# BRUSH CONSTRUCTION Leaks are one of the biggest cause of frustration for beginning (and sometimes experienced) mappers. The majority of leaks can be traced to poor brush alignment, especially exterior brushes that sit at odd angles. However, maps that are square are maps that are boring. So let’s concentrate on brush construction. If you want more information on leaks, see the tutorial devoted to that topic. The 1-7 keys on the keyboard quickly change your map grid sizes. Use these keys in conjunction with the ZOOM IN and ZOOM OUT keys (Insert & Delete). There are several schools of thought on the best way to construct a map and the placement of brushes. Figure 1 shows the most common approach: butt joints. # Figure 1 (Butt Joint Method) Another widely accepted method of brush placement is ‘overlapping.’ Many mappers swear by the overlap method, claiming that it can be a cure-all for leaks. Figure 2 shows the overlap method: Figure 2 (Brush Overlapping) One problem with overlapping is textures coming together at the overlap will cause visual artifacts as the player shifts his/her angle of sight. If you're relying on the overlap method because of problems with leaks, this is a crutch to avoid improving your technique. You are doing something fundamentally wrong, such as not using the snap-to-grid, or creating brushes that are too thin, or attempting a design that may be challenging the limits of the editor and game engine. A third method for joining brushes together is "mitering." A tangible benefit of the miter method is seen in large maps, where the mapper can find himself staring through many layers of rooms and hallways. The distinctive joints are easy to pick out in a busy crowd of lines. Although using miter joints offers no more of a guarantee against leaks than other methods, it does indicate that the mapper is careful about his or her project. I use this method for walls. Mitering floor and ceiling brushes just add tedium to the construction process and adds no real benefit. Figure 3 (Using miter joints in map construction) Here is a brush placement style you DON’T want to adopt. Not using the snap-to-grid function, and making brushes with different thicknesses are the hallmarks of a beginning mapper. Slopping a map together like this inevitably leads to leaks, long compile times, and a host of other problems. If the map is thrown together in such a way, chances are, its playability will also be compromised.
There is no way in Radiant to turn off the snap-to-grid. Setting it to ‘2’ (keyboard key 1) will set it to its finest setting.
There are different ways to create rooms, halls, and other open areas. It's really a matter of choice. Regardless of the method you choose in mating your brushes together, make sure you keep a snap-to-grid of no less than 8 (keyboard 4). ### Brush Thickness You maps should be built uniformly. Thick walls (or brushes) make it easier to select for editing. If you’ve got a big map with noodle-thin walls, you’re going to be doing a lot of zooming in just to see where to click your mouse pointer. Then you’ll have to zoom out again to manipulate the brush. Do this a dozen times, and frustration will set in. As a rule, I build all walls, ceilings and floors 32 units thick. If you want to use 16 units, that’s fine. There was an article on one of the many Q2 sites, written by a mapper who built two identical maps, one with thick brushes and one with thin brushes. The thicker-brushed map compiled faster, according to his test. You can read the article here. (Thanks to Gregor for locating this article for me!) There’s no reason to have to cramp your map. Spread things out a bit and slap in some nice, thick slabs. Figure 5 (Thick walls) In Fig 5 above, you can see where I used a 32-unit brush thickness, except where two walls would reside shoulder to shoulder. Here, I opted for a 64-unit thickness to keep my brush count down.
Copyright 1999, by Terry DeLaney. Permission is granted to distribute this file as long as the author receives credit.