Legacy:Adding A Block

This page is both:

• a Category:Legacy Basic Procedure tutorial page. It explains how to perform a single procedure which is required in many different contexts.
• One of a sequence of Mapping Lessons.

Overview

The Unreal Engine thinks of the entire Unreal world as solid matter when you start a new map. Once you have subtracted a space you may want to add a small piece back in. This is called adding, because we tell UnrealEd to add a chunk of "solid" material to a subtracted space.

You can not add solid geometry into your Map unless you first place it into a Subtracted Space. Only relevant in older versions of Unrealed, 1,2,3.

Instructions

To create a block in your level:

1. You will need a map with a subtracted space. Subtract a Space

The UnrealEd Interface has a set of buttons running down the left side of the screen. This is called the toolbox and is divided into several groups. In the 3rd group of buttons, find the top-left button of that group is a blue-green cube. (In UnrealEd 2 and later, each group can be collapsed, but normally this group is visible.) Right-click the cube button.

1. This opens a floating window with a list of parameters for the Cube Brushbuilder. Type in the height, width and breadth you want for the block. You can use the mouse to select the fields or hit Tab to move the focus. The numbers are all in Unreal Units.
2. For now create a small cube, make it 64x64x64. For more on using the parameters window, see Brushbuilders.
3. You will now see that the red outline, Red Builder Brush, has now resized to your set dimensions. If you would like to move this object, select it (you should see it turn to a light red), then hold the ctrl button and drag with your mouse.

1. Find the 4th group of buttons in the toolbox. Choose #2 or the one thats tooltip says "add". click it. Before you can see the additive block you will have to Press "build". This action has taken the current shape of the red builder brush, and used it as a template to create a real, additive brush in the world.
2. You should now see a block in your level.
3. The other brushbuilder buttons create different basic shapes, try messing around with adding different shapes to your level. Dont forget to "rebuild" or you may not be able to see the changes, sometimes you will not need to "rebuild" but until you learn when to use unrealed effectively I suggest doing it often.

Rules of thumb

You should not make additive brushes go outside the area which you subtracted.

You should not make additive brushes overlap each other.

These above can cause undesired results in you map I would strongly recommend against it. (see BSP Hole)

To save yourself some hastles when you are getting started I suggest using Snap To Grid.

Foxpaw: Why shouldn't additive brushes overlap each other?

OlympusMons: Im not entirely sure I thought it caused holes in the map. I figured it would be safe if beginners started simple. If im wrong in anyway please change it.

Related Topics

• Creating A Terrain – Your recommended next step in the Mapping Lessons.
• UnrealEd Interface – a complete reference for UnrealEd's menus, windows and buttons.
• General Scale And Dimensions – compares Unreal Unit dimensions to real world scale.
• Brushbuilders – a must if you would like to add shapes other than cubes.
• Brush – a complete reference for the brush class, has lots of useful information on using brushes of all types.

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Comments

OlympusMons: Touch it up alittle and made it alittle easier to read as well as some more intermediate suggestions. Wow I never thought this page was going to be useful but now it seems it will be a starting point in Unrealed 4 is it? Are there any ideas on what formats we might be going for with the new engine? I would perhaps suggest pre-fixs or something to comments/procedures only related to certain engine versions.#

Tarquin: What's going to be different in UEd 4?

OlympusMons: From what Ive been reading on utforums etc, it seems you can goto file/new and you get to selecti either additive or subtractive methods. It defaults to additive now by all accounts and you can create adds to the void without having to worry about anything. So a basic procedure Creating a room would combine both Subtract a Space and Adding a Block. If your in Subtractive mode then nothing has changed but as I said before you must go file/new first then select it, apparently it just fills the void with a big additive anyways.