WE NEED TO CREATE A WORLD. CLICK ON FILE>NEW WORLD AND THEN GIVE IT A SUITABLE NAME.

CLICK ON BRUSH>ADD PRIMITIVE>BOX. A POP UP APPEARS ASKING FOR THE DESIRED DIMENSIONS. YOU CAN START OFF WITH 256 UNITS FOR NOW. WE'LL ADJUST THE SIZE LATER.

YOU HAVE A 256 X 256 TEXTURELESS BOX. CLICK ON THE "PROPERTIES" TAB AND SET EVERYTHING TO FALSE EXCEPT SOLID, LIGHTMAP AND NOSNAP. BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER, WE SHOULD ADD THE BASIC STUFF EVERY MAP NEEDS. RIGHT-CLICK AND CHOOSE ADD OBJECT>WORLD PROPERTIES. NOW ADD ANOTHER OBJECT BUT THIS TIME MAKE IT A GAMESTARTPOINT.

FINALLY, CLICK ON WORLD>WORLD INFO AND ADD SOME AMBIENT LIGHT. THESE NUMBERS REPRESENT THE THREE PRIMARY COLORS AND YOU CAN PLAY AROUND WITH THAT TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS. I CHOSE A RELATIVELY LOW SETTING OF 40 40 40 TO MAKE THE LASER BEAMS STAND OUT BETTER. AN EXCELLENT COLOR CHART CAN BE FOUND HERE.

LET'S GO AHEAD AND STRETCH OUT THE BRUSH TO MAKE IT RECTANGULAR LIKE A HALLWAY WOULD BE. SELECT THE BRUSH AND, FROM THE UPPER RIGHT (OVERHEAD) VIEWPORT, PLACE YOUR CURSOR OVER THE END OF THE BRUSH. HOLD DOWN YOUR LEFT MOUSE BUTTON AND MOVE IT SIDEWAYS AWAY FROM THE CENTER OF THE BRUSH TO LENGTHEN IT.

CHOOSE A TEXTURE OF YOUR LIKING AND APPLY. BELOW LEFT SHOULD BE YOUR RESULT. YOU NEED TO “FLIP” THE TEXTURE SO IT'S ON THE INTERIOR OF YOUR BOX THOUGH. THAT'S EASY! SIMPLY PRESS "F" AND WHALAH! FROM THE OUTSIDE, IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE WHAT YOU SEE ON THE RIGHT. NOTICE THAT THE TEXTURES ARE NOW WHERE YOU WANT THEM - ON THE INSIDE.

THIS MUST ALL BE ALIEN TO THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE NEW TO BUILDING WITH SINGLE-SIDED BRUSHES! THE BENEFIT IS AN OVERALL SMALLER MAP FILE SIZE THAT RESULTS IN HIGHER FPS BECAUSE THERE ARE FEW IF ANY UNSEEN POLIES. ALRIGHT - LET'S MOVE TO THE INSIDE OF THE BRUSH AND MAKE OUR FIRST LASER BEAM...

 

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