Cogs? Created 16 years ago2008-07-21 19:11:46 UTC by Kissker

Trying to design a large 'contraption' for a map, need some cogs, but every time I try to shape I get odd errors, so, anyone got any ideas?

Tried reshaping a cylinder - no luck there
Tried adding small blocks and shaping with vertex manipulation- but size/shape and placement was a mess...

Lets just start with a big 16 sided cyl on its side (so its looks like a big circle against the wall) trying to add the 'prongs' so they are same size/shape and will line up with the sides...

The cog will need to rotate on its axis (dead center) and actually move sliding 'against the wall' when activated... but that junk comes later Lol.

Too complicated? I would hope not.. but Iam out of ideas, least for 'easy don't make it 1 prong at a time' methods.

Don't create a cylinder, create a block and than carve around it evenly to make a perfect cylinder. Than make blocks for each tooth and vm them to the cylinder. Than drag a cube around the entire thing and the center of this cube will be the center of your origin.

What Zeeba-G says is the way i would do it too. You might google image some cog pics too to get some ideas to make your cogs look sexy.

Iam not sure I fully understand your method there.... I mean the main part of the cog shouldn't matter if you use a pre-fab cyl or block carve (block carving would take so much longer and be a pain in the butt.) The teeth are the main problem, I can make a tooth, size/shape i want, however rotating and VMing it to the main cyl is the problem, after its done, it doesn't look quite right, kinda wobbly, but each block was the same size to start, so the VM must have made things off.....

actually this particular cog will be a Sliding door. it will be pulled out of its 'frame' then roll to the side. but the same principles are there.

In Goldsrc didn't we make the teeth separate brushes intersecting through the cog? Messy though.

If you can, use a prop to save time. I think HL2 has cog props, or at least Ep2.

dont have EP2 lol. so much for that idea.

i thought about making 'roots' to go into the cog and align to the center, as a temp way, then moving or removing the roots as it were once they were in place.

It's a fairly simple piece or architecture imo, but does hammer 4 have a cog primitive? you shouldn't have to rotate anything imo, plus it's cleaner not to. Maybe show us a picture of what you want?

dunno if i can manage a picture, the idea is from an older game, Fallou2 , I hope to have a functioning Vault/City map done before the Return of the game, in fallout 3 to help bide my time.

The door is the vault door, a large cog like device that moves forward (when looking at it from the 'outside) and then rolls on a track (so the teeth fit in it) into a side wall. the rail for the teeth can be superficial to cut down on Faces, but the teeth still need to align properly.

got a screenshot in game of fallout2 , figured it was the best shot available, this shows the vault door open, the track it runs on etc....
The shot turned out great for what I want, only pay attention tothe 'dark metal' and rusted parts, the major door/frame to it, I kept me around to show size to help scale it better in your head. there are 12 teeth on the 'cog'

wow that is tricky (the door frame anyway) but not impossible. If i had hammer 4 running i would give it a go. This would actually be a good geometry challenge four us to recreate this maybe.

Hey if we make this in hammer 3.x, can you import the architecture to hammer 4? Even if you can't, maybe you can glean some tips from us making this a geometry challenge anyway, and you can "copy" the architecture into your editor.

i figure the door itself will be 3 layers and 15 parts, solid parts, 12 teeth parts, the cyl for the middle, and 2 smaller/shaved cyls for the detail 'outer edge' of the middle parts (note they 'curve')

The frame will be made a similar fashion, multiple parts, 1 layer for the 'far side' wall, then an opening for the door, then teeth grooves and the armature groove (behind the door, what slides it into the wall) the teeth track on the floor will be a solid piece made to look like it has teeth grooves (or if it doesn't lag to horribly bad, actual grooves) the only issue I am having is the teeth- however I think I may have found a solution.

Making a Cyl the same size as the door, I cut it into 'pie pieces' then moved each pie slice to its opposite side, so it looks very much like a Sun. Now I have proper lined up teeth started and just have to 'trim' the pie piece down so its not so pointy. No VM needed, and no fussing to align the edge of teeth to the edge of the Cyl, since the cyl i made the pie pieces from are the same size and same sided.

If i get the teeth working well enough Ill screenshot it and some progress work (i am sure there are shortcuts I didn't utilize but I find trying something complicated like this, shortcuts can curfuzzle things)

The idea came to me literally in my sleep... 'why do they have to be made seperate... and why try for as few parts as possible... group them...'

^^

Easy. You have your main center part, then you make two prongs across from each other. like the one of the far left and far right of the cog. Clone it and rotate it them both at the same time. Having them both selected will put the pivot point in the center. Just keep cloning and rotating until you're satisfied.

Muzzle- Very nicely done man, bravo.

As for myself I get to start over LOL I forgot to save progress and I just crashed. Loller. Oh well, least I LIKE mapping.

Oh muzzle, looks a little distorted on the 'right' side, what happened there? render issue? also on the bottom left tooth.(not picking, just noticed it)

*Edit*
I think i might be having computer problems... I get started then have memory dumps... hmmmm blast.

least I LIKE mapping.

yeah i remember those days

Lol, computers giving me trouble, but thanks to Muzzle and a few hours of Re-working and Re-sizing my door (and subsequent rooms) aren't lookin half bad.

Still need to you know.. turn it into a door.. and junk.. lol but I am using it as a leak-less wall right now.

Thanks again Muzzle, you surely did it in record time, I even knew what I wanted and took longer then you lol.

So the door has been made, remade, and played with... however a problem has happened.

the only way I could get the thing to move like I wanted was to was to set the door to func_rotating, inside it add a func_tracktrain and then set it up to where the door is parent to the smaller train, this way it can move out, then rotate (targeting the door instead of the train) to accomplish this. (Muzzle worked with me on this but...)

Problem is... I would like the 'train' to start when a button is pressed... (and able to close) not when the map starts....

Any ideas?

Func_train.

Add the fgd code on this page to your halflife2.fgd file:
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Func_train
Save it, and make a backup.
Start Source SDK.
Now delete halflife2.fgd (which is 203 kb in size).
Rename your backup (which is 204 kb) to halflife2.fgd and make a new backup of it.

Then start Hammer.
Replace all path_tracks with path_corners and replace any func_track_trains to func_trains.

Now you'll be able to trigger the train.

I told you all about this yesterday...

Yeah but I was hopin to have another way. If something errors and I have to replace my tracks and stuff I'd hate to have to go back in and replace the FGD every time just to get func_train

Why the heck Hammer/HL2 got rid of them in the first place I'll never know. OH well.

Keep this post in mind, eventually I'll have a few Screens and maybe a map download to show ya all. lol.