Unreal To UnrealEd
When Quake was released a couple of years back, it represented
a big step for computer gaming. I'm not talking about the
graphics engine, or the online play. I am talking about the
exandability. You could create your own maps, and you could make
modifications to the game using QuakeC. Quake II further enhanced
the engine with the useage of DLL's in place of QuakeC. Well,
Epic has taken this a step further with UnrealEd.
This tutorial will teach you the basics of UnrealEd. But before
we get into how it works, I would like to take a brief moment to
express why I am so high on this product. Quake has had many
third party editors which were very good products in their own
right. The problem with Quake was the useage of BSP trees which
required hours(even days hehe) to compile a good sized map.
QuakeC and DLL coding makes for great expandibility. The only
problem is that these are totally seperate functions from the map
editor(this isn't actually a problem. It is a standard way of
doing things, and there is nothing wrong with this approach).
UnrealEd is very easy to use. You can be up and creating simple
maps in a couple of hours. The skins, sounds, music, and
scripting language(UnrealScript) are all built in to UnrealEd.
This allows you to create custom code for your maps, as well as
sounds and music which should accompany your map. While
UnrealScript is not as fast as Quake 2's DLL approach, it is a
reasonable approach, and the integration into the editor allows
it to hold it's own.
Now that we have gotten past my personal opinions. Let's get into the actual editor. Before you get editing you need to familiarize yourself with how UnrealEd works. It is quite different from creating Quake/Quake II maps. Quake maps required you to build your world piece by piece, like a model. You would piece together each individual part of the map. The problem with this approach was the cracks and bleeding that could sometimes occur, which kept map designers on the edge at all times. Unreal takes an outside->in approach. The world is a large mass, and you carve into it. Imagine a woodcutter who is given a large block of wood. He must carve out pieces to create an accurate sculpture. This is how you approach Unreal map creation.
Before we get into the controls, you need to learn Unreal's
terminology. First off, there is only one true brush in Unreal.
Quake required many brushes to create a map. But since we are
carving into the world, there is only one brush which connects
all the pieces together.
The term actor is UnrealEd is used to refer to brushes, walls,
ceilings, floors, monsters, lights, items, etc. Many have
confused actors as being similar to entities. While in some cases
this is true, in many others it is not.
There are many advanced features of the editor, and these will
all be covered in due time. For now I wish to cover the icons and
what they do. To change the options for your selection click the
right mouse button and then select properties.
Move Camera - This is the default selection. This
allows you to move the various views with the mouse.
Zoom Camera - selcting this option is
similar to selecting Move Camera, only much quicker. I do not
recommend this option, as it tends to scroll to quickly.
Add Brush To World - This adds the object to the
world. With Unreals outside->in approach this is a tricky
control. You normally want to Subtract from the world.
Rotate Brush - Rotate the currently
selected brush.
Sheer Brush - This allows you to sheer
and edit your brushes. This can be very useful in manipulated
your brushes.
Subtract Brush From World - This
subtracts the brush from the world. WIth Unreal's carving
approach to maps, this is the basis for creating most rooms.
Scale Brush - This allows you to scale
your brush to a desired size.
Stretch Brush - This allows you to
stretch and manipulate your brush.
Brush Intersection - ??
SnapScale Brush - This is similar to the
Scale Brush command, only it snaps to grid points.
Select All Polys - Selects all polygons
in the world.
Brush De-Intersection - ??
Select All Actors - Selects all actors.
Select Actors Inside Brush -
Selects all actors inside of a brush.
Add Special Brush - This is used to
create special brushes with effects such as transparency and zone
portals.
Select None - Deselects all brushes.
Invert Actor Selection State -
??
Add Moveable Brush - Adds a moveable
brush. This can be used for special effects.
Replace Selected Brushes -
Replaces selected brushes.
Replace Selected Non-Brush
Actors - Use this to replace monsters, items, etc.
Build A Cube - Builds a cube brush.
Undo - Undo last action. Undo and redo both keep
track of the last couple actions. So you can go back or forward
more than once.
Redo - Redoes an action after you have used the undo
command. Like undo, it keeps track of the last couple actions for
reversal.
Build A Sphere - Use this command to
build a sphere brush.
Pan Textures - This allows you to
pan(scroll) textures on a brush.
Rotate Textures - This allows you to
rotate a texture for placement on a brush.
Build A Cylinder - This allows you to
create a cylinder brush.
Drawing Region: Selected
Actors- ??
Drawing Region: Off - ??
Build A Cone - This allows you to create
a cone shaped brush.
Hide Selected Actors - Hides the
currently selected actors from the current viewpoint.
Drawing Region Brush Z - ??
Build Stairs - Build a staircase brush.
Toggle Vertex Snap - This toggles the
snap into place function. When selected it allows you to snap to
grid locations. Unselecting enables more precise selection.
Build Spiral Staircase - Creates a spiral
staircase brush.
Get Help - This is currently disabled(no
documentation available).
Camera Speed - Toggles between slow,
medium, and fast camera speed.
Build Curved Staircase - Creates a curved
staircase brush.
Toggle Grid Mode - Toggles view grid mode
on/off.
Toggle Rotation Grid - Toggles the
rotation grid on/off.
Build A Sheet - Creates a sheet brush.
Sheets are useful for water and other special effects.
This has been a brief and overview of the buttons and workings of
UnrealEd. We will be adding to this document from time to time.
If you have any suggestions or comments send them to jcsmith@gameznet.com.