"Triangle" construction

Half-Life HL
"Triangle" construction by Captain Terror
Posted 15 years ago2009-04-15 13:36:49 UTC • Examples • Half-Life
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Name
"Triangle" construction
By
Captain Terror Captain Terror
Type
Map
Engine
Goldsource
Game
Half-Life
Category
Examples
Included
RMF/VMF
Created
15 years ago2009-04-15 13:36:49 UTC
Updated
12 years ago2012-03-04 03:03:03 UTC
Views
3678
Downloads
806
Comments
12
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"Triangles", tetragon, 4-sided pyramid, these all describe the same thing: the simplest brush you have avaialable to build stuff with, most commonly describes as "triangles" in the forums.

NOTE: sometimes it is only necessary to clip a rectangualr brush into two triangles to make an "invalid solid" error and others go away, but sometimes if you have avery difficult shape, you are better off using purely tetrahedrons or "triangles".

It is nearly impossible to get errors VMing with only these brushes. (clipping is another story of course).

To avoid the dreaded "leaf saw" errors on your during VIS Compile, construct your complex detail items and props in hammer entirely out of 4-sided polygons.

Included are a cube cut into 6, 4-sided polygons, and a partially hollow cube created out of 4, 4-sided polygons, slightly contorted.

I would recommend using only the first mentioned, 6-piece cube for your construction, as the weirdly hollow, 4-piece cube is more of a novelty, just showing you it's possible. However, if you can find a use for the 4-piece cube, go ahead!
= )

Hope this helps some people endeavoring to create fancy brushwork in Valve Hammer Editor! Again, DO NOT make your entire map out of these stuctures! Doing so would be highly impractical/unnecessary, and boost your compile time to a unmanageable level very quickly..
= )

12 Comments

Commented 15 years ago2009-04-15 14:17:18 UTC Comment #17442
a 4 sided triangle is called a pyramid?
Commented 15 years ago2009-04-15 17:24:05 UTC Comment #17443
No it's not. A triangle is two dimensional, and a pyramid is three dimensional. A four sided triangle is a geometric impossibility.
Unless you're high.
Commented 15 years ago2009-04-15 17:53:57 UTC Comment #17444
You do mean tetrahedrons correct? Tetrahedrons have 4 corners, 4 faces, but only 3 sides per face.
Using tetrahedrons eliminate the appearance of invalid brushes. It's what i use to make all my crazy creations.
Commented 15 years ago2009-04-16 12:10:22 UTC Comment #17445
4-sided polygon i meant to say!
=)
Commented 15 years ago2009-04-17 05:33:12 UTC Comment #17447
lol ok
Commented 15 years ago2009-04-18 07:04:03 UTC Comment #17448
Yeah, doubling my work time in hammer.
Commented 15 years ago2009-04-18 08:38:24 UTC Comment #17449
Don't bother using triangles, pyramids, tetrahedrons or whatever to make up your level. The number of brushes used would skyrocket and before you know it, you've reached the brush limit.

Also, the leaf saw into leafs is not an error, its just a warning and it can be ignored, as it won't make you map unplayable.
Just make sure your brush work is grid-safe (IE: vertices on the grid) and compile with full vis for the final compile. Its also recommended to use cliptype precise or cliptype simple.
Commented 15 years ago2009-04-18 13:27:48 UTC Comment #17450
Yeah, you would NEVER make your whole map out of these things, just uber-complex stuff like the canopy/cockpit shell to my Jedi Starfighter, or my Klein bottle from the Geometry Challenges..

It is virtually impossible to make leaf-saw errors using these structures, that's the whole point, again, not for your whole map, just for crazy detail items and props! ;)
Commented 15 years ago2009-04-19 08:06:47 UTC Comment #17453
True. :)
Commented 15 years ago2009-04-19 12:40:30 UTC Comment #17454
I use pyramids and similar for walls, ceilings and floors whenever it doesn't mean I have to use more brushes.
Commented 15 years ago2009-04-24 00:47:13 UTC Comment #17460
... Its a Tetragon.
Commented 2 years ago2022-06-03 20:47:56 UTC Comment #104502
No. Trust the engineer (Tetsu0). They are tetrahedrons (tetra hedron - four faces).

A tetragon is something entirely different, it's a 2D shape with four edges (tetra gon - four angles). Squares and rectangles are examples of tetragons.

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