Portal - Tutorial - Security Camera

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January 2024

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← Portal Level Creation

Skill Level This tutorial expects you to have this amount of knowledge within the topic to follow along smoothly.
Novice	Familiar	Competent	Proficient	Expert

As you have most likely noticed, scattered about the Aperture Science facility are cameras which follow you and are detachable from the wall by placing a portal behind them. Using this tutorial you can put them in your map.

Creating the model

1. Choose the Entity Tool (Shift + E) and in the dropdown box, select npc_security_camera. Then simply place the camera where you want it placed on the map.
2. Give it a name like "cam1" and set the World Model to models/props/security_camera.mdl.

Making it fall

The following is only necessary if you have placed the camera on a wall where portals can be created.

1. Create a 4w*4l*2h brush using the tools/toolsinvisible material. This brush should just cover the base of the camera where it connects to the wall. (Making it too large will cause your camera to fall off even when the portal doesn't touch it.)
2. Make this brush a func_portal_detector.
3. Under Output add the following:

Outputs Placed in the trigger:

Object outputs: func_portal_detector

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnStartTouchLinkedPortal	cam1	Ragdoll	<none>	0.00	Yes

Conclusion

The camera will automatically follow the player around and when a portal is put behind it, fall to the ground. It also automatically leaves a mark on the wall where it was. You can also have it trigger a scene by GlaDOS if you follow this tutorial.

See also

• Portal Level Creation