| Shaping Updated 29 Nov 2005 | Upper levels: - QuArK Information Base - 1. Introduction to QuArK - 1.8. Terrain Generator in QuAr...

1.8.4. Shaping | [ Prev - Up - Next ]

Shaping is the process of creating a terrain by moving the up and/or the down face of adjoining polys that make up the terrain surface. QuArK provides two vary powerful tools for you to work with in this process. The Basic Selector which will move both large and small areas of the terrain surface in a single operation. The Touch-up Selector that concentrates more on detail by selecting and moving a single vertex of a primary face and any other adjoining face that has a vertex that shares the same location position as the vertex that has been selected. It can also move the single primary face by its self. As a general note, none of the Terrain Generator Selectors or the Texture Applicator will have any effect on terrain surface areas that are placed in a separate folder that is hidden by using that function which can be accessed using the Edit menu-View Group on QuArK's main Menubar or by clicking the LMB, with the mouse cursor over that particular folder and selecting Group is hidden from the pop-up menu. This feature is especially useful when working on terrain areas that are close to, above or below other sections of terrain.

Index

- - Basic Selector & Dialog Box (06 Nov 2005)
- - Touch-up Selector & Dialog Box (06 Nov 2005)
- - Other Vertex Movement (29 Nov 2005)

Basic Selector & Dialog Box | cdunde - 06 Nov 2005 | [ Top ]

To start the actual shaping process you need to click on the Basic Selector button of the Terrain modes tool bar, which is shown here on your right. You can also use its Dialog Input box by clicking on that button, just to the left of the selector button, to add variation to its shaping. |
Then in the Top View of the editor hold down your LMB and drag across the desired faces, area, you wish to start creating the terrain shape from. As you are dragging you will see a red rectangular box that will indicate the area you are selecting. Once the area is surrounded, let go of your mouse button and all of those up faces will turn red, indicating what has been selected for movement or pulling. Once a selection has been made like this, you can then activate the Selector Dialog Input button just to the left of the Basic Selector button. This will bring up this particular selector's dialog input box. This Basic Selector Dialog box is only used by the Basic Selector button. As future selectors are added, they too can have their own dialog box that will relate to their particular features. This and other details about the Selector Dialog Input function and the Basic Selector are covered on the 'Menus and Toolbar-icons' page. |
The Basic Selector Dialog box is used to change the way the terrain will be created as a pull is taking place by entering two sets of values per input window. The first value being a percentage factor, which is applied to the second factor, and the second amount in units that will be added or subtracted from the actual movement. The dialog box can be dragged to any location by placing your mouse cursor over its blue title bar, holding down the LMB and moving it. It can also be resized like any other window and it will remain open and on top of the editor for your use until you click on the X button to close it. The first time you use the dialog box it will have default values already set in it that are also the default settings for that particular Terrain Selector. Once these settings are changed they are stored and saved to keep them the same until you change them again in another session of QuArK. With that covered, you are now ready to drag and shape your terrain. The dialog box can remain open or closed during this process. It is best to use the editors Side or Front View to do the actual dragging of the terrain. Although both, the dragging and selection process, can be done in any of the 2D or 3D views. However, you will notice, if you do your dragging in the 3D views, that it will be much slower and jerky in appearance.
Place your mouse cursor over the center blue movement handle and holding down the LMB slowly move your cursor towards the top of the editor view. You should now see your terrain taking shape as you move your mouse further. If the size and amount of terrain you are moving is not too large, you will also see the changes in all of the other views, including the 3D views, as well. If not, briefly pausing, without releasing the LMB, will allow the editor to catch up for the redrawing of all of the views. This is the process that QuArK has to go through and why, sometimes, you may not see movement in the other views while you are dragging. One other item about dragging. If the 3D view should become distorted during a drag, you can usually clear this up by pressing your Tab key a couple of times. This is the Default Hot Key to cause all of the views to be redrawn. This can also be done while you are dragging if need be. Control of your mouse movement is the key here! Because of the way that QuArK processes terrain movement, the mouse curser will not remain on the center handle, but will tend to drift above or below it, depending on which direction you are dragging. This is normal. There is also a delay in movement reaction by the editor, for the same reasons, which can sometimes cause a run away effect to the terrain you are dragging. If this should happen, simply stop moving your mouse and release the LMB without canceling your terrain selection. Then click on the center handle again and slowly start your movement in the opposite direction. This will stop the run away movement all together and reset the handle co-ordinances to react properly once again. If you are unable to use the stop and restart method because things have just gone too far already, then use the Edit menu Undo / Redo... function which will usually take you back to a safe point from which you can start from again. For these reasons I highly recommend that you save your work and/or make a backup copy as you reach critical stages in your map editing process.
These three buttons of the toolbar are the Face Conversion buttons. This is a very unique feature of the QuArK Terrain Generator that allows you to shape your terrain from the top (up faces), bottom (down faces) or both at the same time by simultaneous movement moving in the same direction at the same time. |
Once again the buttons are designed for easy recognition as to exactly what each one of them does. This is demonstrated in the side view screen shots below where the selected faces are highlighted in red with the movement handle centered on the group selected.
And their corresponding 3D Textured views dramatize this even further. The first denotes standard surface treatment for a hill or mountain, the second could be textured to represent stalactites hanging inside of a cave and the third puts both of those elements together to create that mountain and cave. By isolating your down face selections in various locations and pulling them downward, you would then create those stalactites throughout your cave.
By using both sides of your terrain sections in this manner, you can create some dazzling effects while keeping your poly count to an absolute minimum, which is a very important element of any game mapping. And, by using different sections of terrain of different grid sizes, smaller ones for nice detail work and larger ones for general coverage, this will assist you even further to maximize your surrounding effects while still remain efficient in your map creations.
Another very nice tool is the Adjacent Faces Selector button. The function that it provides is that of selecting one particular face, either up , down or both, and then ,by clicking this button, having all of the adjoining faces that it touches added to your selection automatically. |
This can create some very nice random and staggered effects to your terrain as illustrated below. Here, using just a slight amount of drag, we have created a rugged effect. Then by merely adding some grass and twig texturing to the flat area and fair size boulder texture to the random area, we have just given our surroundings a nice look with very little effort. Thank you Rowdy!
The selection process it self is also different for a very specific reason. Where the QuArK Standard Selectors will select any poly that it touches, the Basic Selector will not. Instead, it only selects a face if the center point of that face is within the selector's red rectangular selection box. It was designed this way so that odd and ill regular selections could be made.
Another nice feature of the Basic Selector is its ability to select only surface faces to aid in the process of texturing the terrain. More on the subject of using the Basic Selector for texturing techniques is covered on the 'Texture' page.

Touch-up Selector & Dialog Box | cdunde - 06 Nov 2005 | [ Top ]

The Touch-up Selector button of the Terrain modes tool bar is used for detail terrain shaping. Its combo Dialog Input box can be brought up by clicking on the Selector Dialog Input button, to the left, that will give a wider range to its selection ability when needed by using the Variance setting. |
On closer inspection of the screen shot to the right you will notice that the face closest to the front and right hand side does not exactly align up with the other faces at their common vertex point at the top where the dragging handle is located. Yet, we were able to move that face by setting the Variance to 6 units of closeness and therefore its vertex was included with the rest of the group. You will also notice that this particular face was not fully outlined like the others. That also tells us that its common vertex is off from the others and needs special attention, as we have done, to be included in the dragging process. The yellow outlined face is the primary face that the drag handle, dark blue, is attached to and the red boxes are its stationary vertexes. The reason this particular face is outlined in a different color is to distinguish it from the other faces of the common group for movement of the primary face only (see below). |
Special Key Options: Alt can be used to select the primary face for its individual movement. However, this application may not always work. To apply this function, hold down the Alt key and select its movable vertex, shown in dark blue, by pressing the LMB. Then you must release the Alt key before starting the drag or it will become unselected and will not be moved. If the first attempt is not successful, try panning in the 3D view to a new location that will allow you to obtain the selection correctly. Ctrl to force the face vertexes to snap to a point on the grid for re-aligning them. Hold the Ctrl key once the drag has started. Shift while holding the LMB will allow panning in the 3D view to see your work from a different direction and inspect changes. Using the Color Guides: Sometimes the Color Guides can be very helpful and other times be a bit obstructive when you are trying to see the results of your work. Because of this, a number of different options are available for better control of their use and display in the 3D views. As covered in the 3D views Options Dialog Box section there are Color Guide settings for each type of 3D view that QuArK has to offer and that work in conjunction with the Color Guide in the Touch-up & Paint Brush dialog box shown above. In addition, selecting the faces in an area you are working on will add further dimension and assistance in determining exactly where the common vertex points are on the terrain surface by outlining those faces in red creating a grid effect. (view 1 below) Once a selection has been made, the redline grid will disappear and only the selected faces will be outlined. (view 2 below) As the drag is made by the dark blue drag handle, another in green will show where the drag started incase you decide to return to that position to cancel the drag. (view 3 below) This comes in handy in very complicated or detailed terrain. After a drag has been completed, the redline grid will reappear including the faces that have been moved. (view 4 below)
With all of the Color Guides activated (checked) the entire color scheme will be displayed. (view 1 below) If the guide is un-checked on the 3D views Options Dialog Box, for that particular 3D view, then only the primary face will be outlined in yellow with its dark blue drag handle and red stationary vertex boxes showing. (view 2 below) When it is also un-checked on the Touch-up & Paint Brush Dialog Box then only the dark blue drag handle will be shown. And finally, if the Red faces options is un-checked for that view on the 3D views Options Dialog Box as well, then even though the surface area is selected in the 2D views, the redline grid will not be displayed in that particular 3D view. (view 4 below)
The examples and screen shots given above only involved the up faces for the terrain surface, but the same application applies to the down faces as well. The only difference is the color of the drag handle, which is Aqua and the outlining of the common faces which will be done in blue. This, like the Texture Applicator, is done to help you identify which one you are working with and especially so if you are dealing with both at the same time. I also wanted to show a little different combination of the Color Guide settings in the two center views below as an example of some of the other variations that are possible.
The Touch-up Selector has one more marking feature that is unique to this tool and that involves the Undo/Redo function. Not all drags go as expected or the appearance is not one that is desired. What ever the case may be, each drag will create an undo instance once it has been completed, making it simple to just click the undo to reverse that action. However, because it is easy to loose the face(s) that were involved to start with and further work on that area might be desired, those items will now have a darker appearance to them in the 3D views and will remain that way until you make another selection of faces or click any where in any 3D or 2D view, restoring their original appearance. As long as the undo marked area is allowed to remain, you can continue to work on other areas using the drag function and those new areas will be identified by their red line outlining. Additional new drag areas will also have their faces outlined in red as well. |

Other Vertex Movement | cdunde - 29 Nov 2005 | [ Top ]

Another very useful tool, but not really part of the original Terrain modes tool bar, is the vertex movement function and its HotKey options. This was originally created to be used for standard polys but will also apply to any terrain poly as well. To activate this feature simply select, click on, any part of a polys body. This will cause it to be outlined in white and give it small white circle vertex handles. Place your pointer over one of these handles and hold your LMB to drag that vertex. Three optional HotKeys can also be used in conjunction with this feature and they are: The 'n' key : This allows the movement of only ONE vertex and may add additional faces to obtain the shape. The Ctrl key : This will cause the vertex to snap to the grid. The Alt key : This allows only one face to move. It appears like you are moving the vertex of the polyhedron. In this case be aware that you might not always get the expected results, because you are not really dragging the vertex, but just rotating the adjacent faces in a way that simulates the vertex movement. If you move the vertex too far away, it might just disappear. One other important factor to remember is that when using this function it can pull the poly away from other terrain surface polys since it allows you to move on the Z plan as well, unlike the Touch-up Selector that only allows movement on the X and Y planes. |

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