Two questions about Hammer Editor
 

Hi there!

So, as the title says i have two question about Hammer Editor. These questions are focused in the modeling/texturing process of mapping.

I'm studying Videogames Design (3D Animation, 3D Modelling, UV's, shading... all this stuff) and we are using the software Maya 2015 for the 3D part.

My question is: despite i've always avoided the mixing of blocks in Hammer, (I mean blocks touching each other or one crossing another) i'd like to know if mixing blocks can give me problems on the map using Hammer Editor, compiling it essentially. In Maya there's no problem with blocks crossing each other.

Second question: I've noticed when i looked FF official maps on Hammer that all the faces of the blocks that aren't seen by the players have the "no drawing" texture applied. I'd like to know if there's any reason for that.

I'm planning of make a new map and now that i'm studying all the stuff that are connected with the sector of 3D and games I wanna make it in the right way.

#1 It's best in practice not to overlap your brushes. If you do it a couple times its not the end of the world. But it could cause some compile errors, portal saw into cluster or something like that.

#2 Even though a player can't see the roof of a building the texture will still be rendered unless you tell it not to be. So for optimization reasons its best to apply tool texture "nodraw" to areas that will be rendered but never be seen by the player.

Here is a great guide on optimizing your maps and probably find more info to your questions. Good luck.

http://www.optimization.interlopers.net

Thanks for your help Rooki3!