making things outside-ish?

[Kiji8989]

Is there a way to makeit where instead of a room, an actor has a wide open plane to roam in? I have a feeling it has to do with repositioning the actors feet and that "edit sky" thing...but still. Help a noob.

[steven8]

You shouldn't have to do anything unusual with the position of the actor, but you will need a skybox. Also, keep in mind that max six of a level 4000 sq. To make this seem bigger you can scale down your actor and any models in the level.

To make a skybox, you create a big hollow box around your level. Select that box and press the Page Down key. Your box will turn purple, and you will get a Face Attributes box on the right side of the editor. At the top is a series of checkboxes. Tick the one labeled "Sky", then click the "Apply" but at the bottom of the panel. Then, you will be able to click the "Edit Sky" button, which will bring up a box to apply textures to the sky. Six textures, if you have a standard skybox texture set - top, bottom, front, left, right and behind. or you can apply the same texture to all faces, depending on what you want to do. There is a box at the bottom for controlling the rotation of your skybox to make it spin or stop it from spinning. 0.0 stops it from spinning.

*NOTE* the textures you will be applying must be in your txl file for the level.

[bernie]

I didn't know anyone still used a skybox. SkyDome entity is much better.

[steven8]

I still use skybox because I like to have mountains and land and such shown, and the skybox hasn't allowed me to use a texture for this.

[Jay]

It is possible to do thinghs like that with the skydome, but the skydome uses a different uv-mapping system. It uses one texture that is streched to fit the the whole skydome. I have seen a picture of that here in the forums. Everything has to be in one texture only. But as it is only one texture, you could make it 4 times larger (512x512 instead of 256x256 or even bigger) than the original texture and even save memory.

[steven8]

It is possible to do thinghs like that with the skydome, but the skydome uses a different uv-mapping system. It uses one texture that is streched to fit the the whole skydome. I have seen a picture of that here in the forums. Everything has to be in one texture only. But as it is only one texture, you could make it 4 times larger (512x512 instead of 256x256 or even bigger) than the original texture and even save memory.

I tried that once by squeezing a panorama shot down, but it didn't look too good, and a regular 512 x 512 stretches waaayyy out. I don't dislike skyboxes. I sure like the one I'm using now.

[metal_head]

I'm using a skybox too!Skydome doesn't look very realistic to me,because it doesn't move with the player...and I got the feeling I'm inside a huge dome,not outside under the sky ,In modelers corner I posted e topic with skybox textures,you may wanna check them out,they are pretty good !

[Kiji8989]

You shouldn't have to do anything unusual with the position of the actor, but you will need a skybox. Also, keep in mind that max six of a level 4000 sq. To make this seem bigger you can scale down your actor and any models in the level.

To make a skybox, you create a big hollow box around your level. Select that box and press the Page Down key. Your box will turn purple, and you will get a Face Attributes box on the right side of the editor. At the top is a series of checkboxes. Tick the one labeled "Sky", then click the "Apply" but at the bottom of the panel. Then, you will be able to click the "Edit Sky" button, which will bring up a box to apply textures to the sky. Six textures, if you have a standard skybox texture set - top, bottom, front, left, right and behind. or you can apply the same texture to all faces, depending on what you want to do. There is a box at the bottom for controlling the rotation of your skybox to make it spin or stop it from spinning. 0.0 stops it from spinning.

*NOTE* the textures you will be applying must be in your txl file for the level.

Ok, but how can I make doors? *skims manual*

[steven8]

You shouldn't have to do anything unusual with the position of the actor, but you will need a skybox. Also, keep in mind that max six of a level 4000 sq. To make this seem bigger you can scale down your actor and any models in the level.

To make a skybox, you create a big hollow box around your level. Select that box and press the Page Down key. Your box will turn purple, and you will get a Face Attributes box on the right side of the editor. At the top is a series of checkboxes. Tick the one labeled "Sky", then click the "Apply" but at the bottom of the panel. Then, you will be able to click the "Edit Sky" button, which will bring up a box to apply textures to the sky. Six textures, if you have a standard skybox texture set - top, bottom, front, left, right and behind. or you can apply the same texture to all faces, depending on what you want to do. There is a box at the bottom for controlling the rotation of your skybox to make it spin or stop it from spinning. 0.0 stops it from spinning.

*NOTE* the textures you will be applying must be in your txl file for the level.

Ok, but how can I make doors? *skims manual*

I take you need a door so you can go outside?

Doors are made with animated models.

1) Make a brush the size you need for your door, and place it where you want it. Then go to the models tab on the right and click "Add Model". It will prompt you to name the model. I'd name it "Door", or "Door01", if you're planning on making more than one door. Then click "Set Origin", and a little yellow X will appear in the center of the model you just added. Drag that X to where the hinges would be located on a swinging door, or at the edge of what would be a sliding door, and click "Done" (this will have appeared on the "Set Origin" button.

2) Animate your model for how you want the door to open and close, by first picking your model from the dropdown box on the Models panel and clicking "Select". Click "Animate" on the models panel, then drag or rotate your model about a fourth of the way you want it to open (it will rotate on the origin point you just set, like a hinge), and click "Stop Animating", on the same button that had said "Animate", and a small window will open asking for input. You are inputing the number of seconds you want it to take from the last position of the model to the present position you just moved it to. Enter like 1.0. Increase the number each time you move it one fourth of the way there. 1.0, 2.0, etc., until you have the door all the way open. Then, I would recommend clicking "Animate" and clicking "Stop Animating", without moving the model and enter something like 20.0, to give the player time to get through the door. Then animate it in reverse, changing the time to 21.0, 22.0, 23.0, etc., until it is fully closed.

3) Add a Door entity to your level, and assign it to that model. You can set it to react to the "Use Key", meaning that when the player aims the crosshair at the door and presses what your use key is, the door will open, or you can set it to where the player bumps the door and it opens. You can also set the distance within which the use key will work.

Okey-dokey?

[Kiji8989]

ok, thank you for the door but now I cant seem to get the sky right. Is it supposed to be just a blue box?

[steven8]

ok, thank you for the door but now I cant seem to get the sky right. Is it supposed to be just a blue box?

In the editor it only shows as a blue box. When you compile and view in the engine, it will show as you sky. That threw me off at first too!

[Kiji8989]

ok, thank you for the door but now I cant seem to get the sky right. Is it supposed to be just a blue box?

In the editor it only shows as a blue box. When you compile and view in the engine, it will show as you sky. That threw me off at first too!

And I can add a texture? How will I know that I put the texture up?

[steven8]

And I can add a texture? How will I know that I put the texture up?

In template mode, you'll see an "Adjust Sky" button on the left panel. Click this and you will get a window that allows you place your sky textures.

Here is the skybox I used:

http://h1.ripway.com/steven8/islands.zip

They are labeled which face to go on. Up, down, front, back, right, left. Remember, front is North, Back is south, etc. I had to go into PSP and rotate top and bottom each 90 degrees to make it match. Don't know why, but it worked.

[Kiji8989]

And I can add a texture? How will I know that I put the texture up?

In template mode, you'll see an "Adjust Sky" button on the left panel. Click this and you will get a window that allows you place your sky textures.

Here is the skybox I used:

http://h1.ripway.com/steven8/islands.zip

They are labeled which face to go on. Up, down, front, back, right, left. Remember, front is North, Back is south, etc. I had to go into PSP and rotate top and bottom each 90 degrees to make it match. Don't know why, but it worked.

ok, I downloaded most of the pics fro mthe site you gave me. Thank you! (seriously) O.O'

[steven8]

ok, I downloaded most of the pics fro mthe site you gave me. Thank you! (seriously) O.O'

You're welcome. What pics did you download? The link was to a zip file? Should contain 6 images for a skybox.