Quake III: Arena

Perfect Arch Tutorial - Part 1

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Part One

This tutorial will demonstrate the procedures that need be taken to make a perfect a arch. Ok, first you'll need to be in the XY TOP view in the editor.

Now make a brush and size it to the length of the arch you want. I went 312 x 64.

Go to the Curve menu and select More Cylinders/Square Cylinder.

Next, WITHOUT unselecting the Square Cylinder, change to the YZ SIDE view so you can see the rows of the Cylinder.

You'll notice that there are 6 Rows from top to bottom.

You'll want to add another set of Rows to this Square Cylinder - You'll see why in a minute.

Now go to the Curve menu again and select Insert/Insert (2) Rows.



A little explanation of Rows & Columns is that Rows go the length of the brush and Columns go around the brush, so you'll have 6 Rows and 24 Columns in a default Square Cylinder. You'll see here that there are now 12 Rows now.

Again, without deselecting the Square Cylinder, go to the Curve menu and select Matrix/Re-disperse/Rows.



This is what the Square Cylinder looks like after you select the Matrix/Re-disperse/Rows from the Curve menu.

This makes the Square Cylinder have the proper shape when bending.

Now save your map so you don't lose any of this. I've messed up many of these and had to start all over again.



What I do is after I get this far, before trying to bend it, I'll make a copy of the Square Cylinder so I don't have to redo it all again.
After you get this down, though, you won't have to be so worried about messing up. Now, stretch the Square Cylinder to make it longer.

Figure out about how long you'll be needing it to make the curve.
It doesn't matter a whole lot what length it is right now, it's just easier to use this way.

You can resize it to the correct size later.

Now, from the Button Bar, with the Square Cylinder still highlighted, select the Patch Bend Mode button. The Red Arrow.
After selecting it the Information window will pop up. This tells you what to do.



Ok, this is where this gets tricky. Bare with me. This is where you will choose what point the Square Cylinder is bent from. I circled the Bend Axis dots, this is where the Square Cylinder bends.

You use the Tab button on your keyboard to cycle thru the available Bend Axis. When you get to the point where you want to bend it from, hit enter to select that point.

You shouldn't have to 'Tab' thru them. The first point should look like the picture with the Bend Axis at the correct point. If they are not like the picture, 'Tab' thru and get them at the first point that looks like the picture.

When you get the Bend Axis at the point in the picture, hit enter 'Only once', then change back to the XY TOP view.Now you should see a blue dot as one of the Bend Axis points.
the picture to the left of the top two shows what you should be looking at.

This blue dot is the another bending point for the Square Cylinder.

From here, you'll use the 'Tab' button again to move the blue dot around to the center dot of the side that will be bent. The picture to the right of the top two shows how it should look.

Now switch to the XZ FRONT view and change the grid to Grid1.
Take your mouse and bend the Square Cylinder until the end of it is perfectly squared with the grid lines. This is VERY important.
You'll probably have to zoom in to see this. I have to any ways.

The bottom picture shows what it should look like.

Now, save your work!!





Next, hit ESCAPE to unselect the Square Cylinder.
We'll have to go thru the steps to select the Bend Axis again.

Hit the Bend Axis button again and 'Tab' to the next point in the SquareCylinder. The top picture shows what you should be looking at. Hit enter, only once, to lock it in and move the blue dot around again to the same point as in the previous bend.





Make certain that your grid is set to Grid1 again.

Now bend this other end until the end of it is perfectly squared with the grid lines. Again this is 'VERY' important.

Your Square Cylinder should look like the bottom picture. Both ends of the Square Cylinder should be perfectly in line on 'ONE' grid line. If it is not, you've done something wrong and will have to correct it before proceeding.

Right now, your Square Cylinder should be an arch. Upside down, but this is ok for now. If everything is correct, we can proceed after you save your work, of coarse.

Now on to Part Two!