Beginner Tutorial
From FleshWorks
Contents |
The T3ed Beginner Tutorial
This page should be able to get you started fairly quickly, providing the information you need to know.
The first thing to point out is that there is only limited similarity with UnrealEd. This can cause initial confusion for those used to working with UT2004, for example.
A quick intro to T3ed's interface
When you first get T3ed to start up, you should be seeing the following [interface] (1024×768). Note that you may need to close down the texture browser, as it usually opens up at first. Initally it looks confusing to those unfamiliar with game development tools. There are four viewports - a standard arrangement for 3D modelling software like discreet's 3D Studio Max or Alias Wavefront's Maya. 2D wireframe views from the Top, Front and Side, and one 3D viewport for a realtime preview of the result. Each viewport has a toolbar at the top, like this:
The icons allow you to switch between various views that you will get to know as you progress. By default the 3D viewport is set to Texture Usage, showing textures on any visible surfaces. For now, leave this as it is. Some screenshot should go here
Viewports, tools, menus.
Getting around in the world
The best thing to do once T3ed is up and running is to load one of the production maps. These should have ended up in the Maps folder when you installed the editor content. Be patient, because they can take a while to load. Initially it will look confusing, but the main aim is to get used to moving around in 3D space.
The 2D viewports are simple enough. If you hold down the left or right mouse button and drag about, the viewport will scroll about. Hold down both buttons and move the mouse up and down - you should be zooming in and out. You can also use the mouse wheel to zoom in your selected viewport.
The 3D viewport behaves a little differently. If you hold down the right mouse button and drag, you look around at your current position. Holding down the left mouse button and dragging moves your camera postition forward/back and left/right. Holding both buttons and dragging moves your camera up/down and left/right.
Spend a little while looking round the level you loaded to get the hang of it.
Making a quick room
Click the "New" button or select File > New from the menu. If you get prompted to save the production level click "No".
You should now have a completely empty world, and you may be able to see a red wireframe box in the viewports. This is the builder brush.
If you can't see the brush, try scrolling the viewports, press B to see if it's hidden, and press 
once to build a fresh cube. Eventually, you should be able to see something like this:
in the 3D viewport. This is the standard 256×256×256 cube. Try subtracting it by pressing 
, Ctrl+S, or by selecting Brush > Subtract from the menu. You should end up with the following:
If T3ed crashed, go to Graphics Card Issues for help. If not, we can continue... Now the first time you subtract the builder brush from the world you will get the rather ugly texture on the surfaces. Manouver yourself into the cube and look around - you'll notice that you can only see one side of each surface. At this point we could try applying a texture to the wall.
Moving Things
Let's move the red builder brush out of the way. To do this, left click on the red square to select it. You can do this in any viewport. Then hold down ctrl and the left mouse button. Now drag the mouse and the cube moves! In order to rotate (You can only do this in the 2D views) you must hold the right mouse button instead.
Creating another, identical room. The quick way
With our red builder brush out of the way, you can now see the yellow cube that is exactly the same size as the red builder brush in the 2D views (you may have to move your view). This yellow cube is also visible if you set the 3D renderer to wireframe mode, more on that later. The yellow cube represents a subtracted brush. Added brushes (see later) are a purpley-blue.
- Right-click the yellow cube and a menu appears. Select duplicate.
- In the top-down view, move the yellow cube and you'll notice you've left another yellow cube behind. Magic!
- Move this new yellow cube that you have selected (in the top-down view) 1 foot (16 units, the standard grid square) below your original cube. You now have two cubes, seperated by 1 foot of space. These are two rooms.
- Press the "rebuild" button (the button with the picture of a cube and a light, it is located in the menu in the top, on the right, near the joystick button) and you should be able to see them both in the 3D view.
Creating a corridor between two rooms
Let's create another room between our two current rooms. This will be a doorway between them. On the left there is a menu, about halfway up there is a selection of buttons of various different shapes. These are the builder brush primitives. We're going to make another cube, so let's right-click on that cube picture in that menu. A new menu should have popped up. This allows us to change the exact dimensions of the builder brush. At the bottom there is a drop down box, next to the word "units". Choose "UNITS_FEET" (it's easier to work with). Now change some of the values. The average hight of a doorway is about 8 feet, so for the value "Height" (the Z value) enter "8". The doorway should be quite narrow, so we'll go with 4 feet wide, don't worry Garrett can fit in that space. Change the "Width value to "4". Finally we know the gap betwen our two rooms is 1 foot, so we'll set "1" for the "Breadth" value. Now click "OK"
OK, move the new red builder brush in the top-down viewport(should be a lot smaller) over between the two yellow rooms so that the edges of the red cube are exactly touching the two yellow cubes. If the cube is the wrong way round just rotate it! Remember, this is done in the exact same way as moving it, except you hold the right mouse button instead of the left mouse button. Now select the subtract button, just like you did before (you may need to rebuild again) move the camera around in 3d view until you can see and voila! there is now a rectangle-shaped hole in the wall of the two cube rooms and through it, you can see the other room!
