Shortcuts make quick, efficient work of the mundane.
These are the most common shortcuts.
Dedit offers a whole list of them under the help menu. Some
truly amazing things can be accessed with the correct keyboard commands.
Let's have a brief look at the most advantageous.
"U" select none, invaluable in most modes.
"X" moves the green triple marker to the mouse cursor. Used constantly.
"J" joins faces of Brushes, and ctrl-J unjoins these
faces. (Don't try this at home kids, it'll wreak havoc in your maps
unless you understand how nosnap works. Find out in the _nosnapnocsg
tutorials later).
"F" is similar, it flips a poly face. It will confuse
the hell out of you unless you take the time to understand complex
Brush construction. Definitely advanced stuff.
"Shift" You can select multiple brushes in Brush mode
and select multiple objects in Object mode. Very useful when you're
grouping selections to make your node tree neat.
"W" Isn't even listed here, but it is particularly
cool, helping to extrude bevels. There's more information back in the
Dedit Basic Tutorial near the beggining, as well as a WindowsMedia Video
showcasing some of these feature in action. If you skipped it the first
time, you might want to consider giving it another look. There's some
additional info at the bottom of the page, but should be used after
you've study advanced mapping techniques.
Under the help Menu you can check these out in Dedit.
Literally just open up a new world and give them a try. Find the ones
that work best for you. Usually a combination of menu commands and
keyboard shortcuts is the best efficient way to map. Find your own fit.
The decision to use shortcuts is your own mapping style, the
good thing is Monolith developed the tools with multiple options
regarding level building, you can accomplish the same tasks using menu
commends, or the toolbar, or the shortcuts. In addition, situation
specific menus pop up regularly with the right click of the mouse.
Deciphering which is best for you, is your own personal style.
40-100 hours just to get a grasp on these tools?
I've said this before, but now you might actually believe
me. These are state of the art game creation software, and it's a
professional job description to be truly functional with them. Most
people approach this as a hobby and it'll take a few sleepless nights to
achieve anything substantial with them. And if you just create a DM
level when all is said and done, it is still an accomplishment. But I
guarantee if you decide to stick with it, Dedit offers some of the best
functionality in game creation.
Task oriented, goal driven learning, is the best way to
tackle map making. Give yourself a project and learn as you go. That's
why the tutorials are broken up into many smaller chunks. It makes it
easier to find what you need.
MOVING AROUND THE WORK AREA
These are courtesy of NEROTROBE
1) Right-click in the 3D preview window and select "Shade
Mode > Flat Polies." You won't have any textures now, which looks
terrible, but it speeds the rendering up tremendously.
2) Pull in the draw distance by positioning the mouse
pointer over the 3D preview window, holding the C key, and moving the
mouse down. Moving the mouse up pushes the draw distance back out.
3) You can store positions around the level and hop through
them quickly by using the commands in the "Navigator" menu. Or you can
select the thing you want to see in the node view and use the toolbar
buttons to center the view there, as has already been mentioned.
If you're having trouble moving around because the level has
become complex you can lower the mipmap level as described. Here are
the camera control keys if you're not familiar with them.
4) Select "View > Debug Window" from the Dedit menus. A
little console window appears. Enter "mipmapoffset #;freetextures" in
the command line, where "#" is an integer from 0 to 3. The higher the
number, the lower resolution textures will be used--going back to 0 sets
it back to the default highest resolution. Setting it low (3) can speed
up your rendering a good deal.
O = Free Look, In the perspective window hold the "O" key
and move the mouse around to look around. Holding the "O" key in the 2D
windows and moving the mouse up/down will zoom in and out.
O+RightMouseButton = Move backwards, In the perspective
window holding these two keys moves the camera backwards, you can
continue freelook to manuever the camera.
O+LeftMouseButton = Move forwards, In the perspective window
holding these two keys moves the camera forward, you can countinue
freelook to manuever the camera.
I = Slide Camera, In the perspective window hold down the
"I" key and then move the mouse forwards, backwards, left and right.
This works the same way in all four view windows.
I+RightMouseButton = Change Camera Elevation, In the
perspective window hold down these two keys and move the mouse up/down
to increase or decrease the camera elevation.
I+LeftMouseButton = Fast Slide Camera, same as just holding down the "I" key but faster.
You can move the perspective window camera anywhere in the
map and center the views on that location by hitting the "X" key to move
the marker to that location in at least two views, and then hitting
the "center view" toolbar button. If you leave your mouse cursor over a
toolbar button long enough a small tool tip will pop up labeling the
button.
There are several toolbar buttons that located the camera to
the world marker, the marker to the camera, the marker to the selected
object, ect. Experiment with them to get used to them.
Also there is the Navigator menu option. You can store
locations in the map by placing the camera there and then going to
Navigator-->Store Position. The default name of the position will be
its world coordinates. Once a position is stored you can change its name
or go to it at any time by going to Navigator--->Organize Positions.
SOME ADVANCED SHORTCUTS
Whenever you enter geometry mode you can potentially create
CONCAVE BRUSHES, these will be deemed problem brushes by the
processors and will generate errors. This will require you to set
these brushes to NOSNAP=TRUE, and will need to bind these to a TWM or
process using -nosnapnocsg.
Use this with care, if you are just learning, get a handle on the
simple stuff first, cause this can confuse you. You can always come back
to it later,
Alf_Life offered these tips on the forum,
-Holding shift and rightclicking, then moving the mouse just relocates/moves the vertices along the normal.
-Holding W and moving the mouse bevels the face by creating extra vertices.
-Holding W and holding down right-click, while moving the
mouse actually extrudes [along the normal], so if you extrude once,
stop, then extrude again, you'll get two polies/faces.
-Mixing usage of holding W and moving, and then holding right-click down bevels.
You can then bevel inwards for pillars or stalactites, or outwards for tops of buildings or platforms.
All this needs to be on a face in Geometry mode, and
preferrably on a polygon rather than a brush. Also you may want to hold W
and move the mouse inward first until you get the hang of extrusion and
bevelling; so hold W, drag in, stop. Select the smaller face now
created inside, and hold shift and right click and drag up, or hold W,
RMButton and drag up.