Pumping Station
Pump
Gel pumps are very distinctive scenery and are found in the underground sections of Portal 2.
Their purpose is to pump gel from the underground reservoirs to the other parts of the facility. They are easy to make, and can add atmosphere and character to a map when used correctly. The prefab contains the set of pipes, along with corresponding sounds, and is incredibly useful if you want to implement a pump in a map of your own.
Construction
Gel pumps can be made using the following props:
- models/props_underground/pump_station.mdl (this is the pump)
- models/props_underground/paint_distillery_tank.mdl (this is the tank on the side of the pump)
Place a bent pipe on the other side of the pump and a straight pipe on the top of the pump and you will get something like the image on the right. The pipes are props and most of them are called 'tube_paint'. There are many different pipes with different LOD settings. Place them in your map and rotate them and move them so they are connected to whatever you want it to lead to. One good example of a pump station is the last pump station in the underground area.
If you have pipes with an "Gel Flow" arrow on it, you can set its color using the Color property of the prop_static.
You may also want to add an ambient_generic for effect. The sound to use is World.DariosTotallyAccurateGelPumpLp, and make sure the is NOT looped flag is unchecked.