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From HalfLife 2 Knowledge Base

by DvS

Let me start by pointing out that this is not an exact method of creating a dome, it is in my

opinion unneccesary to align a dome perfectly to the grid since most of what you'll be doing with it won't

survive alteration anyway.

Creating the raw materials

Before you begin, start a new map, and set the grid to 64 units.

Start by drawing a 512 x 512 x 512 arch with 16 sides. I used wall width 64 for the purpose of this

tutorial, but feel free to experiment. Just make sure the width you chose matches the grid (4,8,16

or 32), this is so that you can easily add new sections to complement the dome later on. It doesn't

matter what texture you use at this point, as long as you aren't using it anywhere else in the map,

this is so that you can easily replace it with nodraw once you're finished texturing the

inside/outside.

Next, create a same size cylinder above it in the top view and rotate it 90 degrees in the front

(y/z) view, this will act as a guide (in the side view) to make our dome as close to a half-circle

as possible.

On to clipping

Lower the grid to 16 for now, and take note of where the vertices on the cylinder intersect with

the arch. You'll want to clip the arch in four different locations, 16 units beneath each vertex of

the cylinder. This is because vertex scaling will force the entire structure upwards.

Once you've drawn the first clip (in the middle), press shift-x until the entire arch is white.

Continue clipping like this.

Once you're done clipping, with the vertex tool, select the top half of the arch.

Vertex Scaling

Press alt+E, this will bring up the vertex scale dialog. Zoom in to the lower rightmost vertex of

the arch in the side view. Start by decreasing the scale by one, you'll notice that your line will

slope too far, simply add another number behind it until it matches the slope of the cylinder

behind it.

WARNING! If you exit the vertex scaling dialog by any other method than clicking the selection

tool, your hammer may crash. This is a bug for a large number of people. Simply click the selection

tool, click the arch again and then over to the vertex tool. This time, select all the vertices

that are not sloped.

Rinse and repeat until all the vertices have been scaled.

This next stage is optional, but it will align every row to the grid, so for this tutorial, I will

continue. Go back into vertex mode with our dome selected, draw a selection box around every row of

vertices you scaled, one by one, and by dragging on the middle point, move the row closest to the

vertex on the cylinder behind it. Repeat for all rows you scaled.

We're done! If you want, you can make a single brush closure at the top, or leave it open.

In Closing

I'd rather not receive critique on the fact that this is an approximation of a dome,

I've used this method for a long time, and it has not yet manifested a single problem for me or

anyone whom I've taught this method.