Detail brush

[mapmaker]

Another newbie type question, but what is a detail brush? I was reading another thread that said it could lower your compile times by huge amounts, but the thread didn't say what it was, or how you use it.

[mapmaker]

*bump*

[DaviJade]

Here check out this tutorial:

 

http://planetquake.com/qworkshop3/tutorials/detail/index.html

[mapmaker]

I read the tutorial, and that helped a lot, thanks. I couldn't understand half of it though I don't know what a leaf node is.

[DaviJade]

me either. lol

[camp3r]

short answer : detail brushes don't block vis.

 

major uses for them are as you guessed detail items. ie non floor/wall/ceiling brushes.

 

if for example you have some pipes high near the roof you can make them detail for increased compile times. since it's unlikely anyone will ever be behind them to have their fov blocked by them.

[Vorax]

The explanation above is pretty good. An addition, you don't need to detail curves. They are treated like details by the compiler anyways. There are tutorials out there on detailing.

 

- Vorax

[Jesterspaz]

Yeah, details dont effect the VIS process of splitting up the binary tree...

basically, when you start making a map, you are splitting up the binary tree into leaf nodes. The more geometry you have, the more splits you get. The more splits you have, your level starts to chug from all the info it has to parse. The use of hint brushes give you more control of splits. All a hint brush is , is an invisible wall that players can move through that blocks vis. During the VIS stage of compile, it generates a PVS )potential view set. this determines 'potential' nodes any given node can see, if it cant see it, then why render it? The process is rather complicated,i am no professional at it...but if you have any questions , email me, and if i dont know, then i will lead you in the right direction

[mapmaker]

Thanks for the info.

[[LoRD]RaoulHooD]

Just curious, but would adding a hint brush or detail brush in a doorway then stop light from spilling through to the next room? I know that when a map is lit is lights doors in the open position, but this would help a lot if it works!

[mapmaker]

So just to clarify, I should make all my stairs, pillar bases, torch prefabs, etc. detail brushes? Anything that isn't meant to block the player's viewpoint, like a wall or rock?