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

Flying Around in the 3D Camera View

This is one of the funnest aspects of mapping. The 3D view allows you to fly around in your creation before it's compiled, so you have a fairly good idea how it's going to look in-game. I usually edit a few things in 2D view, and then go to the 3D fly-around to get an overview of the new construction. It's a good habit to develop, so you'll spot any error immediately.

To start, move your mouse pointer in the 3D camera view, and press z. Your mouse pointer should turn into a thin cross. This activates your mouse as a moving camera. Now, slowly move your mouse left, right, up and down. It's just like the movement controls in Counter-Strike, except there is no gravity. To strafe left and right, press a and d respectively. w will move you forward, and s will move you backward. Pressing z again will bring your mouse pointer out of the free camera mode.

3D camera view

Try practicing flying in the 3D view, it's an important skill to master. Look around for the entities you already placed in your map. Remember that z will toggle you in and out of the free camera mode, and this only works if your mouse pointer is inside the camera view section of your screen.

Personally, I find the 3D view most useful for selecting objects in your map. It's intuitive, so you can be sure that you're selecting the right entity or brush. The 2D views offer precise editing, but they can be confusing sometimes, especially once your maps become more complex.

2D View Navigation

Don't underestimate the power of the 2D views (or the Dark Side). They may look less glamorous and less intuitive as the 3D view, but they allow precise placement and editing of your map. In fact, the vast majority of times you'll be mapping in the 2D views.

Okay, I lied. There are few more shortcuts I want you to committ to memory. To zoom in and out of the 2D views, first move your mouse pointer to that view, and press d to zoom in, and c to zoom out. Sometimes when you need to fine-tune a small detail in your map, you need to magnify that area. These are the tools you need. To practice, move your mouse pointer to the top (x/y) view section of the screen, and press d a few times. Notice the grid gets larger as you press the key repeatedly. You can adjust the view area of the map by using the scroll bars on the sides.

Scrolling in 2D view

The Grid System

You may have noticed that the mouse pointer tends to snap to the grid system you see on the 2D view when you create brushes and entities. This system is to assist you positioning these things precisely in your map. Without them, your mapping world would be one big mess (just like the real world).

You can adjust the size of these grids, so it's possible to nudge an object just a little bit (instead of 64 units at time). I believe the default grid system is set at 64 units. You can ascertain the setting of the current grid system in the status bar at the bottom right corner of Hammer.

Grid indicator

To make the grid system finer, so the distance between the grid lines becomes smaller, press [. To make the grid more coarse, press ]. You'll notice that the grid lines become finer and coarser as you press the two buttons. Also, the grid indicator changes in the status bar at the bottom of the screen.

You should always turn the "snap to grid" option on when you map, and I recommend starting out with a grid of 16 or 32. Make the grid finer only when you're trying to fine-tune some parts of your map. Usually, I don't go lower than 4 in most circumstances, but there have been exceptions.

Brush Groupings

Now, let's make our little room bigger. But first, we must "ungroup" the six brushes that make up our room --four walls, the ceiling and the floor. Remember we made this cube from a single brush? So even after we hollowed out the inside, it's still considered as a single brush by Hammer. To work with each wall independently, we must ungroup them.

Use the Select Tool (remember, Shift-S), click on any part of the room (while avoiding the light and the counter-terrorist entities) in the 3D camera view. The whole room should turn red, including the 2D views.

Press Ctrl-U to ungroup the room. You won't notice any changes at first, because all the walls and ceilings of your room are still selected. But click on any part of the 2D view outside of the room, and you will notice that each components of the room now has a distinct color. They are no longer grouped together.

Ungrouped

Before proceeding further, it might be a good idea to discuss Dimension and Scale in Hammer first. We're about to add another room to our map, and we should make it so that it's realistic and proportional to the player.