Prefab Slopes (Tunnels, Domes and Pits) Prefab Slopes (Tunnels, Domes and Pits)Prefab Slopes Creation and Insertion
Basic Tunnels, Arches, Pipes, Domes and Pits are easy to make using the interactive slope prefab drawing Tool. Although primarily geared towards ZDOOM slope linedef types, you can also use them in regular DOOM/BOOM and there they will make stepped areas approximating the same kind of object. The difference is only that ZDOOM shows a smooth angled floor or ceiling, while DOOM has stepped areas. Sometimes even in ZDOOM mode, you may want to get rid of the slope Linedef types to make a cool looked stepped pyramid.
These objects are made using the File Object menu, pressing F9, right double clicking or using the Tool bar buttons. The F9 menu items with the words (prefab) bring up a dialog from which you select object attributes, like size and textures. The F9 menu items with the words (direct) do not bring up a dialog and immediately activate the prefab tool selected.
The dialog allows you to select the initial parameters for the Slope Prefab. After the prefab tool is activated, you can alter the dimensions originally chosen by pressing PageUp/Down, Home/End, Ins/Del depending on the object. Press F1 to see a list of the interactive commands available to shape the object.
Press the Left Mouse button to start drawing. Pressing the right mouse button will drag the object anywhere on the map (before they are formally committed). Press the Left mouse button again to accept the object as show. Then repeat or press the Right Mouse button to stop (or press Esc, Cancel, L, S, T or V ).
Press and hold the Right Mouse button to drag the Tool anywhere on the Map.
Drawing Overview
Sloped prefab creation sector attributes are determined by the cursor location. This determines if you are inside or outside of a sector. So moving the prefab object around will automatically change the default objects sector attributes.
Normally all the objects are created inside a sector. You can make it outside a sector with appropriate editing changes made to sidedef and sector values afterwards.
No part of the created object may cross any existing lines. After the object is made you can Drag the object (hold the right mouse button) to the correct location and release the button to place it. However, it must stay within the boundary of the original sector or else the sector references may not match and this may result in Sector not Closed messages.
Some unusual shapes can result in sector not closed messages or can result in incorrect sector assignments in tool drawing modes. If you visually inspect the area and find no mistake, you're OK, it's just a byproduct of using integer arithmetic.
Remember, you can change the sizes interactively. Press the Left mouse button to accept the object and DeePsea automatically inserts the Vertices, LineDefs+SideDefs, and Sectors where shown.
Arch, Pipe and Tunnel
These objects are basically all the same. They look as the name implies
An Arch starts from the floor and makes a curve.
A Pipe is an arch that makes a complete circle.
A Tunnel is the same as an arch, except the two sides are straight up for the distance seleced.
Parameters:
# Sections - The number of sections used to create the object. The more sections, the better the approximation.
Separation - The side of each segment. The smaller the segment, the better the approximation.
Width - The width of the object. The length is determined by #sections times separation.
Tunnel Side- The height of the sides of the tunnel.
Initial Angle - Orients the object.
By altering the heights after the object is made you can easily decrease the strength of the arch or make it steeper. The easiest way to do this is to use the shift+Home and shift+End keys to change the floor and the shift+PageUp and shift+PageDown keys to change the ceiling.
Dome Floor, Pit Floor, Dome Ceiling, Dome C & F
These objects are again all basically all the same. Their basic appearance is a sloped raw geometric object than can be tailored to a specific look (see below).
A Dome floor starts from the floor rises making a bump.
A Pit floor starts from the floor and sinks down making a hole.
A Dome ceiling starts from the ceiling and sinks down.
A Dome C & F creates both a celing and floor object.
Parameters:
# Sides - The number of sides used to create the object. The more sides, the rounder it appears.
Radius - The size of the object.
Height/Depth - The height of the bump or the depth of a hole.
# Sections - The number of subsections to make.
Initial Angle - Orients the object.
Dome&Pit Flat top - Check this box if you want to top of the object to be flat.
You can create anything from a triangle to a 200 sided polygon. By altering the heights after the object is made you can easily decrease the steepness or look of the object. The easiest way to do this is to use the shift+Home and shift+End keys to change the floor and the shift+PageUp and shift+PageDown keys to change the ceiling.
The tool makes a basic object that is easily modified for a particular effect. For example, if you made a 4 sided object as a Dome with 1 section, then what you get is a pyramid (if you checked the Flat option, the top is flat, otherwise it’s a peak. Now if you made it into 10 sections, you can alter the heights of each section to make a rising object that gently curves or you could make it rise and then sink into a pool, making a crater appearance.
The tool takes all the busy work out of making the object, but it is up to you to shape the final result.
We suggest you make each of these objects in a sector, see what they look like and then modify the sector heights to see what you can do. The XTHEATER level at www.sbsoftware.com has a whole area designed with these prefabs.
If everything is aligned on the grid then snap to grid helps you. If not, turn snap off.
Fix any missing textures as appropriate. This displays on the bottom panels as missing.
Please review Design and Shaping of Areas for more design information.