Hollow Sphere Created 17 years ago2007-02-09 04:24:44 UTC by Raa

hi, I'm trying to create a hollow sphere using this tutorial;

http://www.snarkpit.net/editing.php?page=tutorials&game=HL&id=27

And um seriously I don't think it's capable of being a HULL. Cuz to matter how many times I try and/or how careful I am, it produces leaks at compile.

has anyone actually ever gotten a hollow sphere from that tutorial to compile? Also, does anyone know another method?

It is possible.

I've made a half sphere once (also known as a dome), its in my mod Half-Life: Uplink Extended. I made it from scratch using only triangles. No tutorials involved.

I believe there are many ways to make a hollow sphere, you just need to find the method that suits you.

I don't know about the snarkpit tutorial, but it's defintiely possible, done many different ways.

Try this one by pepper. If pepper doesn't respond to this thread, try PMing him for hints (I don't think his map explains how they're made).

If that method doesn't work for you, you could make the whole thing out of displacement structures or as most people refer to it, out of triangles.

That is, you can make a cube out of 6, 4-side spikes or "triangles", and using these and probably some wedges--made from 3, 4-sided spikes--too. Using this method, you can make virtually any structure with zero errors.

When you're done, NULL the whole structure, and only texture the visible faces. (otherwise, you have some of the faces underneath will show ugily.

thanks for the replies..

It seems every method I've used compiles with leaks. SO... (I feel so dirty), I've resorted to using a box around the sphere.

I'll have you know that Snarkpit tutorial is excellent, and I have produced many a spheres using it.

hollow spheres that don't have leaks?

If you're worried about leaks, then that means the oustside isn't being rendered, so what's wrong with boxing the outside then?

If you do want to see both the outside/inside, then leaks are irrelevant. Maybe it's another story if you want it to block vis. If that's the case, there are maybe other things you could do like impregnate translucent-textured brushes--trancelucent texture blocks vis--at all the seams? /reaching

Try that tutorial again but make sure to use HLFix when u go to compile. Trust me, I had a complex little piece of brush work done on a Goldsource map done b4 I moved on to the superior Source engine, and this was the only way I could compile it like I had it in Hammer. The standard method just wouldn`t work.

Shit how could I forget HLFix!

Just make a big block outside it and cover it all (including the outside of the sphere) with NULL. Engine won't render them.

And make the hollow sphere a func_wall or func_illusionary, so it wont make vis's work any harder.

how does hlfix work?

You know how when something you've built looks fine in the editor, but turns out all askew in-game? HLFix fixes this. (We should really write up a nice walkthrough/explanation for HLFix and put it on the BMHL site, since brushwork is our main focus!)

NinjaGrinch gives some good info in these two mapvault entries:

http://twhl.co.za/mapvault_map.php?id=3641
http://twhl.co.za/mapvault_map.php?id=3669

I use the paramaters, and the .map delete command he uses, and it works perfectly for me. If you have any questions feel free to pm or whatever!

IMO, HLFix is absolutely essential. It makes it much easier/faster to pull of the brushwork you want.

Now I know why you had all those trobles with Hlfix. It's because the tutorial tells to use the Alt+E option! This option completly ignores the grid so you'll have to snap each vertical to grid menually or let Hlfix do it for you. Of course it may not snap them exectly as you like and might create nastly things(even if you wont notice them), but you can't help it, it doesn't know what you want it just does what it knows to do.

I suggest to snap them manually, like what I'm doing now.

rock on, I'll try HLfix. (I just learned about makewad.exe ) I had some unseen results from hlfix before so I labeled it as something not worth using. Maybe I was wrong.

I did'nt know ALT-E moved vertexes off the grid.. That explains a lot! thanks for the posts.

I use ALT-E in some situations, mostly when I want to taper one end of a cylinder.

Say for example you're making a lampshade out of a cylinder, and you plan on shrinking the top vertices to make it tapered. The top of the lamp shade doesn't have to line up with anything, so who cares if the verticies are off-grid.

Manually rescaling the verticies on one end of a cylinder using VM many times will cause invalid solids and/or the "leaf face" errors.

Manually rescaling the verticies on one end of a cylinder using VM many times will cause invalid solids and/or the "leaf face" errors.

Not if used wisly. Usally moving a vertical a 0.25 unit doesn't cause problems. If you can't agline manually then use Hlfix but I can't say it's the ultimate solution for any problem of the sort.

I'm not sure what you mean.