Getting Started

There are enough "basic" tutorials out there that will teach you how to use gtkRadiant (or Wolfradiant, they're basically the same) so I'm not going to repeat that here. I'll just give you some links to a few basic tutorials I've used or seen on the web.

Those links should offer you enough tutorials to get you familiar with gtkRadiant. If you're looking for some specific tutorials not listed on my site, go here. I have some tutorials from other sites listed.

In addition to the tutorials, i'll list a few tips I've learned from using gtkRadiant.

Learn to navigate in the 3D window - This is crutial to making maps quickly and effeciently. You should be able to navigate in the 3D window as quickly as you can get around in a level while playing Wolf. In gtkRadiant, right-click in the 3D window and then you can use the mouse to turn and look up/down and use the arrow keys to move forward/backwards and strafe left/right. Also, D and C will move you up and down. Practice! Practice! Practice! Force yourself to get used to moving around in this window. Being able to freely move about this window will allow you to see many of the smaller details and misaligned brushes that are hard to see on the 2D view, but ONLY if you know how to position the camera correctly. (note: if you're using WolfRadiant, the navigation in the 3D window doesn't work the same. I find navigation in Wolfrad very difficult and cumbersome so if you're using WolfRad, good luck!)

Get comfortable with the 2D view - Working on 3D project in 2D can be very confusing at first. There is no magic forumla to learning how to work in the 2D world other than practice. Something I find helpful is to hide parts of my level that are either above or below the section I'm currently working on. This will help clear up some of the extra lines. To do this, create a brush that at least touches the brushes you want to hide, then choose Selection->Select->Select Touching (or Select Inside depending on how your map is layed out). Then, hit H. That hides everything. You can also manually hide brushes and entities by selecting them (Shift+LMouse) and pressing H. To unhide everything just press Shift+H.

Use that spacebar! - Pressing the spacebar will clone all selected brushes and entities. So, if you're laying down a ton of new light entities, just make the first one, then select it, press the spacebar and drag the cloned light to the new location. Continue this as needed. This is a great way to quicly light a hallway or something. I use this all the time when making hallways, room borders, boxes, etc. Also, be sure to have the texture lined up before you create the clone because it also clones the texture. So, if you make a box with the perfect texture, all cloned boxes will have that same perfect texture!

Z axis? What Z axis?? - When working in the 2D top-down window (xy plane), using the Z-Height window is a great time-saver (by default I think it shows up on on the left side. It is the tall, narrow window). You can use the window to raise or lower a brush or change a brush's height without having to switch to the Front or side views (which can be confusing for some people). Just line up your 3D window so you can see the section you are working in and then by using the Z-Window and watching the 3D window you can adjust the height to where ever you need without ever leaving the top-down view.

Changing grid size - First, pick a default grid size to use while creating your map (I like 8), then stick with it. However, you should be comfortable with changing the grid as needed. For example, if you're creating a handlrail for a stairway, using the 8 unit grid would look funny, so switch to 4, make the rail and switch back. There are hotkeys that make this very easy. (1 = Grid is 1 unit, 2 = Grid is 2 units, 3 = Grid is 4 units, 4 = Grid is 8 units, etc.)