1. Hammer Shortcut Keys
2. Working with Different Views
3. Clipping and Resizing

Why Use Shortcuts?

Now you've created a basic room, the sense of achievement and wonderment starts to wear off after you ran around in your tiny brick room for the twenty-second times. Do not fret, we are moving to something better and more interesting right now.

First, I want to clarify that there are two ways to map--the easy way and the hard way. I am a firm believer in doing things the easier and faster way, and I probably don't have to convince you to believe the same. I am a fan of shortcut keys, and we're lucky enough that Hammer is blessed with tons of them. You can accomplish most things in Hammer without having to click on the toolbars at all.

Let's start off by loading up the map you've already created in the last lesson. Go to the File menu and click on firstmap.vmf from the recently opened file list. Your room should load in a few seconds.

Common Keyboard Shortcuts

Memorize the most useful shortcut keys below, and they will make you a more efficient and faster mapper in the long run.

* Shift-S: Select Tool - your mouse pointer will activate any object/brush you click on, allowing the mapper to change its properties

* Shift-E: Entity Tool - you have already used this tool in creating the basic room; it allows you to insert a new entity in your map (i.e. light, info_player_counterterrorist spawn point)

* Shift-B: Block Tool - again, a tool you are already familiar with; it creates the world geometry inside your map

* Shift-A: Texture Tool - brings up a texture application tool box to allow the mapper to select and apply textures to the brushes

* Shift-X: Clipping Tool - cuts a brush into fragments; this may be one of the most useful and versatile tools for a mapper; beginner mappers tend to under-utilize this tool

Double-clicking on any entity in the 3D camera view will bring up the properties box for that entity.

One of the most useful keys I use is Ctrl-E. What it does is that it centers the selected object (either brush or entity) in all the 2D views. The easiest way to locate an object in the map is finding it in the 3D view, and then select it. With the object selected, press Ctrl-E to bring the focus to the object in the 2D views. Then, you can adjust the position and properties of the object in the 2D views. In fact, I think it's the most common sequence of tasks I perform as a mapper. You shall do well to master it.

Now, that's only five tools I've asked you to remember. It isn't too unreasonable, right? Trust me, it'll save you so much time later. However, if you're an overachiever, you can check out the complete list of hotkeys at the Valve wiki.