This is my first tutorial, so any suggestions and/or friendly criticism is welcome. Pictures didn't really work out, so I linked the full version of them underneath each of them. Credits to OneTwoSC for telling this to me.
As I weren't able to find any tutorials out there about this, I decided to cook one up myself. In this tutorial you'll learn how to create a distinct square beneath your turrets in, for example, a TD. I'd like to point out, that you need minor knowledge of how to create an actor and a model to follow this tutorial.
What you can expect
What we're going to achieve through this tutorial is a square beneath our units, to help players with the positioning of their turrets in a TD map. Much like the below, and what you would find in a WC3 TD.
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/5052/turrets.png
Models
To do this, we're going to need to create a model for this square of ours.
Go to the models-tab and create a new model, preferably called 'building splat'. Set the model type to generic and press OK. Now, go change the model to 'TerranTarmac_01.m3'. This model fits perfectly, and as of yet I haven't been able to find another. It does have a distinct terran feel if you don't tint it black, so keep that in mind.
http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/2929/models.png
That's all we need to do in the models-tab.
Actors
Now, create a new actor and call it whatever you like. Set the actor type to 'splat' and press OK. Then change the model to the one you just created. In my case this is 'building splat'
http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/1524/actorsy.png
So, normally, now would be the time that you linked the actor to your unit, but we're not going to do it the simple way, as we want multiple units to have this splat model. This is why we now need to go dabble in the dark arts of events+
Double-click the field 'events+'. What you would normally do is link the unit to your actor in the top bar of your actor, but the thing that you actually do there, is modify the events+ field. With other words, events+ is were most of the stuff regarding linked units is kept, by modifying this field, we can link multiple units to the actor. I'm going to use the Missile Turret and the auto-turret as the units that I want to be outlined.
What we want to be done is this: When a unit is birthed, we want the splat model to be created beneath it, that's a pretty simple thing to do in the events+ field. Events+ functions kind of like triggers, in that it needs an event and an action to be done in case of this event. If you did everything correctly, there should already be an event called 'UnitBirth.Bogus' -> Create. This tells the actor, that if a unit called 'bogus' is created, it must create itself at target unit.
Click the event and change the Source Name to missile turret. Then right-click the tree and press 'add event'. The 'msg type' needs to be set to 'Unit Birth' and the source name needs to be 'Auto-turret'. By now, you've probably figured out, that the source name is where we specify which unit that need sto be birthed in order for the actor to be created.
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/7717/eventsjw.png
If you have more units, you simply do the process again, and link it to another unit.
Finishing touches
Now, you should have a healthy, big square beneath your auto- and missile turrets. If you want different tints, like the picture I showed at the start of this post, you can just go to the actors tab and tint it.
It's probably too big for your structure, so to put the finishing touch on it, you need to go to the 'building splat' actor and change the scale to this:
2x2 footprint: X=0.38 Y=0.4 Z=0.4
3x3 footprint: X=0.55 Y=0.6 Z=0.6
4x4 footprint: X=0.75 Y=0.8 Z=0.8
NB! Important!
The only downside of this method is, that the 'effects' video setting in SC2 needs to be set to medium or above for this to show up.
Hello, Mapsterz.
This is my first tutorial, so any suggestions and/or friendly criticism is welcome. Pictures didn't really work out, so I linked the full version of them underneath each of them. Credits to OneTwoSC for telling this to me.
As I weren't able to find any tutorials out there about this, I decided to cook one up myself. In this tutorial you'll learn how to create a distinct square beneath your turrets in, for example, a TD. I'd like to point out, that you need minor knowledge of how to create an actor and a model to follow this tutorial.
What you can expect
What we're going to achieve through this tutorial is a square beneath our units, to help players with the positioning of their turrets in a TD map. Much like the below, and what you would find in a WC3 TD.
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/5052/turrets.png
Models
To do this, we're going to need to create a model for this square of ours.
Go to the models-tab and create a new model, preferably called 'building splat'. Set the model type to generic and press OK. Now, go change the model to 'TerranTarmac_01.m3'. This model fits perfectly, and as of yet I haven't been able to find another. It does have a distinct terran feel if you don't tint it black, so keep that in mind.
http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/2929/models.png
That's all we need to do in the models-tab.
Actors
Now, create a new actor and call it whatever you like. Set the actor type to 'splat' and press OK. Then change the model to the one you just created. In my case this is 'building splat'
http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/1524/actorsy.png
So, normally, now would be the time that you linked the actor to your unit, but we're not going to do it the simple way, as we want multiple units to have this splat model. This is why we now need to go dabble in the dark arts of events+
Double-click the field 'events+'. What you would normally do is link the unit to your actor in the top bar of your actor, but the thing that you actually do there, is modify the events+ field. With other words, events+ is were most of the stuff regarding linked units is kept, by modifying this field, we can link multiple units to the actor. I'm going to use the Missile Turret and the auto-turret as the units that I want to be outlined.
What we want to be done is this: When a unit is birthed, we want the splat model to be created beneath it, that's a pretty simple thing to do in the events+ field. Events+ functions kind of like triggers, in that it needs an event and an action to be done in case of this event. If you did everything correctly, there should already be an event called 'UnitBirth.Bogus' -> Create. This tells the actor, that if a unit called 'bogus' is created, it must create itself at target unit.
Click the event and change the Source Name to missile turret. Then right-click the tree and press 'add event'. The 'msg type' needs to be set to 'Unit Birth' and the source name needs to be 'Auto-turret'. By now, you've probably figured out, that the source name is where we specify which unit that need sto be birthed in order for the actor to be created.
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/7717/eventsjw.png
If you have more units, you simply do the process again, and link it to another unit.
Finishing touches
Now, you should have a healthy, big square beneath your auto- and missile turrets. If you want different tints, like the picture I showed at the start of this post, you can just go to the actors tab and tint it. It's probably too big for your structure, so to put the finishing touch on it, you need to go to the 'building splat' actor and change the scale to this:
2x2 footprint: X=0.38 Y=0.4 Z=0.4
3x3 footprint: X=0.55 Y=0.6 Z=0.6
4x4 footprint: X=0.75 Y=0.8 Z=0.8
NB! Important!
The only downside of this method is, that the 'effects' video setting in SC2 needs to be set to medium or above for this to show up.