Introduction

Overview
The Portal: UnrealEd Tutorials

Sit down, get a strong grip on your computer table and plant your feet firmly on the ground, because this is going to sound strange. Creating an Unreal level will be one of the most complex ventures you have ever embarked on, yet it is nowhere near as complex as you may imagine … if you know the right procedure to follow.

By now, you should have played Unreal through a level or two. Get a good look at the scenery and pay attention to the eye candy. Things like blinking lights, fog, moving objects, fire. And the sound. Pay special attention to the sound.

We are going to create a new level from scratch. However, before we get started on the level itself, it will be most helpful to understand the tool you will be using. Unofficially, it is called "Unreal Editor." Officially, it is known as "UnrealEd" – a simple truncation of the name.

If you have used 3D ray Tracing software before, you will be quite comfortable in UnrealEd because it follows most of the same rules. If not, fear not. We will get you started as smoothly as possible.

The first order of business is to know the interface of the tool called UnrealEd. It would be useless to try using a hammer if we did not know how to hold it.

This is the typical view of the UnrealEd interface. The interface can be customized, so your view may be different.

The UnrealEd window has six panes: tools, top view, front view, side view, "camera" view and "objects" library. This is the standard rule for 3D Ray Tracing and modeling software. So, look at the bright side, after learning UnrealEd, you will be quite comfortable with Infini-D, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave and most other 3D Modelers out there.

The most complex part of the UnrealEd screen will be the tools palette. It consists of simple pictographs or icons. Each defines a different function. You certainly may not use all or most of them, however, it is a good rule of thumb to know what they are and what they do. The first item you need to know about is called a "Brush." The brush is always displayed on your screen in all views as a red shape. The brush will default to a square.

The brush is used to create your shapes. Primitive shapes like the square, cylinder, cone and sphere are common. However, the brush is versatile enough to create elaborate shapes such as chairs, tables and other intricate models. You will see what we mean at the end of the first turorial!

Please print the next three pages for reference.

Choose PRINT from the FILE menu. When the print dialog box appears, in the "Page Range" section, choose "Pages:" and in the blank space provided, enter "3,4,5" (without quotes)

Click the PRINT button.

Thanks for visiting The Portal – please do so often!

Ron (Gadget Factor) Andrade
Toolbar Reference:
Brush manipulation and selectors

Note: the first two columns are usually pairs that compliment each other or toggle each other.

An "Object" as mentioned here is an "Actor" or item that can be manipulated by the player – like a barrel or box.

A "Model" as mentioned here is an object that is part of a structure or other architecture in your level.

		Move and Move Zoom: The default tool is the MOVE tool. These are sticky tools, meaning once you click on another tool, this will become selected again. You can toggle between one and the other. Use the MOVE ZOOM tool with caution – you may lose track of your work These tools control the rate of speed with which you move your views around. You will want to zoom in tight for detailed work, but you will not be able to see the entire scene. You use your mouse to scroll around your scene in any of the four views. More on navigation in tutorial number one.
		Rotate Brush and Skew Brush: Rotating the brush is self-explained. It is actually easier to rotate the brush with the mouse and keyboard. Skewing the brush allows you to change the shape of your brush in a controlled fashion – a cube into a diamond for example. Remember that the brush is not yet an object in your level.
		Scale Brush and Stretch Brush: Scaling your brush simply means to change its size without changing its shape. To stretch your brush is to change its size along a single axis only. Like silly-putty.
		Scale Brush to Grid and Select All Textures: Scaling to grid will cause your brush to snap to grid points in the working view. This happens even if you have "snap to grid" turned off. Selecting all textures is a handy little tool. For example, if you create a staircase and decide to change the top of each stair from one texture to another, this tool will allow you to change all of them simultaneously.
		Select All Actors and Select All Inside: Selecting all actors is self-explained. This is useful to move or hide all actors, allowing you less clutter in your work. Select all inside is a great way to duplicate (or move or delete) entire sections of your map. Select all inside will select anything that falls entirely within the boundaries of your current brush. Note: to "select" something is to highlight it for manipulation.
		Select None and Invert Selection: Select none is self-explained. It is simply a precautionary tool. Inverting your selection can be useful. If you wanted to select everything except a specific area – select the area you don’t want, then invert the selection.
		Replace Selected Brushes and Replace Selected Actors: Replacing makes it simple to perform a quick swap of something. If you have created a small village with square rooftops and want to change them all to cones, simply create your cone rooftop and select the squares you want replaced. The same rule applies for your "actors." Actors are items in your levels that are not architecture or simple scenery. If the player can interact with it, it is considered to be an actor – such as a weapon.
		Undo and Redo: If you have used any word processor or other creativity application, these will be self-explained. Note: you have multiple levels of undo and redo.
		Texture Pan and Texture Rotate: Self-explained. Though these tools exist, you may find it more convenient to use the texture properties dialog box, explained in Tutorial one.
		Draw to Select Actors and Draw Region Off: Normally when you click and drag in a view window, the view will scroll in the direction of your drag. This tool turns your click and drag into a marquee, allowing you to draw a bounding box to select actors within. Turn Off the Draw Region tool to return to normal navigation.
		Hide Selected Actors and Draw Region Z Clipping: Hide selected actors is self-explained. Draw Region with Z Clipping is currently unexplained.
Unused		Vertex Snapping Toggle: A vertex point is the point on your model where two vertex lines meet, usually a corner. This toll will cause vertex points on adjacent models to snap to one another. Useful to ensure a proper "fit" or alignment.
		Help and Scroll Speed: The Help tool is not functional. Do not use it or you may experience an unstable reaction from UnrealEd. The Scroll Speed affects the distance scrolled per mouse drag in your view windows. This is a three-way toggle.
		Grid Snap and Rotation Snap: These are simple toggles to turn Grid Snap and Rotation Snap on or off. The defaults are on. If you are having difficulty getting two or more models to align as desired, try turning the respective snap tool off.

Toolbar Reference:
Brushes and templates

Note: the third (rightmost) column is where you will spend most of your modeling time. These are the main for controlling your brush.

An "Object" as mentioned here is an "Actor" or item that can be manipulated by the player – like a barrel or box.

A "Model" as mentioned here is an object that is part of a structure or other architecture in your level.


			Brush Intersect and Brush Deintersect: These tools are used to create brushes with specialized shapes. There are specific instances when you will want to use these tools (the first example will be in tutorial one.) There are other times to use these tools, not because you need to, rather because you will want to. Our first example in tutorial one will explain why.
			Add Special and Create Mover: The Add Special model will be used for creating unique models. These are simple "sheets" only one pixel thick and used to section off your level into manageable pieces. The Create Mover tool is one you will learn to love. A "mover" is simply a model that moves during game play, such as a moving door or an elevator.
			Cube Brush and Sphere Brush: These tools are know in the 3D world as "primitives." Each tool will turn your brush into a cube or sphere respectively. Study the objects around you now. Your computer, your desk and even your chair. A good eye will dissect these items into their primitive shapes. Almost any object you can imagine can be created with the four primitives available.
			Cylinder Brush and Cone Brush: Same rules as above.
			Stair Brush (Straight and Spiraled): A simple template for creating a variety of stairs. The spiral stair will turn into a full 360 degrees as many times as desired.
			Curved Stair and Plane Brush: The curved stair is a simple template for creating a curved staircase. The curve will somewhat resemble the Roman Alphabet "S." The plain brush is primarily used with the Add Special tool. See above.

Navigation in UnrealEd is straightforward. All navigation is done with the mouse:

Click the left button in any view window and drag. The view will scroll in the direction of the drag.

Click the left and right buttons together and drag. The view will zoom in or out, depending of drag direction.

In the CAMERA view, the left button will move forward and backward and turn left and right.

In the CAMERA view, the right button will look up and down and turn left and right.

In the CAMERA view, the left and right buttons together will move you up and down and strafe left and right.

The left button will move a model or object when dragged and the CTRL key is pressed.

The right button will rotate a model or object when dragged and the CTRL key is pressed.

The left button will move a model or object while scrolling the view when dragged and the SHIFT key is pressed.

The right button will bring up an options menu when clicked on any model or object with no keys pressed.

Keyboard Reference:
No modifier key:

DEL Delete selected Actors

1, 2, 3 Change Movement Speed (Slow/Medium/Fast)

B Toggle Brush Visibility

H Toggle Actor Visibility

P Toggle Real Time View Port Updating

Shift modifier key:

Shift A: Select all Actors

Shift B: Select all surfaces belonging to the host model or object

Shift C: Select adjacent coplanar polygons

Shift D: Duplicate selected actors

Shift F: Select adjacent floors

Shift G: Select surfaces belonging to the selected surfaces’ groups

Shift I: Select surfaces with items matching the selected surfaces’ items

Shift J: Select all adjacent surfaces (flood-fill)

Shift L: Set current view to 0 degrees pitch, yaw and roll

Shift M: Memorize selected surface

Shift N: Select None (same as "Z")

Shift O: Select surfaces from intersection of selected surfaces and memory

Shift P: Select all surfaces

Shift Q: Invert selected surfaces

Shift R: Recall memorized surface selection

Shift T: Select all surfaces using the current texture

Shift U: Select union of selected surfaces and memorized surfaces.

Shift W: Select adjacent wall surfaces

Shift Y: Select adjacent slanted surfaces

Shift Z: Select None

Control modifier key:

Ctrl A: Add model (to the world)

Ctrl B: Load a brush from DXF

Ctrl C: Copy

Ctrl D: Deintersect brush

Ctrl E: Save As

Ctrl L: Save Level

Ctrl O: Open Level

Ctrl P: Play Level

Ctrl N: Intersect a brush

Ctrl R: Redo (an Undo)

Ctrl S: Subtract model (from the world)

Ctrl V: Paste

Ctrl W: Duplicate

Ctrl X: Cut

Ctrl Z: Undo

Courtesy of The Portal: http://www.planetunreal.com/portal