An alternative to the arch tool:
1. Make a cube, an scale it to the desired outside diamater of your pipe.
2. Texture it with something circular as a guide. (type in "gear" without quotes and a bunch of circular textures will come up) i used
c3a1_gear1. Apply the texture to one face and click "fit" button.
3. Clip the brush down the center up and down, so you have four equal pieces. delete all but 1 chunk.
4. using the texture as a guide, use the clip tool to approximate curve and thickness of the pipe.
NOTE: You may have to lower the grid size (using the
[ and
] bracket keys) to be able to VM or clip to the desired shapes.
5. Clip again into 4 sections.
6. Use vertex manipulation to move create your desired hollow-cylindrical pieces.
7. Clone (SHIFT-drag) your completed section so you have 2 of them. Now, you have a choice to Use CTRL-L, CTRL-I (mirror x and y) or SHIFT-rotate the sections to make a complete cylinder.
My cylinder is not as perfect as Atom's, but it teaches you how to use important tools in hammer. Plus, with a little effort on your part, you can make it almost exactly as good as Atom's example.
download exampleAtom: i've never ever used the arch tool. does it give you vertices off grid?