Revision as of 09:53, 18 November 2011

Tables

Watch out!
Constructing tables here!

Trying to create good looking tables! ...You know, for the articles; but they need to reach perfection somewhere. If YOU feel like it, you can create a table here too, so that everyone can learn, including yourself. You can experiment on this page all day long - just leave your name as the title of the table, so that it'll be more organized.

To do such a thing, you would need to do something like this:

{| class="standard-table"
|+ your name goes here
!Header
|-
|Table
|}

For example:

Mr.p.kiwi 23:43, 31 July 2011 (PDT)
This will be a header	This will be a header2	This will be a header3
Column1; Row1	Column2; Row1
Column 1; Row 2&3		Column3; Row2
Column 1; Row 2&3	Column2; Row3	Column3; Row3

External Links

How to create tables

Behind the Scenes (Portal 2)

This Portal 2 aesthetic theme is featured prominently during the manufacturing section of the singleplayer campaign, and is also used between test chambers and during escape sequences in Aperture Laboratories. It is characterized by unfinished construction and machinery. Catwalks, panel undersides, uncovered light fixtures, exposed wiring, and vents are common. Vast skyboxes are used in Aperture Laboratories to give the player a sense of the massive scale of the facility.

Level transitions are usually placed in short corridors between two heavy security doors.

In-Depth

You can see a lot of tubes transporting various test elements to uknown part of the facility in this theme.

This theme serves really only for plot advancement, so the scope for puzzles is somewhat limited here. Sure, there's the old 'portal over to that wall behind me' to traverse long distances and stretch out dialogue, but making actual puzzles out of this theme without making it feel contrived is kind of difficult. You'll see it done more successfully in co-op maps usually, due to the fact that the plot isn't quite as important and Valve tried to make the theme a puzzle rather than to leave an impact on the player.
The exception to this is if you're making a full-blown mod, maybe even with a story; as aforementioned, these can make nice interludes, and the sheer multitude of destruction sequences available for the catwalks are brilliant for action scenes. Due to the nature of this theme, it is recommended for users with advanced knowledge of hammer.

The vast proportions of Aperture Laboratories allows a lot of free space to exist between test chambers and other rooms used for various purposes. In these in-between areas a lot of 'behind the scenes' work is done; building and testing of test elements. Because of this the theme is more to immerse the player than to be a good puzzle environment, however, using the various 'test elements in-testing-state' as functioning test elements could make it a more interactive puzzle. Most puzzles seen in this theme tend to revolve around momentum, and they do tend to work best in co-op. However, if you have an idea for a puzzle that involves moving test elements, conveyor tracks or exceptionally big momentum puzzles, try going with this theme.

Something that is important to keep in mind when building tests for this theme is that it should look as if it was not designed to be a test. There shouldn't be a solution, as this is not a test, only a way to advance. Keeping the 'tests' look realistic is to make the player break the rules in these parts, like walking on the reverse direction of a conveyor belts, breaking tubes that deliver test elements to other parts of the facility, etc.

Noticeable Elements

Aperture Laboratories is known to solve their problems in the most ridiculous way possible, take the Pneumatic Diversity Vents for example, seen transporting numerous test elements and garbage from one place to another.

Humans, on the other hand, use catwalks as their form of transportation, and these should be connect to every door, button stand or anywhere maintenance might be needed, like around vents and 'quality control' stations. If you don't want the player to explore an area placing destroyed catwalks or locked doors would be a good way to do this without it looking unrealistic.
All other robotic personnel use management rails, which they cannot be detached from.

Pneumatic Diversity Vents

The Pneumatic Diversity Vents are used extensively throughout this theme, as a mean to give further background of the facility and how it is constructed. Serving no other purpose other than decoration their use is very limited; however clever use of them had been seen in the official campaign, such as:

Long plot advancing 'tube ride' sequences
Transporting test elements
Destroyed to deliver gel

The tubes are not aligned to the grid, but rather are bent to every direction. However their construction is rather easy. Before making a pipe remember that you don't need it to make sense, if the tube goes behind a building where the player can't see it there is no need to attach it to anything, just finish it there. Also, when making the tubes notice there are four beams surrounding the tube, make sure they are all aligned with the ones of the next model (that means only 90° Pitch Yaw Roll values).
Now let's start, first create the basic shape you want your vent to have; for example, a long straight line that has a 'T junction' at the end. Now group all the models you used to create you basic shape and rotate them freely so they would look purposeless. That's about it; with time you'd improve upon it.

Tube Rides

In the official campaign there is a part where the player and Wheatley are sucked by a vent and sent through the pipe system to GLaDOS's chamber. This was done by attaching a point_viewcontrol to a 1x1x1 model which is animated to be flying through a very specific set of pipes. Unless you are making a full blown mod, this is not recommended as for the hard work involved in making it.

Todo: Explain the creation process of this

Transporting Test Elements

In some of the maps in the official campaign these vents were used to transport bombs at the press of a button. This is a good way to interactively transport elements in the behind the scenes sections of the game, as normal cube droppers don't fit this theme.

A good puzzle introduced in the cooperative campaign had a vent that sends one cube out of it at a press of a button, one player had to press the button, while the other had to fling to catch it in time.
This map is named mp_coop_fan.

Most test elements in the vents are animated props, but since these are only good for very specific arrangement of the tubes, it is recommended to make prop_physic be transported through the tube with the help of trigger_push brushes that will be placed in the tubes, like done in the Pneumatic Diversity Vent test element.

Gel Dispensing

At some parts of the behind the scenes environment there are vent that transport Gels from the old aperture parts to the newer parts of the facility. Some environments may require use of these gels and like stated above test elements are not supposed to be used in these parts, therefor another way must be found to retrieve the gel. Breaking the tube is one way of achieving this.

Todo: Explain the creation process of this

Miscellaneous tips

These are the main elements that should be used through out this theme:

Huge pillars allowing angular flinging
Long Catwalk rails
Management rails
Pneumatic Diversity Vents
Conveyor Belts
Huge environments
Door
Shredders

there are a number of models designed for this section of the game, in the form of cables, vents and, of course, catwalks, and I recommend you use these. They dontnhave to be anything captivating or dynamic, but a wall with cables makes a lot more sense than one without; there are, by the way, instances for detailed cable Walls and such things; I believe they are in the 'bts/' folder, but I can't remember if that even exists. Also, I would very much recommend you use some of the BTS overlays, such as numbers, 'Turret Manufacturing', et cetera.

@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 Level transitions are usually placed in short corridors between two [[Heavy Door (Portal 2)|heavy security doors]].
 == In-Depth ==
-[[File:P2ManuSmall.jpg|right|thumb|300px|You can see a lot of tubes transporting various test elements to uknown part of the facility.]]
+[[File:P2ManuSmall.jpg|right|thumb|300px|You can see a lot of tubes transporting various test elements to uknown part of the facility in this theme.]]
 This theme serves really only for plot advancement, so the scope for puzzles is somewhat limited here. Sure, there's the old 'portal over to that wall behind me' to traverse long distances and stretch out dialogue, but making actual puzzles out of this theme without making it feel contrived is kind of difficult. You'll see it done more successfully in co-op maps usually, due to the fact that the plot isn't quite as important and Valve tried to make the theme a puzzle rather than to leave an impact on the player.
-<br>The exception to this is if you're making a full-blown mod, maybe even with a story; as aforementioned, these can make nice interludes, and the sheer multitude of destruction sequences available for the [[Catwalk (Portal 2)|catwalks]] are brilliant for action scenes.
+<br>The exception to this is if you're making a full-blown mod, maybe even with a story; as aforementioned, these can make nice interludes, and the sheer multitude of destruction sequences available for the [[Catwalk (Portal 2)|catwalks]] are brilliant for action scenes. Due to the nature of this theme, it is recommended for users with advanced knowledge of [[hammer]].
-Due to the vast proportions of '''Aperture Laboratories''' there's a lot of free space between test chambers and other rooms used for various purposes. In these in-between areas a lot of 'behind the scenes' work is done; building and testing of '''test elements'''. Because of this the theme is more to immerse the player than to be a good puzzle environment, however, using the various 'test elements in-testing-state' as functioning test elements could make it a more interactive puzzle.
+The vast proportions of '''Aperture Laboratories''' allows a lot of free space to exist between test chambers and other rooms used for various purposes. In these in-between areas a lot of 'behind the scenes' work is done; building and testing of '''test elements'''. Because of this the theme is more to immerse the player than to be a good puzzle environment, however, using the various 'test elements in-testing-state' as functioning test elements could make it a more interactive puzzle.
 Most puzzles seen in this theme tend to revolve around momentum, and they do tend to work best in co-op. However, if you have an idea for a puzzle that involves moving test elements, [[Conveyor (Portal 2)|conveyor tracks]] or exceptionally big momentum puzzles, try going with this theme.
+Something that is important to keep in mind when building tests for this theme is that it should look as if it was not designed to be a test. There shouldn't be a solution, as this is not a test, only a way to advance. Keeping the 'tests' look realistic is to make the player break the rules in these parts, like walking on the reverse direction of a '''conveyor belts''', '''breaking tubes''' that deliver test elements to other parts of the facility, etc.
 == Noticeable Elements ==
-Aperture Laboratories is known to solve their problems in the most ridiculous way possible, take the [[Vital Apparatus Vent|Pneumatic Diversity Vents]] for example, seen transporting numerous test elements, and garbage, from one place to another.
+Aperture Laboratories is known to solve their problems in the most ridiculous way possible, take the [[Vital Apparatus Vent|Pneumatic Diversity Vents]] for example, seen transporting numerous test elements and garbage from one place to another.
+Humans, on the other hand, use catwalks as their form of transportation, and these should be connect to every [[Heavy Door (Portal 2)|door]], [[Button (Portal 2)|button stand]] or anywhere maintenance might be needed, like around vents and 'quality control' stations. If you don't want the player to explore an area placing destroyed catwalks or locked doors would be a good way to do this without it looking unrealistic.
+<br>All other robotic personnel use '''management rails''', which they cannot be detached from.
+=== Pneumatic Diversity Vents ===
-Humans, on the other hand, use catwalks as their form of transportation, and these should be connect to every door, button stand or anywhere maintenance might be needed. All other robotic personnel use '''management rails''', which they cannot be detached from.
+The '''Pneumatic Diversity Vents''' are used extensively throughout this theme, as a mean to give further background of the facility and how it is constructed. Serving no other purpose other than decoration their use is very limited; however clever use of them had been seen in the official campaign, such as:
-=== GLaDOS ===
+*Long plot advancing 'tube ride' sequences
+*Transporting test elements
+*Destroyed to deliver gel
-Yep, she's back, and if you're using this theme you want her in it. Seriously; a map without dialogue is twice as boring as one that has it. That said, however, go for the unique quotes; we've heard the 'here come the test results' line millions of times, but how often do you hear 'like an eagle, piloting a blimp'? Even better, go for some of the cut lines that can still be found in the game's files! For a list of GLaDOS lines, see here<sup>[http://theportalwiki.com/wiki/GLaDOS_voice_lines]</sup>.
+The tubes are not aligned to the grid, but rather are bent to every direction. However their construction is rather easy. Before making a pipe remember that you don't need it to make sense, if the tube goes behind a building where the player can't see it there is no need to attach it to anything, just finish it there.
+Also, when making the tubes notice there are four beams surrounding the tube, make sure they are all aligned with the ones of the next model (that means only 90° [[Pitch Yaw Roll]] values).
+<br>Now let's start, first create the basic shape you want your vent to have; for example, a long straight line that has a 'T junction' at the end. Now group all the models you used to create you basic shape and rotate them freely so they would look purposeless. That's about it; with time you'd improve upon it.
+==== Tube Rides ====
-=== [[Panels]] ===
+In the official campaign there is a part where the player and [[Wheatley]] are sucked by a vent and sent through the pipe system to [[GLaDOS|GLaDOS's]] chamber. This was done by attaching a [[point_viewcontrol]] to a 1x1x1 model which is animated to be flying through a very specific set of pipes. Unless you are making a full blown mod, this is not recommended as for the hard work involved in making it.
-Panels are present all around this theme, doing miscellaneous work other than forming the test chamber itself. There are literally hundreds of animations to pick and use from; and if that ain't enough, there are plenty of other panel models to use.
+{{todo|Explain the creation process of this}}
-{{note|Search for animations with 'wake' or 'powerup' in their name in the model browser.}}
-These wake animation are animations specifically tailored for this point in the game, and really give the sense that the facility is coming back to its senses. A good thing to do is scrolling through all the animations, with time you'll know exactly what you are looking for.
-A thing that is important to point out is that on a large-ish grid size, the panels will be recessed two units into the wall; '''This is normal'''. A common mistake is moving them so they are flush with the Walls, and then adding the brush. All this means is that the panel will actually stick out from the wall. On that note, the brush attached to the robotic arm should be 2 units thick.
+==== Transporting Test Elements ====
-Now about those miscellaneous dynamic elements to cover; let's begin with the elements relevant to this theme. One clever little trick is using a [[trigger_look]] to trigger a [[logic_relay|relay]], either when the player looks at it or when a certain amount of time has passed. This relay should start the animation of a panel or a group of panels. You should use it for the player might not look where you intended him to look and he'll miss all your hard work making those panels.
+In some of the maps in the official campaign these vents were used to transport bombs at the press of a button. This is a good way to interactively transport elements in the behind the scenes sections of the game, as normal cube droppers don't fit this theme.
-But panels aren't always attached to robotic arms; some panels are just a brush. This is brilliant for making panels fall of the ceiling into toxic slime pools, which is good for two things. First, it looks awesome, and adds a dynamic element to your map. Second, however, it can be used in a large chamber to draw the players gaze and attention to a certain area, one that they might not have otherwise noticed straight away, perhaps giving them some guidance on where to go, so they can begin with a goal. To do this follow these instructions:
+A good puzzle introduced in the cooperative campaign had a vent that sends one cube out of it at a press of a button, one player had to press the button, while the other had to fling to catch it in time. <br>This map is named '''mp_coop_fan'''.
-==== Step 1 ====
-Create a [[func_physbox]], and texture it as you would to any other rusted panel, useful textures for that are:
-* black_wall_metal_005@
-* white_wall_tile_004@
-* squarebeams_rusty_01
-<sub>@ - a variable, a set of letters and numbers.</sub>
-Attach this func_physbox to a [[phys_hinge]] for maximum effect.
+Most test elements in the vents are animated props, but since these are only good for very specific arrangement of the tubes, it is recommended to make [[prop_physic]] be transported through the tube with the help of [[trigger_push]] brushes that will be placed in the tubes, like done in the [[Pneumatic Diversity Vent]] test element.
-==== Step 2 ====
+==== Gel Dispensing ====
-Add a relay with the following outputs:
-:{| border=1 cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1"
-|- align=left style="background:#DCDCDC; color:black"
-!
-! My Output > !! Target Entity !! Target Input !! Parameter !! Delay !! Only Once
-|-
-| [[Image:Io11.png]] || OnTrigger || func_physbox || EnableMotion || &nbsp; || 0.00 || No
-|-
-| [[Image:Io11.png]] || OnTrigger || phys_hinge || Break || &nbsp; || 2.50 || No
-|}
+At some parts of the behind the scenes environment there are vent that transport [[Gel (Portal 2)|Gels]] from the [[Underground (Portal 2)|old aperture]] parts to the [[Clean (Portal 2)|newer parts]] of the facility. Some environments may require use of these gels and like stated above test elements are not supposed to be used in these parts, therefor another way must be found to retrieve the gel. Breaking the tube is one way of achieving this.
-Don't constraint your self only to the ceiling, one can also perform this trick with wall panels; just don't use a hinge, but use a small phys_explosion behind the panel to knock it off the wall about a tenth of a second after its motion is enabled. There are instances you can use if you find them appealing:
+{{todo|Explain the creation process of this}}
-*128x128_ceiling_panel_fall_01.vmf
-*128x128_ceiling_panel_fall_02.vmf
-*128x128_wall_panel_fall_01.vmf
 == Miscellaneous tips ==
@@ Line 111: / Line 100: @@
 *[[Shredder|Shredders]]
-The geometry should be a lot clearer than in the previous theme; everything should be a bit blockier, and a lot more of the panels are black, also; though there are roughly the same amount of white tiles, the solution shouldn't be obvious. This is really what, visually, distinguishes the previous theme from this one. Don't hesitate to make whole walls white, just so long as black and white are in about equal proportion. If you want, add subtle visual indicator to where portals should be placed.
+there are a number of models designed for this section of the game, in the form of cables, vents and, of course, catwalks, and I recommend you use these. They dontnhave to be anything captivating or dynamic, but a wall with cables makes a lot more sense than one without; there are, by the way, instances for detailed cable Walls and such things; I believe they are in the 'bts/' folder, but I can't remember if that even exists. Also, I would very much recommend you use some of the BTS overlays, such as numbers, 'Turret Manufacturing', et cetera.
 == See also ==

User talk:Mr.p.kiwi: Difference between revisions