Sprite work:
Sprites can be used for much more than just making effects happen like doors, platforms, sound, etc. They can be used for shading parts of a wall behind or beside objects. One of my favourite things is to use them for "wall splits" (as I call them) or 3D bridges, steps, ledges, and balconies. There are just too many uses for sprites that I couldn't possibly list them all and I'm always finding more uses for them.
Sprite work:
One of the first things to learn about working with sprites is how to make them "relative". Making a sprite "relative" has to do with having it lay flat relative to the wall, floor, or ceiling. Basically, it's making the sprite flat. All one has to do to make a sprite "relative" is place the cursor on it in 3D mode and press the r key on it. Every time you press the r key on the sprite, it changes its relative position, that is, pressing r once makes it relative to (parallel to some surface; usually a wall), or perpendicular to the position of its tail.
You can see which way the sprite's tail is positioned in 2D mode. If its tail is facing North (toward the top of the screen) then in 3D, pressing r on it once makes it lay flat, vertically, east/west. Turn its tail to face West, and in 3D, it is relative, North/South. Get the idea?
Pressing the r key on the sprite a second time makes it lay flat, horizontally on the floor and pressing the r key on the sprite a third time has it go back to its original state which is pseudo 3D (that is, the sprite spins as you move around it).
If the sprite starts out on the floor, pressing the r key on the sprite, twice, makes it lay flat on the floor. Once it's laying flat on the floor, to get the sprite to lay flat on the ceiling, hold the cursor on the sprite in 3D mode, press and hold down the right Ctrl key and press Page Up. Now, the sprite should be laying flat on the ceiling. The Ctrl + Page Up key combination works for any relativeness of a sprite.
Whether the sprite's relativeness is pseudo 3D, flat on the floor, or relative North/South East/West, the Ctrl + Page Up key combination will place the sprite directly on the ceiling of the sector the sprite resides in. Using the combination, Ctrl + Page Down will, you guessed it, place the sprite on the floor.
Sprite work:
The second thing to learn about sprites is how to make them "one-sided". Very easy: in 3D mode, place the cursor on the sprite and press the 1 key on the sprite. It's now one sided. You won't be able to notice this if its relative attribute is pseudo 3D (original attribute). Make the sprite relative and you will notice that you can only see the sprite from the side parallel with its tail position. If its tail is facing North and it is made relative and one sided, then you will only be able to see the sprite when you stand on the North side of it in 3D mode, facing South (looking at the sprite). Standing on the South side of this relative, one sided, sprite, you will not be able to see it. This effect is important when creating 3D bridges and balconies, etc.
Sprite work:
If you place the cursor on a wall in 3D mode and press the s key on it, a sprite will automatically be placed on the wall, relative and one sided. However, it's difficult to get the sprite exactly where you want it, ie. directly in the center or the number of units you want it to be from the floor. When placing buttons, pictures, etc., on a wall, you may want to first place a sprite on the floor, make it one sided and relative, turn its tail in 2D so that the side that you can see faces the player. In 3D mode raise it to the height you want and then pull the sprite close to the wall in 2D. Then, back in 3D mode, place the cursor on the sprite and press the o key on it. This will place the sprite and position it directly on the wall.
I find that having a button six units (clicks up) from the floor is a good height and I like to place all the buttons throughout my maps at that height. There are times when you want to put a button in a place where the player has to shoot at it to activate it. I'm not talking about those instances but about the usual, everyday button/switch for doors, etc.
notes: I also find that the default button sizes are too large so I scale them down. For consistency, I like to use the same button for all the doors in a map. After I've scaled the first button, I copy it and use it where I need it in the map so that all the buttons (of the same kind) are the same scale and height from the floor. It's up to you and what you're designing but I find consistency more realistic. ;)
Sprite work:
Let's say that you have planned a massive explosion where a lot of C9 sprites tile # 1247 will be used. If you have created this effect before, then you know how hairy it can get trying to hitag / lotag all your C9's; the process takes forever, not to mention, you run the risk of numbering them in the wrong order (ie. swap the lotag/hitag) or forget to even tag several of them.
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To the right you see an area of map that has not yet been populated with
copious amounts of C9 sprites. I wanted to have a radial, explosion about
the circular sector in the middle of this map and I did not want ANY
possible means of escape for the unsuspecting player. ( back in my evil-Builder days )
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I didn't want all the C9's to explode all at once; I wanted them to explode,
starting from the center, outward in concentric circles. In order to do this, the
C9 sprites had to have the same hitag but each concentric circle of C9 sprites needed
a different lotag, and I needed lots of sprites if there was to be no means of
escape for the unsuspecting player. ( muuwaahhahaha )
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Start with one C9 sprite and give it a unique hitag (which you will use on
all sprites for this explosion) (I used 486)
and a lotag (I started with a lotag of 10).
In 2D mode, press and hold the shift key
and drag the mouse to enclose that one sprite within a pink box. That one sprite,
which has already been given a unique hitag and lotag, is now selected and
ready to be copied. Keep in mind that this first bunch of copied sprites is for the
first concentric circle in our radial blast.
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Now, place the mouse cursor over top of that sprite and click and hold the
left mouse button and press the insert key as many times as you need sprites
(C9's) for your first circle of blasts.
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Now, there are a couple of ways of going about copying and moving these sprites.
We'll discuss this next.
keep reading:
Once you have your inner sprites copied and moved to where you want them, it's time to make the
the next bunch of sprites for the next outer circle of blasts. You do not want them to explode at the same
time as the inner circle; you want them to explode slightly afterwards. Since I lotagged the
first bunch with lotag 10, the next bunch would have the same hitag but a lotag of say, 20 or 25 (whatever you find to be appropriate).
In the above example, I used this method several times to create all the C9's I needed for this
mushrooming-effect-blast and it didn't take all that long, either. Now, if someone were to
do this kind of effect tagging each sprite, individually, then yes, it would take a very long time!
even more goodies about copying and moving sprites:
I mentioned above how to select a sprite and copy it. The good thing about copying sprites this way
is that all copied sprites will have the same hitag or lotag and will also be positioned
at the same height on the z-plane. This is great if you're copying sprites that make up a
bridge or floor/ceiling sprites in a particular area of your map. It's also great because
this method not only works with one sprite but it will also work with several sprites. You can also select
several sprites (each having all the same or unique tags) and copy and/or move them
to another area. Just remember to tag them or give them the palette you want before copying them. Otherwise, you're defeating the purpose of using this method.
yet even more goodies about copying and moving sprites:
I said how you can select a sprite and copy it by first clicking and holding the left mouse button on top of the sprite before pressing the insert key; there's a reason for this that I haven't mentioned, yet.
You do not have to hold the left mouse button down but we would want to do this to have the copied sprite(s) selected upon pressing the insert key.
Here's an example: Say that we have made a bridge of sprites that needs to be copied and moved to another area. Once you have the sprites all selected, when you click on one of these sprites before pressing the insert key, you can instantly move the whole lot of copied sprites together as a group instead of having to either find one of the copied sprites and/or moving them one at a time. Let's just say, to press and hold the left mouse button before pressing the insert key can make copying and moving sprites, easier.
important notes:
1.) Build a bridge by making the first bunch of sprites, select them, click and hold the mouse button on one of the sprites, press insert once, and move the copied sprites to where you need them. Without releasing the mouse button, press the insert key again, and instantly have the next group of sprites for the next section of bridge. Use this method where ever needed.
2.) If you select a sprite, click and hold the left mouse button on that sprite, press and hold the insert key and drag the mouse, you will have hundreds of sprites within a couple of seconds of doing this. Unless this is what you want, do not click and drag while holding down the insert key! What happens is, you will see a trail of copied sprites but there will be several copied sprites sharing the same location as the ones that you see. Be careful when using this method of copying and moving sprites. You could have literally hundreds of copied sprites within a couple of seconds and you would then have to find and delete all the excess sprites. You will be digging and deleting sprites for a long time.
3.) Although you can copy and/or move sprites with the gird-locking turned off, you cannot move or delete sprites with the grid turned off.
4.) Keep in mind that while you use these methods, a lot of times you will have to Build your bridges and other sprite work in a large or unpopulated sector. You do not want to drag sector points along with your copied sprites so you will have to keep these things in mind when you're doing sprite work. A little bit of planning before hand is better than a huge mess of tangled sector vertices and unwanted sprites.
note: Using the method in point 1.) above, you can stamp a new copy of sprites over top of vertices and other sprites without picking them up in your move. Just the original copy of sprites cannot be over vertices or have sector vertices inside the selection of sprites.
If you have a heavily populated area where you want to introduce some sprite work, you may have to create a room outside of your map to create your sprite work and then move or copy and move your sprites to the populated area. populated area = several sectors and/or several sprites in one area
note about 3d mode:
Once you have selected a bunch of sprites in 2D mode, you can immediately switch to 3D mode and move the group of selected sprites either up or down, as a group, by pressing on the page up or page down keys.
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