Level Editor/Menus/Tools
The Tools menu holds the blockout helpers familiar from Hammer: hollowing rooms, making rows of copies, typed transforms, lining things up, and selection helpers. Each edit it makes is one undo step.
Hollow... (Ctrl+H)
Turns each selected brush into a group of walls round its inside: a solid block becomes a room.
- Select one or more brushes. (With none: Select the brushes to hollow first.)
- Choose Tools > Hollow....
- In the Hollow dialog, set Wall thickness (m). It starts at the current grid step; the range is -1024 to 1024.
- Click Hollow.
The walls are separate brushes that never overlap. They keep the brush's materials and settings and are named after it (Room_Wall1, Room_Wall2... in a group Room_Hollow). A negative thickness puts the walls outside the brush instead, round the space it filled. A brush too thin for the thickness is left alone.
Array Duplicate... (Ctrl+Shift+V)
Makes several copies of the selection, each moved and turned a step further than the one before: a row of pillars, a staircase of crates, a ring of columns. (Hammer calls this Paste Special.)
| Setting | Type | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copies | 1 to 1000 | 4 | How many copies to make. |
| Offset per copy | Meters (X, Y, Z) | the selection's width along X | How far each copy moves from the one before. The first time you open the dialog it is the selection's width along X, so copies stand side by side; after that it keeps what you last typed. |
| Turn per copy (°) | Degrees (X, Y, Z) | 0 | How far each copy turns from the one before. |
| Turn about the selection's center (off: the world origin) | Check box | On | What the copies turn about. Off turns them about the world origin, which makes a ring round the map's center. |
Click Duplicate. With nothing movable selected: Select what to duplicate first.
Transform... (Ctrl+M)
Moves, turns and scales the selection by amounts you type, in the Transform Selection dialog:
- Move (m): X, Y and Z.
- Rotate (°): X, Y and Z.
- Scale: X, Y and Z.
Turned and scaled about the selection's center, then moved. Click Apply.
Align
A submenu that lines the selection up along one axis. Items: X Min, X Center, X Max, Y Min, Y Center, Y Max, Z Min, Z Center, Z Max. Min lines up the low side, Max the high side.
- To Last Selected (off: to the selection's bounds): on (the default), everything lines up with the last object you selected; off, with the bounds of the whole selection.
Distribute Evenly
A submenu: Along X, Along Y, Along Z. Spaces three or more selected objects along that axis so the gaps between them are equal. The first and last stay where they are.
Select Touching (Ctrl+T)
Adds to the selection every brush, prop and point whose box touches or overlaps the selection. Select a floor, press Ctrl+T, and its walls are selected too.
Select by Material
Selects every brush wearing the material of the selected faces (or of the selected brushes, if no face is selected). In the Edit Face tool it selects those faces instead.
Ignore Groups
A check item. While on, a click picks the object inside a group, never the group itself, even a group set to Select As Group. It lasts for this session. It has no key by default; bind one under Settings > Controls > Tools Menu.
Ruler
Switches to the Ruler tool. See Ruler and Cordon.
Cordon
- Cordon (check item): hides everything that lies wholly outside the cordon box, so you can work in a busy map. It only changes your view: the map saves, exports and playtests as it is. Turning it off shows again only what it hid; what you hid yourself with H stays hidden.
- Draw Cordon Box: switches to the Cordon tool to drag the box in a 2D view.
- Cordon to Selection: puts the box round the selection and turns the cordon on.
See Ruler and Cordon.