The Hammer Environment
In this tutorial I am going to explain the Hammer environment to you. What each tool does, keyboard shortcuts, etc…
So lets load up Source SDK from Steam:
Choose whatever game that you want from the SDK Launcher. I would recommend that you do Half-Life: 2 or Counter-Strike: Source.
Once you have selected the game that you want to launch, double click on Hammer Editor.
That will open up the Hammer World editor.
Now that you have loaded up Hammer, click on File -> New
This will open up a blank map.
I will now go through what most of the basic tools are.
By default you have 4 ‘viewports’ all equal in size like above (the four outlined ports above). If they are not all equal sizes press Ctrl+A to resize them.
Viewports are what you use to build your map and navigate around it. Each one shows a different angle.
Along the left we have one of the most important pallets in Hammer. These tools are what you will use to build, manipulate, texture, light and much more.
Selection Tool
Here we have the selection tool. You use this to select things in your map. Entities, blocks, anything. You also use the selection tool to rotate, move and scale the object. When a brush is selected it will be slightly red. It will also show up in three of your 2D viewports (the ones that have the grid on them), and will also show the dimensions of the object selected. To select more than one thing at once you hold Ctrl and Left Click on the first object and then click on the other objects/entities while holding down Shift. In Hammer if you accidentally deselect, you can press Ctrl + Z and it will select them again for you.
The global shortcut for the Selection Tool is Shift + S
Magnify
This is the magnify tool. This is one of the most simple tools but also one of the most used tools. Not everybody uses it but I think its quite a neat and handy tool to use. The magnify tool allows you to zoom in and out in the 2D viewports (Top right and bottom two view ports). To use it you simply click on the tool and then click where you want to zoom in. Left Clicking will zoom in and Right Clicking will zoom out. Although the magnify tool is useful, it is alot easier to scroll in and out with your mouse wheel if you have one.
The global shortcut for the Selection Tool is Shift + G
Camera
This is the tool that you will use to place cameras in your map. Using cameras will give you more of a feel for how the map will look. You cannot texture without them. I will show how to use the Camera tool more in my next tutorial. The global shortcut for the Selection Tool is Shift + C
Entity Tool
An entity adds realism to your map. Some entities are: spawn points, lights, doors, models. Anything that is not architecture etc…
The global shortcut for the Selection Tool is Shift + E
Block Tool
This tool is what you will use to actually build your map. You will create: walls, windows, mountains, anything that you desire. Blocks can then be morphed, using two tools caled the clipping tool and the vertex tool. You do not create things that are so complex down to the last detail, these would be models. For example if you were trying to create a plant, you would insert a model instead. The global shortcut for the Selection Tool is Shift + B
Texture Application
Once you have made a block you then want to add a texture to it. That’s where the texture application comes in. Clicking it brings up the face edit window. Very powerful tool. The global shortcut for the Selection Tool is Shift + A
Apply Texture
Although you can apply a texture through the Texture Application you can also apply a texture with this tool. It is used along with the Textures Toolbar. I will cover this later in this tutorial.
The global shortcut for the Selection Tool is Shift + T
Apply Decal
A decal is a ‘texture placed ontop of another texture’. A decal is generally alot smaller than the texture than it is being placed ontop of. An example of a decal is: Graffiti, blood, bullet holes.
The global shortcut for the Selection Tool is Shift + D
Apply Overlay
An overlay is alot like a decal but it can be morphed. They are a lot more flexiable but can be quite performance demanding if used exessively.The global shortcut for the Selection Tool is Shift + O
This is a powerful tool but if used correctly can produce amazing results. To put it simply; this tool is used to cutting bits of blocks, cutting them in two etc… The global shortcut for the Selection Tool is Shift + X
Vertex Tool
Another very powerful tool is the Vertex Tool. To put it simply; you edit the corners of objects. The global shortcut for the Selection Tool is Shift + V