Counting units? Created 19 years ago2005-08-08 15:28:38 UTC by fragers

Sorry if this sounds nooby, but there are tons of tutorials out there that state you should make things certain units. Is there a secret hidden tool in hammer to count units of a brush, or are we supposed to click that button to make the grid small to count every fricken unit my eye?

I've been mapping my whole life with the eye trick and have gotten sick of it.

Thanks,
Fragers

Look at the status bar at the bottom of the Hammer window, you'll find all the dimesions of anything you're working on there.

boy i'm sorry for you :/ counting every unit... First day i started to map that happened to me too Next time be more observant

counting with eyes is the ONLY way to make things look good
if you use the units all the time you end up with a very lame
map evey time, use you a barny as your guide and make things
look good in relation to the barney!!

But things can get somewhat inaccurate that way if barney isnt put on the ground exactly to it. Besides, what if you made a vent? How would you be able to do it then? Making it something like half the size of barney wouldnt be accurate.

When i first started mapping to measure units i'd make a cube then hollow it outwards. You get to put in how many units you want hollowed outwards, i put 32 units and then used that as a scale to measure stuff. Worked for me. Although i dont usually use it much now.

EDIT: As mephs said it would be wise to use the status bar at the bottom of hammer.

counting with eyes is the ONLY way to make things look good
if you use the units all the time you end up with a very lame
map evey time, use you a barny as your guide and make things
look good in relation to the barney!!

There's a big difference between making a well proportioned map and a killbox, if thats what you were implying. Of course people don't sit with a calculator and deside they want a map exactly 3028x1964, but if you don't stick to certain rules you get leaks, playing with vertices screws up, and jumps would be impossible, vents would be too small, in short, a mess. I actually made a simple prefab with the different heights, and I move it around like a ruler. A slightly more accurate version of mapping-by-barneys.

i still think i get very good results!!hehe

http://photobucket.com/albums/y166/seadao/

http://twhl.co.za/tutorial.php?id=40 gives a lot of important dimensions.

The dimensions give you minimum heights and widths to start with but, as mentioned above, the size of something has to look right in its surroundings.

Actually, HL uses multiples of 8 when it comes to textures. If you stick to that, then you dont have to do things like using the FIT tool.
For example:
8 units is used in a lot of little trim textures
16 units is the normal height for a section of stair.
32 units is the height of railings
64 units is the normal size for crates
128 units is the height for walls...

Powers of 2 are somewhat easier to handle for computers, which is why they're used so often.

Changing the grid size is a reliably method as well. The grid size is displayed somewhere in the lower bar, so counting units shouldn't be too difficult. Be sure to have snap to grid on (it's best to leave it on since you can use the Alt key to move things without snapping them).