The method I
usually use when making complex brushes is to construct something complex out of different
primative objects, then once it is constructed, intersect it and put copies of it wherever
I want this object. This is useful when making an object that will be placed throughout
your level, like a certain lighting fixture or decoration. Wha? Well take this for
example:
I have a city level and I want to put street
lamps all around the level. So I first construct the object. Its always good to construct
the object off somewhere where it won't interfere or touch other objects, so as to not
mess things up. Up in the air somewhere or off in a room in the middle of nowhere is nice.
You can just delete it once you have copied it, or leave it there so you can grab a copy
later.
 
I start in a room separate from
the level, not required, but convienient
I construct my street light out
of different shapes - I use some vertex manipulation
Here is my finished street
light
I constructed my street light from several
primative objects. Notice that for the base concrete block I used a cube, then for the
vertical pole I used an 8-sided cylinder, and I used cubes for the outreaching pole and
light itself. Once the shape was right, I textured it accordingly to a street light with
the textures I have. Now with the first object completed, I proceed to surround the object
with a red brush, then do an intersection as I'm wanting to create a red brush shaped
around what is solid space (I'll exlpain in a minute). After the intersection, my red
builder brush now has all of the properties of this street light object. So, wherever I
want a street light, I can move this red brush and hit the Add Brush button, and viola.
I surround the street light
with a cube that encompasses it, but nothing else I don't want (this is where the empty
room helps)
I hit the brush intersection
tool and the red brush takes the shape of my street light
Now anywhere I move the red
brush, I can put street lights by adding this brush
Ok, there are a few things I didn't really
explain in that go-around. Vertex Manipulation and Brush Intersection/Deintersection.
The next two sections cover these things and how you can use them to create complex
brushes. |
