Tool textures (Source)

"Clip" redirects here.

For clip textures, see clip texture.
For the Hammer Clip Tool, see Hammer Clipping Tool.

Tool textures are used, mostly by the tools but sometimes by the engine, to perform special tasks. They can easily be found in Hammer by using "tools\" as a filter in the texture browser.

Tip:WiseClipped - tutorial on using many of the Source Tool textures shown below.

Note:All tool textures that are assumed to be texturing an entity, work exactly like ordinary textures if applied to worldbrushes instead. As this makes them useless for worldbrushes, their visibility as worldbrushes are irrelevant. Also, many tool textures cut VIS leaves. If you aren't texturing an entity, you should tie the brush to func_detail or func_brush for optimization.

General

Name	Visible (if worldbrush)	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to Player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
Areaportal	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Use with areaportals (func_areaportals and func_areaportalwindows). Can be used with other brush entities, such as some triggers.
Black	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (leaves marks)	Note:This is the tools/toolsblack texture, not the halflife/black texture. This texture is often used for brushes that are far away and they are dark. It cannot be lit by any type of light, but is affected by fog color. An example of its use is in the "space" backgrounds during the G-Man monologues in Half-Life 2.
Block LOS	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Blocks the line of sight of NPCs and bots. mat_wireframe 1/2 will reveal that while this texture doesn't block visleaves, it draws crossing polygons, and them alone are capable of preventing the engine from rendering enveloped brushwork. This can be worked around through turning the Block LOS textured brush into a func_brush with its Solidity keyvalue set to a solid state. (A Block LOS func_brush can still be traversed in this state.)
Block Bullets	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (no marks)	Foremost solid to bullets, but also to NPCs and physics projectiles. It does not block all projectiles, though. Projectiles from NPCs such as the acid spit from antlion workers, will still get through. To allow NPCs and their line of sight to pass through, turn the brush into a func_brush with its Solidity keyvalue set to a solid state.
Block Bullets 2	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (no marks)	Only. Identical to Block Bullets, the only difference is that this tool texture doesn't block visleaves.
Blocks Bullets Forcefield	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (no marks)	Only. Solid to grenades. Identical to Block Bullets, except that it uses a $surfaceprop type of 'forcefield'.
Block Light	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Casts shadows artificially. Only used at compile time by VRAD. Does not seal leaks. See more uses here.
Climb_versus	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Only. A ladder only for infected, must be used with func_ladder, otherwise it will be ignored by the navigation mesh editor and Special infected which do not require a navigation mesh to move.
Dotted	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (leaves marks)	A face textured with this texture is rendered on top of all other brush geometry. Furthermore, a brush with Dotted on any face will not block visibility nor cull any face that it touches, meaning that any area enclosed in a Dotted-textured brush will not be removed from the map in any way.
Dynamic Difficulty	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (leaves marks)	Only. Solid to grenades. Tied to the trigger_dynamic_difficulty entity for the game's difficulty system.
Hint	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	This texture is used to instruct the compiler to cut visleaves.
Invisible	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Solid to all objects and projectiles, not solid to bullets. Smokers, Boomers and Spitters can attack you through it, but neither survivors or infected can pass it.
Invisible Displacement									Not actually a texture. It is the backside of a displacement. This side of the displacement will appear invisible, but solid.
Invisible Non-Solid	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Only. Not solid to grenades. Similar to Toolsinvisible, used as a utility texture.
(Invisible) Ladder	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Used with func_ladder in the most multiplayer games except Half-Life 2 Deathmatch. Ladder will not work if used with func_ladder
Invismetal	No	No	N/A	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Only. Creates an invisible texture that shows metal marks when shot.
Nodraw	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (no marks)	Its transparency coupled with its VIS blocking, will create a leak visual effect. Seals leaks. Blocks visibility if used on all surfaces of the same brush. This texture is used very often for brushes that don't need to be textured. (for optimization the compiler skips making lightmap on this texture) Portals can be placed on it
Nodraw Roof	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (no marks)	Only. Identical to Nodraw, the only difference being a separate texture name to differentiate them.
Nodraw Wood	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (no marks)	Only. Identical to Nodraw, the only difference is that the brush with this texture, when hit, it will make wood impact sounds.
Nodraw Portalable	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Only. Identical to Nodraw, the only difference is that Portals can be placed on this texture. Note:In Portal 1, ordinary Nodraw can have portals placed on it.
Occluder	N/A	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Used for func_occluder entities. (This table assumes that this texture is used on a func_occluder entity.)It hides any props while behind a wall with the occluder active.
Origin	N/A	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Deprecated for use in Source maps. (After giving the error "origin brushes not allowed in world" the compiler will fail.) Origin brushes were used in GoldSource mapping to set the rotation origin of rotating entities. It can still be used to override a brush entity's origin when used as one of its brushes.
Skip	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Has no effect on anything. Useful in combination with Hint tool textures. Skip faces are removed during compile, so a brush textured with skip won't prevent leaks. Also useful as a tool in Hammer for grouping, moving and place-holding objects.
Trigger	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Use on Trigger and func_viscluster entities, and Buyzones in Counter-Strike: Source. Also don't forget to move the selected trigger brush(es) ToEntity so you can change the properties. (This table assumes that this texture is used on a trigger type entity.)
White	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (leaves marks)	Identical to tools/toolsblack texture only in white. While the tools/toolsblack texture is perfect dark, this texture shines with white color.

Clips

Name	Visible (if worldbrush)	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to Player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
Clip	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Solid to players and NPCs but not other objects. Solid to infected and survivors. Does not function. Template:CSGO add Clip brush textures with different material types: Concrete, Dirt, Glass, Grass, Gravel, Metal, Metal Grate, Plastic, Rubber, Sand, Tile, Wood Note:Not solid to dropped weapons, but solid to dropped C4 in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
NPC Clip	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Solid to NPCs but not players or other objects. Solid to infected, but does not stop Smokers, Boomers and Spitters from attacking you through it.
Player Clip	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Solid only to players. Solid to the survivors.
Player Control Clip	Yes	Yes	Yes	No?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (leaves marks)	Available only in Source 2006 and earlier. It is obvious that this texture has to be tied to an entity to gain any special abilities, but what entity is not yet confirmed. Seems that it is necessary for func_vehicleclip. (See "player clip" above for the tool texture that restricts player movement.)
Grenade Clip	No	No	No	No	No	No	Grenades only	No	Available only in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Only solid to grenades.
Stairs	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Available only in INFRA. Functionally the same to player clip but allows for steeper angles, up to 63.4349488°.

Sky(boxes) and fog

Name	Visible (if worldbrush)	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to Player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
Fog	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (leaves marks)	Confirm:Does not seem to work? (You can use this for func_smokevolume instead of the trigger texture but NOT for func_dustcloud.)
Skybox	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (no marks)	This texture is used to make 3D skyboxes. Casts light if there is a light_environment entity in the map. Cannot be used in the same PVS as the toolsskybox2d tool texture. Can act like a clip brush. Entities behind a skybox brush can be visible, but if Areaportals are used they can appear as invisible because the areaportal renders them invisible. When touching a brush without a gap in between, the skybox will render the touching surface invisible like nodraw
2D Skybox	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (no marks)	Available only in Source 2007 and later. Use to make 2D skyboxes without displaying the 3D Skybox. Casts light if there is a light_environment entity in the map. Cannot be used in the same PVS as the toolsskybox tool texture.
SkyFog	No	Yes	Yes			Yes		Yes (leaves marks)	The SkyFog texture does not contain any properties. There is currently no existing corresponding Shader called "skyfog". (Generates error `Error: Material "tools/toolsskyfog" uses unknown shader "SkyFog"`.) Confirm:It can be fixed to function properly if it's vmt settings are changed in the Source code and recompiled
Fog Volume	Yes	No		No					Available only in Left 4 Dead and later. Used in conjunction with multiple env_fog_controllers to change fog colours and densities in a level