabled" option on "Yes".
Then, you can do what Interitus said, put a trigger_multiple around it, with a one unit shift, check its "client" flag (and only this one) and put some outputs in it :

OnStartTouchAll > func_brush > Enable
OnEndTouchAll > func_brush > Disable

It will make the brush appear when the player touches the wall.

Sigh Using func_brush go into render FX (I believe, I don't have hammer in front of me) and there should be an option like "fade when close" or something. I'll confirm it later.

Tigger wrote:
Thanks for the answer, but I'm afraid I'm not seeing the Enable Visibility or Disable Visibility options in the triggers.

Erm, yeah, I didnt have hammer open so I just pulled those terms out of thin air. Its just enabled/disabled like Nyk018 said, and what Duffedwaffe said might work to help give it a fading effect rather than just disappearing.

I would suggest a material proxy, like the combine force field that fades in when close.

And if you need another solution, the func_areaportalwindow makes a brush disappear depending on the distance.

Holy shit people.

For one, DO NOT USE A FUNC_AREAPORTALWINDOW FOR THIS EFFECT! You will get SERIOUS errors since the engine is trying to render a totally useless and retardidly placed func_areportalwindow, which exists for a very specific reason and has very specific setup requirements.

Secondly, using a material proxy is over complicating the process a bit I think. You can do it this way, but it's not necessary.

Doing the Trigger is probably your best bet. Setup your Outputs for the trigger like this:

• OnStartTouch -> (func_brush name) -> RenderAmt -> 255- OnEndTouchAll -> (func_brush name) -> RenderAmt -> 0
  The RenderAmt Input controls the transparancy of a func_brush, where 255 is totally visible and 0 is totally invisible.

msleeper wrote:
For one, DO NOT USE A FUNC_AREAPORTALWINDOW FOR THIS EFFECT!

Depends on how the wall is built
I did it a bunch of times in my maps without any problems.

The map might compile and load up, but that doesn't change the fact that is NOT how the func_areaportalwindow should be used and, when used in a map with proper func_areaportalwindow's, could cause some big problems.

No problem here :
http://hl.logout.fr/images/tuto_opti/areaportalwindow0.jpg
http://hl.logout.fr/images/tuto_opti/areaportalwindow1.jpg
http://hl.logout.fr/images/tuto_opti/areaportalwindow2.jpg
It's used for what it's supposed to be used, and it acts like a ghost wall.
But well, ok. I agree that it should not fall in inexperimented hands.

Actually that is a totally legitimate use of areaportalwindow. Granted you are exploiting the fade on it to do stuff besides what it was intended, but that's not what I meant. If you make a free floating brush - one that is not sealed on all sides by world brushes - and make it a func_areaportalwindow, you will get problems.

Neat trick by the way.

Enabling then disabling the brush does the trick perfectly. Thank you all for the help.

msleeper wrote:
If you make a free floating brush - one that is not sealed on all sides by world brushes - and make it a func_areaportalwindow, you will get problems.

Yeah, lol, of course.
I thought it was obvious, but I forgot that it's not for everyone.
Sorry