Texturing Trick

Defrag · 03-25-2006, 07:42 PM

Since a lot of people don't know this, I'm just posting it up and adding it to the sticky.

When texturing awkward areas or curves, this is the trick I use the most. I essentially use the adjacent faces to act as a tool for texturing the other parts. I rarely have to rotate textures because they're already aligned for me

The basic trick is to texture the 'straight' part of a brush first and then, with the same face selected, alt-right click the tricky face. Hammer will texture the destination face as if the texture space were hinged at the joining edge, so the texture space is now aligned with the angled brush rather than making you rotate the texture.

A brief explanation of what alt-right clicking does:
It makes a contiguous texture space across faces. If you select one face and then alt-right click another, it will try to bridge the texture across the faces in a seamless manner. I prefer to think of this as the texture being hinged at a common edge bridging source to destination faces.

Practical use of this:

Example: When tackling a curve, texture the part that doesn't require rotations first (typically the 'inside' of the curve), then transfer the texture space from the inside to the outside of the curve. The outside of the curve textures itself and no longer requires those soul-destroying rotations.

It's pretty difficult to explain in words; just look at the pictures.

One
Two

The next bit isn't necessary, so if you don't want to understand why you should use alt-right click where possible (even when you don't really care about making a texture seamless) you don't have to read on.

You should always use alt-right click when texturing around corners or even simple curves. When you're using world alignment, a failure to use alt-right click results in the warping of the textures. The world alignment is always along the primary world axis whose angle closest matches the brush face (you'll probably notice it 'swaps' the texture axis when you're texturing a face and you go past the 45 degree threshold). Long story short: When you're texturing a non-world aligned face using align to world, you're projecting a texture with a smaller scale onto a face with a larger surface area. It causes the texture to get ugly.

In this picture, a world aligned texture is being mapped onto a slanted face. If the face were parallel with the world x axis, it would be 4 units long (see: Green horizontal line). However, the face we're mapping to is 5 units long. What this effectively means is the texture has to be stretched 25% to fit the slanted face (see: Green slanted line along face). Why? Well, the slanted face is 4 units long in the x direction, but its actual length is 5 units, as it also has depth. Hammer won't sort this out for you; this is why the texture will stretch.

Avoid doing this

Either use the face aligned mode, or alt right click from one face to the slanted face to keep the texture continuous and nicely scaled.

o_caesium · 03-25-2006, 11:12 PM

You've just saved me a lot of work

thanks!

o_nezumi · 03-26-2006, 06:39 AM

I always just used a calculator to get the right angle. Maybe this'll save some time.

o_loader · 03-28-2006, 05:04 PM

You use a calculator??

I didn't do anything, I just left them not aligned and put a prop in the way so you couldn't see

o_stino · 03-28-2006, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nezumi

I always just used a calculator to get the right angle. Maybe this'll save some time.

same way as i do, sometimes its faster to use this than alt-right click for the top of an arch for exaple, but my calculator isnt really like the most of yours

i made it specialy for calculations like that, i only have to fill in the number of corners and he will calculate the angle between the side of the arch and the corresponding axis

or i have one on a triangle for little calculations on things that are not made from a regular arch.

**mervaka** · 03-28-2006, 07:33 PM

someone taught me that trick here a while back for texturing the roof of my tunnel.

o_mj · 03-29-2006, 04:22 AM

good stuff

o_fresh · 03-29-2006, 02:18 PM

Nice one, I told this to my friends and he was like WOW!

This was the same WOW we had back in the day of HLDM when we realised we didnt have to create servers called "LOOK TOM HERE <<<<<<<<<<<<<<" because we didnt know how to "connect xxxxxxx

xxx" at the time.

o_sh4x · 03-29-2006, 03:29 PM

Thanks that'll help me for sure!

Mulchman MM · 03-30-2006, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fresh

Nice one, I told this to my friends and he was like WOW!

This was the same WOW we had back in the day of HLDM when we realised we didnt have to create servers called "LOOK TOM HERE <<<<<<<<<<<<<<" because we didnt know how to "connect xxxxxxx

xxx" at the time.

rofl yeah i used to do shit like that

id also go into the in-game chat shit on the server browser screen to advertise the server saying all kinds of bogus shit just to get people to join

o_stino · 03-31-2006, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fresh

Nice one, I told this to my friends and he was like WOW!

This was the same WOW we had back in the day of HLDM when we realised we didnt have to create servers called "LOOK TOM HERE <<<<<<<<<<<<<<" because we didnt know how to "connect xxxxxxx

xxx" at the time.

my friendS, he was

well, i suppose everyone can make a mistake

03-25-2006, 07:42 PM	#1
Defrag Retired FF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Scotland Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	Texturing Trick Since a lot of people don't know this, I'm just posting it up and adding it to the sticky. When texturing awkward areas or curves, this is the trick I use the most. I essentially use the adjacent faces to act as a tool for texturing the other parts. I rarely have to rotate textures because they're already aligned for me The basic trick is to texture the 'straight' part of a brush first and then, with the same face selected, alt-right click the tricky face. Hammer will texture the destination face as if the texture space were hinged at the joining edge, so the texture space is now aligned with the angled brush rather than making you rotate the texture. A brief explanation of what alt-right clicking does: It makes a contiguous texture space across faces. If you select one face and then alt-right click another, it will try to bridge the texture across the faces in a seamless manner. I prefer to think of this as the texture being hinged at a common edge bridging source to destination faces. Practical use of this: Example: When tackling a curve, texture the part that doesn't require rotations first (typically the 'inside' of the curve), then transfer the texture space from the inside to the outside of the curve. The outside of the curve textures itself and no longer requires those soul-destroying rotations. It's pretty difficult to explain in words; just look at the pictures. One Two The next bit isn't necessary, so if you don't want to understand why you should use alt-right click where possible (even when you don't really care about making a texture seamless) you don't have to read on. You should always use alt-right click when texturing around corners or even simple curves. When you're using world alignment, a failure to use alt-right click results in the warping of the textures. The world alignment is always along the primary world axis whose angle closest matches the brush face (you'll probably notice it 'swaps' the texture axis when you're texturing a face and you go past the 45 degree threshold). Long story short: When you're texturing a non-world aligned face using align to world, you're projecting a texture with a smaller scale onto a face with a larger surface area. It causes the texture to get ugly. In this picture, a world aligned texture is being mapped onto a slanted face. If the face were parallel with the world x axis, it would be 4 units long (see: Green horizontal line). However, the face we're mapping to is 5 units long. What this effectively means is the texture has to be stretched 25% to fit the slanted face (see: Green slanted line along face). Why? Well, the slanted face is 4 units long in the x direction, but its actual length is 5 units, as it also has depth. Hammer won't sort this out for you; this is why the texture will stretch. Avoid doing this Either use the face aligned mode, or alt right click from one face to the slanted face to keep the texture continuous and nicely scaled. __________________ Fortress Forever. Level Designer, Gameplay Dude and whatnot. Last edited by Defrag; 03-25-2006 at 08:21 PM.

03-28-2006, 07:33 PM	#6
mervaka A Very Sound Guy! Fortress Forever Staff Join Date: May 2005 Location: UK Posts Rated Helpful 15 Times	someone taught me that trick here a while back for texturing the roof of my tunnel. __________________ Support FF:

03-29-2006, 02:18 PM	#8
o_fresh Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Brum. Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	Nice one, I told this to my friends and he was like WOW! This was the same WOW we had back in the day of HLDM when we realised we didnt have to create servers called "LOOK TOM HERE <<<<<<<<<<<<<<" because we didnt know how to "connect xxxxxxxxxx" at the time.

03-25-2006, 11:12 PM	#2
o_caesium Join Date: May 2005 Location: Oxford, UK Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	You've just saved me a lot of work thanks!

03-26-2006, 06:39 AM	#3
o_nezumi Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: The Peoples Republic of Harmfull Free Radicals Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	I always just used a calculator to get the right angle. Maybe this'll save some time.

03-28-2006, 05:04 PM	#4
o_loader Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Portsmouth, England Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	You use a calculator?? I didn't do anything, I just left them not aligned and put a prop in the way so you couldn't see

03-29-2006, 04:22 AM	#7
o_mj Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: California Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	good stuff

03-29-2006, 03:29 PM	#9
o_sh4x Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Montreal Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	Thanks that'll help me for sure!

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