Any Vertex Manipulation Tips? Created 18 years ago2006-01-16 15:38:32 UTC by TawnosPrime

I need some tips on vertex manipulation. Everytime I try to change them to get an oddly shaped object (say a sphere), I don't get a smooth effect like it looks within Hammer, but a rather jagged shape, like the surface of the sphere split and the brushes moved like tectonic plates and made mountains. I'm jus looking for some tips to make my manipulation's look better.

Err tips.. hmm stick to a larger grid-size when you first start using VM, it makes things less messy. If you aren't familiar to VM, maybe spheres aren't the best choice. Pepper has a nice example map concerning spheres if you wanna check that out to get some pointers. Other than that, the only advice I can give is practice practice practice. At first VM is confusing, but once you get used to it, it is very powerful.

Read the Help file in Hammer on VM. It gives you everything you need to know. Likew CTRL+F for splitting faces and other shortcut keys that activate stuff you can't with a "menu".

Don't go too over the top with VM - if you can do it by Clipping (either splitting the brush in parts [ click the Clip tool twice ] or cutting bits off)

Yea.. that's right: Brackets nested within brackets.. i went there.

If you don't know the basics yet, read this tutorial first.

But I agree. Occasionally, the appearance of the brush is different from within the editor and in-game.

The basic rules for vertex manipulation are simple, though sometimes a little hard to keep.
First, a brush must always be convex in order to be processed correctly by the compile tools.
Second, every face must be completely flat. The opposite of this would be a bended face, one with two normals (two directions, so to say). Hence the co-planar face error.
Third, there may not be two faces who have the same normal, that is, the same direction. These should be made one face, or you should use multiple brushes in such occasions.

For complex or odd faces, using triangular faces is a safe way to avoid most problems.

Thanx for the help guys.

I've posted a problem map for everyone to look at to see my most common problem w/ vertex manipulation.

http://twhl.co.za/mapvault_map.php?id=3641