one tip i have to speed things up:

when you copy and paste the current triangle, instead of rearranging each vertex to fit onto the last, mirror the brush in both x and y axis. you can now match up any line on the triangle to the opposite line of the previous triangle (that you copied from). this means you only have to modify a single vertex instead of 3. speeds things up a lot. 

make a bunch of triangles (maybe if I'm feelin' frisky, say 12) then I arrange them in the top-down view, then I start moving the edges up and down by using the handle between the two vertically aligned vertexes on one vertical edge of each prism. Yeah it takes a while, but put some good tunes on while you are doing it and it becomes easier. Or the TV on in the background. Or both ;) 

 

 

slide that brush in there... oh yeah, align those vertices, align them good! 

time to apply some caulk 

Thanks for the feedback.

@Ricky: I'm eager to light it as well, but I'm gonna finish up all the brushwork before moving on to entities. I'd say I'm about halfway finished with architecure and layout, so lighting won't commence for a while unfortunately!

@Shambler: Thanks, I'll see what I can do about the ramp. 

I was more just curious about what general sizes he was going for. Cause you could spend ages with a tiny grid size and shitloads of brushes :p 

Brush size too I guess 

 

s'not what I heard :( 

and then you cry afterwards for like a week 

leaking 

those shots look great, Bernsten. Seriously awesome!

I agree with shambler regarding the ramp, although it would probably be markedly less noticable depending how you light it.
Also, that's exactly the kind of architecture which is a pain in the ass to properly execute...
what editor are you using, anyway?

Do many other people here build and light seperately? I tend to do so, but I don't really take the time to light areas well - I imagine many of you light as you go... true? 

the pipes on the left in the 2nd shot might benefit from being the grainless cop texture, or something,instead of the grainless beige base texture. IMHO! 

You dont want to make them too small. I would make them maybe 128x64 or bigger for steep parts, or for example maybe up to 256x256, maybe 128x128 or whatever for more open parts. But you might have parts where you go quite a lot smaller if required, or if doing something really big them you could go bigger. Im just throwing some very vague figures on the table. But doing it 64x64 or smaller is going to be a real pain in the ass if you are doing a large are like that. 

doing a large area like that. 

Lighting and architectural should go hand in hand... in other words building lighting features into the architecture. That way you can get some really cool effects, instead of just adding lighting in as the afterthought. 

I'm using QuArK.

I might start lighting everything I've made up until now, actually. It'd probably be great for motivation to finish up areas as they will look in the final compile, seeing as I've had some trouble with motivation recently...

Probably would be a good idea to light it room by room, I guess.
Anybody know if there's a cordon function in QuArK as there is in Hammer? I guess I could just hide everything but a single room and seal it off with a few brushes though. 

been working on map decided to show some stuff hur;

beta graveyard with no graves in it yet
http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/screen_shots/betayard.jpg

pipe with sling-hook at the end to launch you back up top into said graveyard
http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/screen_shots/hookshot.jpg

pipe you travel down to the lower levels,which don't exist quite yet
put wings in the pipe so you don't -5 when you go down
http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/screen_shots/pipeinterworks.jpg
outer pipe elbow
http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/screen_shots/elbow.jpg
door that stops you at the various lower levels, shoot button to drop again
http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/screen_shots/drainstop.jpg

yeah it's a multi-player map 

I light as I go, unless I have a mental image of where the lights are going to be anyway, in which case I just keep blocking out and light later.

Especially with the orange textures method, lighting would just keep one from laying the sma-- brushes down. Hence lighting is done later.

http://kneedeepinthedoomed.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/orange-mapping-part-2/

http://kneedeepinthedoomed.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/orange-mapping-part-3/

When doing stuff like base corridors that have light fixtures built in, like this:

http://kneedeepinthedoomed.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/ofcourse.jpg

I use copy&paste&rotate with the actual lights selected as well, ie I move lights together with brushes.

Sometimes I use just sunlight or just torches, which I usually put in so I can get an idea of the "feeling" and tweak later.

So I guess it's dependant on situation. I don't think there is a "right way". 

I'm not worried about doing things the right way, just interested in how others do it and why they choose to do it that way.

I hadn't seen these posts you did, by the way - didn't you had tried the blocking method either. good read, thanks for posting it! 

So does 2nd TBH ;) 

Overall the orange mapping thing worked OK, it did allow me to build some new areas quickly.

I'm more happy with some other areas though; focusing entirely on blocking out/expanding playable space can result in slightly "faceless" parts of the map (requiring several refining passes later). The alternative is waiting months until you feel "really inspired" and stuff. That's not an option if there is a release deadline sadly.

Ability to rapidly increase physical map size is a good skill to have. Something that exists, even in rough form, >>> something that is only a plan.

Plans/ideas are worthless if not put into practice. Even if the putting into practice requires compromises, this still holds true. Compromises are better than nothing.

Stuff that is released on a deadline, anything that actually gets done, usually is imperfect compared to ideas. It's a trade off.

Worthless philosophy for today.