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Creator Tips

Archive: 50 posts

Directional Gluing - staticvoid

If you move the left stick in a particular direction, it will only glue in that direction. If hold L2 it will only glue to whats behind and L1 glues only to whats in front.

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Weights - Linque, Elbee

Material weight tests done with 1x1 large grid thickness 1 blocks. The reference weight is the same in both tests, so the lists are comparable.

Weight of different materials:

100 = HEAVY (Metal, Stone) - REFERENCE WEIGHT
50 = NORMAL (Wood, Glass, Rubber)
10 = LIGHT (Sponge)
5 = VERY LIGHT (Cardboard, Styrofoam)
0 = FLOATING (Pink Bubble)
-5 = FLOATING UPWARDS (Orange Bubble)
N/A = INFINITE (Dark Matter)
NO WEIGHT = TOOLS (Bolts, Strings, Other Tools)
15 = SACKBOY (This means that Sackboy weighs exactly the same as a 1x3 large grid thickness 1 cardboard block)

Weight of different shapes:

20 = Thin Block
100 = 1x1 Block with Thickness 1 - REFERENCE WEIGHT
200 = 1x1 Block with Thickness 2
300 = 1x1 Block with Thickness 3
120 = 1x1 Block with Thickness 1 + 1x1 Thin Block
340 = Three 1x1 Blocks with Thickness 1 + Two 1x1 Thin Blocks

Conclusions:
Strings, bolts etc. don't weigh anything.
If you have an orange bubble 20 times the size of a metal object attached to a string, their combined weight is 0 and the object floats in the air.
An object with thickness 3 does not weight the same as an object made out of 3 thickness 1 + 2 thin blocks.
Thin blocks weigh one fifth of what a normal thickness 1 block does.

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Change material properties
This entry is no longer valid as of LBP version 1.07
By Cy-Force
(Posted by GuyWithNoEyes)
(Rephrased by Linque)

You can give properties of one material to another completely different material. E.G, wood will be able to float, sponge will be slippery etc.

First off, start with the material you want to have the properties of, such as pink floaty. After you have placed it, just transform it into toxic gas. Then use the tool that transforms materials into other materials to turn the lethalised pink floaty to another material like wood.

After this, unlethalise it. The wood will now have the same properties as Pink Floaty! It can be grabbed it is extremely light. This glitch works for all materials.

Here it is again, but easier to understand:

Place material.
Turn it into toxic gas.
Transform to different material.
Unlethalise

Hope this helped.

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Thin Layers - Linque

I've been receiving a lot of questions about the 'magical platforms', specifically about how to connect the platform to an object behind a wall. It has to do with thin layers and how thin objects collide with other objects in game. I'll write a short explanation how the system works here.

I'll define the layers so everyone knows what we're talking about. Let's call the three thick playable layers A, B and C. C is the closest one to the screen, A is the closest one to the background. We'll call the thin layers xA, AB, BC and Cx, based on between which two thick layers they exist. So xA is the background layer, Cx the foreground layer and AB and BC the two thin layers between the thick ones. Here's a diagram of all the layers to make it easier to understand:

--- = Thin layer
OO = Thick layer

--- xA
OO A
--- AB
OO B
--- BC
OO C
--- Cx

We can make objects with different thickness values: 0, 1 2 and 3. Thickness value 0 is called thin, and can exist only on one of the four thin layers (xA AB BC or Cx). Values 1 2 and 3 tell us how many of the thick layers the objects exists on. There is one very important thing to take not of here: Objects with a thickness value of 2 also exist on the thin layer between the two thick layers. Objects with a thickness value of 3 exists on both of the middle thin layers, AB and BC (but never on xA or Cx). Another important thing to understand is that an object only collides with objects that exist on at least one same layer.

I'll give you some examples to demonstrate how this works. Let's have a square block, thickness 1, on layer A, and another identical block on layer B. Neither of these blocks exist on layer AB, therefore if we make a thin slice of wood on layer AB and drop it on top of the two square blocks, it's going to fall right through them, through the 'crack'. Now, here's another important observation you need to make: the thin slice of wood falls through the crack regardless of whether the other blocks are glued together or not. Gluing components to each other never changes the layers the components exist in. Now, let's have the same square block, this time with a thickness of 2, existing in both layers A and B. As I said before, thicker objects also exist on the thin layers, so this object actually exists on layer A, AB and B. This means that if we now make a thin slice of wood in the layer AB and drop it on top of this object, it's going to collide with it and stack on top of the thick square block, not fall through as it mysteriously did before.

The point here is, that having three objects glued together on layers A B and C is not the same thing as having one object with a thickness of 3. This phenomenom can be used to do all sorts of tricks, from hiding mechanics behind walls and making objects go through walls.

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Thermometer - Linque

Okay, time to write some tips again. This time I'll dig into the thermometer, the bar visible on the left hand side when in Create Mode, telling you how 'full' your level is. Why I'm writing about it is because there are a couple of snags that you're better of knowing in case you wonder why you're not able to build as big levels as some other guys do.

So I'll just stick to listing a couple of things that fill up the thermometer quickly and also explain some ways to create a lot of complex stuff without filling the thermometer. Some of this stuff is pretty simple and you probably know a lot of it already, some are things that you might not know if you're not used to optimization.

Emitters
Let's begin with emitters. What you don't want to do is set the lifespan of emitter objects to infinite. Regardless of whether they get destroyed soon or not anyway, having objects with infinite lifespan is a surefire way to tax the thermometer heavily. Same goes for other tweaks of the emitter, especially the number of objects that can exist simultaneously. Also, the more complex the object the emitter emits, the more it'll affect the thermometer.
Basically, you want to make sure the emitted objects disappear the moment they're no longer needed. If you have raindrops that fall through the ground of some platforms or clouds that move about, make them disappear instantly when they go off screen and can no longer be seen or interacted with by the player.
Oh, and for the love of all that is good, don't emit objects that have emitters in them. That is, unless you really, really, really, really have to.

Complex Contraptions
Quite simple really - the more complex the object, the more taxing it is for the level. This regards everything - blocks with complex forms (compared to a simple square, for example), rotating bolts, strings, triggers, what have you. If it's at all possible, you want to survive with as few triggers and bolts as possible. There's often ways to make something happen with a pretty simple setting, try not to overthink it. It'll also be easier to tweak and move your creations if they're not insanely complex. What comes to complex forms, one very good way to make them more simple is the corner editing tool. Use it to delete corners that don't really affect the form much; each corner means the object requires more data, which in turn means the thermometer filling up more.
With regards to objects, be they simple or complex, we can make one very important observation: If you have a captured (or copied) object, it affect the thermometer substantially only for the first time you put it in your level. Therefore, if you're going to have multiple lifts or rotating platforms you're going to want to make one, capture it, and use the same captured object instead of making the same object over and over again manually. Not just because of convenience, but because it's much easier on the thermometer! You can achieve the same result with copying objects by pressing the left analog stick, so it's not necessary to capture each platform you want to use multiple times.

You build for the player
If there are areas the player can't see, you don't need to build anything here. When level designers build levels, it might seem that they've built whole cities and vast landscapes, but really, the level always ends to where the player can see. It might look occasionally really stupid in the Create Mode, but that's not how a player will see the level. Once you have all the camera angles set and you know what the player is going to be able to see, you can start looking if there are objects that don't really need to exist in the level.

Materials
Thanks to jfjohnny5 for reminding about this: Don't use a lot of different materials! Every time you use a new craft material, even if it's just a tiny little bit, the game has to cache that texture and that fills up the thermometer quite a bit. So pick a theme and stick with it. The level might look very slightly better if one part has a bit darker wood than the other, but in case you're running into thermometer problems, you're better off figuring out ways to get it look good otherwise.

Crater Size
The size of the crater you choose when creating a level has no effect on anything related to the thermometer or the size of the level.

(Risen, MatthijsNL and jhjohnny5 also contributed to this Creator Tip. Thank you very much!)

EDIT:
This is still work in progress. All input is appreciated!

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Tips For The Pros -lionhart150

One of the biggest selling points of LBP is it's amazing costumizability, from stickers to intmusic, you can do /anything/.

Literally.

So here are some of the big tricks from the pros to cleaning up your levels, making things easier and less complicated, and adding some cool effects....

First we'll start off with the basic things, stuff you've seen in the story levels and wondered "How'd they do that?", luckily for us, the "Creator Curators" we're nice enough not to turn off the visibility on their switches, and left them in plain view, so we could in fact see how they did it!

First off...

The "Grab and Go" Sponge!

This is the commonly used sponge hanging from a chain that lifts the character into the air upon grabbing.

Well thats easy! Just stick a grab switch on the sponge and call it a day! Sadly it's not this easy, becuase upon letting go and goign on to the next point, the sponge stays hanging where you left it, thus leaving the sack person stranded if they die and warp back to before the sponge.

To fix this, you'll use a mysterious setting to the switch, known as the "direction", shown as two arrows pointing left and right. This will at first make your sponge go straight up in the air, simply fixed by changing the polarity of the switch to backwards.

Then, when the person grabs the sponge, they are lifted up, but upon letting go, it will drop back to its original position!

The One Way Switch.

What happens if you wnat your sackperson to jump on a switch and lift up a door via a piston? Under normal conditions, the moment they get off the switch, the door closes on their face! You could give them a sponge or something to put on the switch, but I find that wholly annoying.

Instead, try this technique. First, set your grid to the small setting, and go hunt down a corner of a wall or somewhere near the door and switch, but out of sight.

Now, make a 4 wide, 8 tall, thin thick peice of glass material on the wall, stuck to it of course. Now cut out a 2 wide, 4 tall rectangle from it, in the centre, 1 from the top, leaving 3 spots on the bottom. Good.

Now make a 2 by 2 glass square at the top of the hole, making sure not to attach and weld it with the other glass, it needs to be seperate and able to slide down. Now make a second 2 by 2 square of dissolving material and fill the hole below the other sqaure with it. Glue the dissolving material to the wall, but don't glue the glass square.

Finish up by attaching the button to the dissolving material, so when they hit the button it dissapears and the glass square slides down in it's place. Finish up by sticking a magnetic key to the bottom section of the large glass portion, and the switch to the sliding square. Connect the switch to the piston, and viola!

When the sackperson hits the button, the switch slides down and activates the door, permenantly! No more doors closing in your players faces!

The Two Player Switch

Want to make a double switch for your players to add multiplayer sub games? It's a lot easier than it sounds.

This is my preferred method.

Like the one way switch, you'll be making a contraption with thin thick glass, but instead of dissolving fluid you'll be using pistons.

Here's what you do, go grab your glass material, find a out of the way spot, and make a 4 tall, 14 wide rectangle of glass, glue this to your wall.

Now cut out a 2 tall, 10 wide chunk out of the middle of the rectangle, making sure one side is 1 thick, the other 3 thick.

Now make a 2x2 sqaure, seperate from the other peice, and not glued to the wall, 2 spaces to the middle away from the 1 thick side of your rectangle. Make a second 2 spaces away from it.

Now make attach the square to the thin side of the big peice of glass, and another between the two squares. Set up the two pistons so when one is pushed, the far square only goes halfway, thus both pistons need to be pushed to get the far sqaure all the way across.

Finish up by attaching a magnetic switch to the thick side of the big glass, and the key to the far square, attach the two buttons/switches, set to directional, to the pistons, and the magnetic key to the door/whatever you have in the way.

If you want to make it even more permenant, make a one way switch beside this contraption, attach the magnetic key of the two person switch to the dissolving material, and the one way switch to the door. (Make sure you use different colors of keys for these two switches to prevent mixing up)

The Multi Switch

The problem with piston and hinges, is you can only attach one switch to them at a time. Say you want a level where 3 switches at different points open the same door. Attaching the first switch is no problem, but the second and third refuse to stick. Hopefully in a later update MM fixes this, but til then, here's what you can do:

First, find a remote location. This one is a doozy, so be prepared. I'll try and explain it, but it may be best if I get you a pic later...

Lets just do this with 2 connectors, so you want two switches to open the same door (not at teh same time, but one on either side)

First, make a 7 high, 8 Wide rectangle of, you guessed it, glass. Glue it to the wall.

Next, take out 2 chunks, 2 tall, 5 wide, seperate them wit 1 tall strips, and leave 3 on one side, and 1 on the other.

Now, make 2 2 by 2 squares, one in each of the spaces, with a 2 wide space from the thinner wall.

Attach them to the thin wall by a piston, and set up the piston to slide them and touch the opposite, thicker, wall.

Make 2 identical magnetic KEYs, not switches, but KEYS, one each sqare. Now stick a magnetic switch on the thick wall, in the middle, so both keys activate it, make sure they're all the same color.

Now attach your two switches to the pistons, and the magnetic switch to the door/whatever. Set the two switches to directional, possibly invert them, and call it a day.

The Multi Permenant Super Switch

This one is a bit trickier, but still possible. Say you want the player to hit 4 individual switches at different points of the level, all together that open a door in the middle of them, which leads to the next point...

Here's how I'd do it, first off, make a permenant switch by each of the buttons, cause doors closing on your face sucks.

Now, by the door, here's what ou wantto build, say we have 4 buttons...

Step 1: The Outer Rim.
Make a 14 tall, 18 wide, rectangle. Cut out all the inside, leaving a 1 thick band of glass, glue this to your wall.

Step 2: The boxes

Make 2 boxes. These will be 8 wide an 4 tall each, once again, cut them out and leave a 1 thick band of glass. Place one on the bottom left corner, and the other on the top right, leaving a 2 tall gap between them and the lower/upper wall. DO NOT GLUE

Step 3: The Sliders.

Make a 2 by 2 sqaure insdie the hollow of the bottom left rectangle, 2 spaces away from the left side. Do the same for the top right rectagle, leaving a 2 wide space between the square and its right wall. Attach these to the corner rectangle walls with pistons. Rig the pistons to slide them along their gaps to the inner walls.

Attach a magnetic key to one small square and switch to the other, set the switches's radius to really small for now.

Step 4: The Finishing Touches

Now attach the top right rectangle to the top of the big rectangle, and the bottom right rectangle to the bottom of the big rectangle via pistons.

Rig the pistons to slide the rectangles to the middle, so they are touching side by side.

Finish up by rigging each of the four one way switches you made at the start to one of the pistons each. Attach the magnetic switch to your door, and fine tune it so it only activates when all 4 switches are activated.

For more buttons, set up the magnetic key to one piston of a two person switch, and the other to an additional one way switch.

Or, for like, 8 buttons, make two of these contraptions, and rig them up to the pistons of a two person switch.

Time Release Switch

Want to add soem, cool sound effect to your boss fight, or area in general? This actually can apply to a lot of things that normally lack a delay, like motors.

It' actually very simple, once again, find an out of the way corner, and glue a 4 tall, 10 wide, glass sheet to the wall. Cut out from the middle a 7 wide, 2 tall chunk, leaving three space son oen sid,e 1 on the other. You know the drill.

Build a 2 by 2 sqaure on the thin side, 2 spots away from wall. Attach piston, have it sldie, yadda yadda yadda.

Simply rig the contraption up to whatever, your sound emitter say, and dont attatch anything to the piston, let it run by itself.

Tweak the timing, and there you go, every 5 second tthe floor of your haubnted hosue will creak! Yay~

Thats all for switches for now, next up I'll show you some other neat tricks.

The One Shot Bonus Round!

What if you wnat to give the player a single chance at a bonus round, with teh hopes of obtainign soem sweet goodies?

It's a lot easier than you think. First, build your round. Then, make a save point right before hand, but don't glue it, instead, attach it to a block of wood via chain, and have the left/right side of the wood atatched to a peice of dark matter via piston.

Now, stick a sensor switch right by the save point, and tweak ti so it goes off right when they enter the round, or hit the point, make sure it forces them to gothroguh the save point.

Hook the sensor up to a one way switch, and the one way switch directionally to the chain and the piston. Now when they actvate the save point, it lfits up in the air and to the right (try putting a couple second delay on the piston so it goes up, then right, so as not to hit anything.

Have the save point end up on top of your bonus round, and put a wall in the way so they can't get back, then make sure if they fail the bonus round, they die ad warp to the point. Also make sure they can keep going somehow, like a all of dissolving material that dissolves when you beat the bonus round.

Smoke Emitter

Most people would simply make a chunk of material, turn it into horribnle gas, capture it, make an emitter, and have it spew the stuff out. Bah I say, what if you dont wnat the smoke to kill you?

There's a much easier way to do this. What other common object automaticly makes smoke by default? Can you say, "Rocket?"

Ah, that's an idea! Let's imagine you wnat your dragon to snort smoke out of his nostrils, easy! Just make tiny rockets, insert them there out of sight, and attatch them to a time release switch out of sight too.

Easy! toss in a light in front of them for added effect, make sure you dont have the rockets too strong, or they might move the object they're attatched to (if need be, stick them to a tiny piece of dark matter to prevent this)

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2008-10-29 11:55:00

Author:
Linque

Posts: 607

I understand you completely

I had a fair idea before, but good to have a clear clarification. Thanks

2008-10-29 13:50:00

Author:
DrunkMiffy

Posts: 2758

2008-10-29 14:56:00

Author:
QuozL

Posts: 921

the thin slice of wood falls through the crack regardless of whether the other blocks are glued together or not.

That was a really good explanation- thank you! This is the sort of thing that should have been in the Brady game guide.

2008-10-29 14:56:00

Author:
Unknown User

yep that is all gravy for me. Understood this from you vid where you showed the secret area. Do you know if the thin layer would collide with the 2 thick blocks if they were bolted together or fixed with a motor. So say you had A and B connected by a bolt instead of glue, would AB still pass through. I would try for myself but i'm in the sony gutter that is the UK and still waiting

2008-10-29 14:59:00

Author:
dorien

Posts: 2767

Cool. This really helps. It makes it easier for levels to look tidier when finished.

2008-10-29 15:07:00

Author:
HobocidalManiac

Posts: 117

Wow, I don't think I would have ever figured that out had I not read this. Thanks! Now I totally get it!

2008-10-29 15:37:00

Author:
Unknown User

As far as I know, bolts, motors and glue work exactly the same way. My platforms are actually bolted to the wheels behind the wall, not glued to them.

Actually, I have to re-check this once I get the full version. I'm not 100% sure that you can drop thin objects through two glued ones, but I am sure that it works if the objects are bolted together. Hopefully gluing works just the same as bolting, so that my tip doesn't confuse anyone who happens to read it now before I get to test it out.

Great info Linque, are you likely to be adding other creator tips to this thread in the future? If so we could probably make it a sticky so others can find the info easily as well as allowing other creators like donkey show to add their hints and tips.

Cheers QuozL

I might write additional tips if there are things that I find worth writing about.

I do have a suggestion as to how to put the tips together in one place:
Make a sticky thread labeled 'Creator Tips', make it locked to keep it as clean as possible so that only moderators can edit / post in it. This thread doesn't have to be stickied. In that thread you can copy/paste the tips that I and others write here. In the end of each tip, put a link to the corresponding thread, so that if people want to discuss a specific tip, they do so in the proper thread. If we discuss all tips in one single thread, it'll be pretty difficult to follow.

2008-10-29 16:00:00

Author:
Linque

Posts: 607

Thank for contributing the tip

And I wholeheartedly agree with you on having a place to put vetted tips and techniques.

2008-10-29 17:08:00

Author:
LordDax

Posts: 79

2008-10-29 17:21:00

Author:
Piratepete

Posts: 110

I might write additional tips if there are things that I find worth writing about.

I do have a suggestion as to how to put the tips together in one place:
Make a sticky thread labeled 'Creator Tips', make it locked to keep it as clean as possible so that only moderators can edit / post in it. This thread doesn't have to be stickied. In that thread you can copy/paste the tips that I and others write here. In the end of each tip, put a link to the corresponding thread, so that if people want to discuss a specific tip, they do so in the proper thread. If we discuss all tips in one single thread, it'll be pretty difficult to follow.
I think the create tip thread that can only be added to by mod's in the way you suggest is a great idea. But speaking of mod's. Get him guys, he double posted

2008-10-29 17:23:00

Author:
dorien

Posts: 2767

2008-10-29 17:47:00

Author:
Linque

Posts: 607

Thats pretty and I understand how it works, but i have one question. If you have a thin layer of material on xA can you then glue platforms to it on A, and have them stay up? Is this the best way to make platform backgrounds for levels?

Yeah if you have built xA up from the ground then you can just glue things to it in A to create suspended platforms.
But if you want platforms suspended totally in thin air, the best way i have found is to create a xA piece of dark matter (which isn't affected by gravity and doesn't move) which is smaller than your platform in A. Then glue the A platform to the xA dark matter so the xA can't be seen anymore. Therefore you can have a platform made of any material suspended in the air. Hope you understand what i mean. Man it's hard explaining things and writing whilst on my mobile. Can't wait to get home to the good old pc

2008-10-29 18:08:00

Author:
dorien

Posts: 2767

Thank you for this! I found this forum while googling for a good explanation of this very question.

A related question: am I limited in what I can put on a thin layer? I understand that I can make materials have any thickness, including a thickness of "zero", but do bolts, rods, etc. have a particular thickness? I'm wondering if I can get away with having moving parts on a thin layer, or if I'm limited to stationary decorations.

Thanks in advance.

2008-11-02 07:35:00

Author:
Unknown User

2008-11-02 10:57:00

Author:
Linque

Posts: 607

very good explanation, I will defenitely be using this!

2008-11-02 11:56:00

Author:
MatthijsNL

Posts: 164

Yes, you can attach any mechanisms to any object in any layer, thin or thick. Bolts, rods, postons, emitters, whatever you like. Thin layers work exactly the same way as thick ones other than that the player can't move in them.

The bolts don't exist in any particular layer. Visually they're there, but they don't collide with anything or block you from putting an object on top of them.

Great! This is exactly what I was hoping for. Having seven functional layers to play with is really very exciting, even if Sackboy can only run around on three -- it's much more than I was expecting, since all the reviews only talk about the three playable layers.

Thanks again for clarifying! I can't wait to put it to good use.

2008-11-02 14:36:00

Author:
Unknown User

Okay, time to write some tips again. This time I'll dig into the thermometer, the bar visible on the left hand side when in Create Mode, telling you how 'full' your level is. Why I'm writing about it is because there are a couple of snags that you're better of knowing in case you wonder why you're not able to build as big levels as some other guys do.

So I'll just stick to listing a couple of things that fill up the thermometer quickly and also explain some ways to create a lot of complex stuff without filling the thermometer. Some of this stuff is pretty simple and you probably know a lot of it already, some are things that you might not know if you're not used to optimization.

Emitters
Let's begin with emitters. What you don't want to do is set the lifespan of emitter objects to infinite. Regardless of whether they get destroyed soon or not anyway, having objects with infinite lifespan is a surefire way to tax the thermometer heavily. Same goes for other tweaks of the emitter, especially the number of objects that can exist simultaneously. Also, the more complex the object the emitter emits, the more it'll affect the thermometer.
Basically, you want to make sure the emitted objects disappear the moment they're no longer needed. If you have raindrops that fall through the ground of some platforms or clouds that move about, make them disappear instantly when they go off screen and can no longer be seen or interacted with by the player.
Oh, and for the love of all that is good, don't emit objects that have emitters in them. That is, unless you really, really, really, really have to.

Complex Contraptions
Quite simple really - the more complex the object, the more taxing it is for the level. This regards everything - blocks with complex forms (compared to a simple square, for example), rotating bolts, strings, triggers, what have you. If it's at all possible, you want to survive with as few triggers and bolts as possible. There's often ways to make something happen with a pretty simple setting, try not to overthink it. It'll also be easier to tweak and move your creations if they're not insanely complex. What comes to complex forms, one very good way to make them more simple is the corner editing tool. Use it to delete corners that don't really affect the form much; each corner means the object requires more data, which in turn means the thermometer filling up more.
With regards to objects, be they simple or complex, we can make one very important observation: If you have a captured (or copied) object, only the first time you put it in your level affects the thermometer a lot. With this comes an important lesson - if you're going to have multiple lifts or rotating platforms, you want to make one, capture it, and use the same captured object instead of making the same object over and over again manually. Not just because of convenience, but because it's much easier on the themometer! You can achieve the same result with copying objects by pressing the left analog stick, so it's not necessary to capture each platform you want to use multiple times.

You build for the player
If there are areas the player can't see, you don't need to build anything here. When level designers build levels, it might seem that they've built whole cities and vast landscapes, but really, the level always ends to where the player can see. It might look occasionally really stupid in the creator, once you have all the camera angles set and you know what the player is going to be able to see, you can start looking if there are objects that don't really need to exist in the level.

Materials
Thanks to jfjohnny5 for reminding about this: Don't use a lot of different materials! Every time you use a new craft material, even if it's just a tiny little bit, the game has to cache that texture and that fills up the thermometer quite a bit. So pick a theme and stick with it. The level might look very slightly better if one part has a bit darker wood than the other, but in case you're running into thermometer problems, you're better off figuring out ways to get it look good otherwise.

(Risen, MatthijsNL and jhjohnny5 also contributed to this Creator Tip. Thank you very much!)

EDIT:
This is still work in progress. All input is appreciated!

2008-11-08 16:32:00

Author:
Linque

Posts: 607

good article.

great tips throughout. especially, for me, the tip on not using the infinite setting with emitters (i do that a lot). And with captured objects affecting the thermometer the most only the first time. good stuff.

2008-11-08 17:33:00

Author:
dc_

Posts: 11

great, yeah i have noticed most of this too, but it is good to get stuff like this out there for all of the novice creators, i am not saying that i am an expert at it but i can create some nifty contraptions

Cheers!

2008-11-08 17:43:00

Author:
RAINFIRE

Posts: 1101

With this comes an important lesson - if you're going to have multiple lifts or rotating platforms, you want to make one, capture it, and use the same captured object instead of making the same object over and over again manually. Not just because of convenience, but because it's much easier on the themometer!

Question: Does making one and then using "copy" to propagate it around your level have the same effect? It seemed to when I tried it... From a tech standpoint, I'm sure when you use multiple copies of a captured object, it's treating them as "instances." I just wonder if outright copying has the same result behind the scenes. I'd just rather not have 8,000 captured objects to sift through because I capture every lift, platform, and basic do-dad in my design. Make sense?

Also to add to the tips, but I think a lot of people already know this: Don't use a lot of different materials! Every time you use a new craft material, even if it's just a tiny little bit, the game has to cache that texture and that fills up the thermometer quite a bit. So pick a theme and stick with it.

2008-11-09 13:54:00

Author:
jfjohnny5

Posts: 20

If your emitter emits an object that has an emitter, the settings affect the thermometer exponentially. It's really easy to overheat a map using infinite lifetime and even one nested emitter.

2008-11-10 16:12:00

Author:
Risen

Posts: 251

Question: Does making one and then using "copy" to propagate it around your level have the same effect?

Also to add to the tips, but I think a lot of people already know this: Don't use a lot of different materials! Every time you use a new craft material, even if it's just a tiny little bit, the game has to cache that texture and that fills up the thermometer quite a bit. So pick a theme and stick with it.

Answer to question: I'm fairly confident that using copy has the exact same effect. One more thing to note is that changing the properties of the object doesn't nullify what you save in copying it. What I mean is that you can set one copy (or parts of it) on fire and leave one copy safe, and you still gain the advantage you get from using a copy of the same object instead of an all new object. Same goes for rotating bolt speeds etc., if you want to change the speed of one copy, you can do that without affecting the thermometer too much.

Good tip on the material part. I'll add that to the original post.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bump.

Did the mods deem the creator tips sticky not worth it? The two tips threads I've written fall pretty quick out of view here. I can put this stuff in my Concepts thread as well, but I really do think these kinds of tips are better off available in the Help section from a sticky. It's kind of a waste of time to write this stuff if they fall into page 6 of the forum without a link anywhere.

Maybe combine the Problems & Solutions sticky with tips as well?

2008-11-10 20:12:00

Author:
Linque

Posts: 607

Another usefull tip is using trying to get the least amount of corners you can. This is already explained but I do not find it very clear. If you have a very messy surface you can try cutting out some corners with the corner editor tool or just using a large square to cut away the upper part of a specific object (the part that is messy).

2008-11-10 20:44:00

Author:
MatthijsNL

Posts: 164

Duly noted. I rewrote that part a bit. Think it's good now?

2008-11-10 20:58:00

Author:
Linque

Posts: 607

One of the biggest selling points of LBP is it's amazing costumizability, from stickers to intmusic, you can do /anything/.

Literally.

So here are some of the big tricks from the pros to cleaning up your levels, making things easier and less complicated, and adding some cool effects....

First we'll start off with the basic things, stuff you've seen in the story levels and wondered "How'd they do that?", luckily for us, the "Creator Curators" we're nice enough not to turn off the visibility on their switches, and left them in plain view, so we could in fact see how they did it!

First off...

The "Grab and Go" Sponge!

This is the commonly used sponge hanging from a chain that lifts the character into the air upon grabbing.

Well thats easy! Just stick a grab switch on the sponge and call it a day! Sadly it's not this easy, becuase upon letting go and goign on to the next point, the sponge stays hanging where you left it, thus leaving the sack person stranded if they die and warp back to before the sponge.

To fix this, you'll use a mysterious setting to the switch, known as the "direction", shown as two arrows pointing left and right. This will at first make your sponge go straight up in the air, simply fixed by changing the polarity of the switch to backwards.

Then, when the person grabs the sponge, they are lifted up, but upon letting go, it will drop back to its original position!

The One Way Switch.

What happens if you wnat your sackperson to jump on a switch and lift up a door via a piston? Under normal conditions, the moment they get off the switch, the door closes on their face! You could give them a sponge or something to put on the switch, but I find that wholly annoying.

Instead, try this technique. First, set your grid to the small setting, and go hunt down a corner of a wall or somewhere near the door and switch, but out of sight.

Now, make a 4 wide, 8 tall, thin thick peice of glass material on the wall, stuck to it of course. Now cut out a 2 wide, 4 tall rectangle from it, in the centre, 1 from the top, leaving 3 spots on the bottom. Good.

Now make a 2 by 2 glass square at the top of the hole, making sure not to attach and weld it with the other glass, it needs to be seperate and able to slide down. Now make a second 2 by 2 square of dissolving material and fill the hole below the other sqaure with it. Glue the dissolving material to the wall, but don't glue the glass square.

Finish up by attaching the button to the dissolving material, so when they hit the button it dissapears and the glass square slides down in it's place. Finish up by sticking a magnetic key to the bottom section of the large glass portion, and the switch to the sliding square. Connect the switch to the piston, and viola!

When the sackperson hits the button, the switch slides down and activates the door, permenantly! No more doors closing in your players faces!

The Two Player Switch

Want to make a double switch for your players to add multiplayer sub games? It's a lot easier than it sounds.

This is my preferred method.

Like the one way switch, you'll be making a contraption with thin thick glass, but instead of dissolving fluid you'll be using pistons.

Here's what you do, go grab your glass material, find a out of the way spot, and make a 4 tall, 14 wide rectangle of glass, glue this to your wall.

Now cut out a 2 tall, 10 wide chunk out of the middle of the rectangle, making sure one side is 1 thick, the other 3 thick.

Now make a 2x2 sqaure, seperate from the other peice, and not glued to the wall, 2 spaces to the middle away from the 1 thick side of your rectangle. Make a second 2 spaces away from it.

Now make attach the square to the thin side of the big peice of glass, and another between the two squares. Set up the two pistons so when one is pushed, the far square only goes halfway, thus both pistons need to be pushed to get the far sqaure all the way across.

Finish up by attaching a magnetic switch to the thick side of the big glass, and the key to the far square, attach the two buttons/switches, set to directional, to the pistons, and the magnetic key to the door/whatever you have in the way.

If you want to make it even more permenant, make a one way switch beside this contraption, attach the magnetic key of the two person switch to the dissolving material, and the one way switch to the door. (Make sure you use different colors of keys for these two switches to prevent mixing up)

The Multi Switch

The problem with piston and hinges, is you can only attach one switch to them at a time. Say you want a level where 3 switches at different points open the same door. Attaching the first switch is no problem, but the second and third refuse to stick. Hopefully in a later update MM fixes this, but til then, here's what you can do:

First, find a remote location. This one is a doozy, so be prepared. I'll try and explain it, but it may be best if I get you a pic later...

Lets just do this with 2 connectors, so you want two switches to open the same door (not at teh same time, but one on either side)

First, make a 7 high, 8 Wide rectangle of, you guessed it, glass. Glue it to the wall.

Next, take out 2 chunks, 2 tall, 5 wide, seperate them wit 1 tall strips, and leave 3 on one side, and 1 on the other.

Now, make 2 2 by 2 squares, one in each of the spaces, with a 2 wide space from the thinner wall.

Attach them to the thin wall by a piston, and set up the piston to slide them and touch the opposite, thicker, wall.

Make 2 identical magnetic KEYs, not switches, but KEYS, one each sqare. Now stick a magnetic switch on the thick wall, in the middle, so both keys activate it, make sure they're all the same color.

Now attach your two switches to the pistons, and the magnetic switch to the door/whatever. Set the two switches to directional, possibly invert them, and call it a day.

The Multi Permenant Super Switch

This one is a bit trickier, but still possible. Say you want the player to hit 4 individual switches at different points of the level, all together that open a door in the middle of them, which leads to the next point...

Here's how I'd do it, first off, make a permenant switch by each of the buttons, cause doors closing on your face sucks.

Now, by the door, here's what ou wantto build, say we have 4 buttons...

Step 1: The Outer Rim.
Make a 14 tall, 18 wide, rectangle. Cut out all the inside, leaving a 1 thick band of glass, glue this to your wall.

Step 2: The boxes

Make 2 boxes. These will be 8 wide an 4 tall each, once again, cut them out and leave a 1 thick band of glass. Place one on the bottom left corner, and the other on the top right, leaving a 2 tall gap between them and the lower/upper wall. DO NOT GLUE

Step 3: The Sliders.

Make a 2 by 2 sqaure insdie the hollow of the bottom left rectangle, 2 spaces away from the left side. Do the same for the top right rectagle, leaving a 2 wide space between the square and its right wall. Attach these to the corner rectangle walls with pistons. Rig the pistons to slide them along their gaps to the inner walls.

Attach a magnetic key to one small square and switch to the other, set the switches's radius to really small for now.

Step 4: The Finishing Touches

Now attach the top right rectangle to the top of the big rectangle, and the bottom right rectangle to the bottom of the big rectangle via pistons.

Rig the pistons to slide the rectangles to the middle, so they are touching side by side.

Finish up by rigging each of the four one way switches you made at the start to one of the pistons each. Attach the magnetic switch to your door, and fine tune it so it only activates when all 4 switches are activated.

For more buttons, set up the magnetic key to one piston of a two person switch, and the other to an additional one way switch.

Or, for like, 8 buttons, make two of these contraptions, and rig them up to the pistons of a two person switch.

Time Release Switch

Want to add soem, cool sound effect to your boss fight, or area in general? This actually can apply to a lot of things that normally lack a delay, like motors.

It' actually very simple, once again, find an out of the way corner, and glue a 4 tall, 10 wide, glass sheet to the wall. Cut out from the middle a 7 wide, 2 tall chunk, leaving three space son oen sid,e 1 on the other. You know the drill.

Build a 2 by 2 sqaure on the thin side, 2 spots away from wall. Attach piston, have it sldie, yadda yadda yadda.

Simply rig the contraption up to whatever, your sound emitter say, and dont attatch anything to the piston, let it run by itself.

Tweak the timing, and there you go, every 5 second tthe floor of your haubnted hosue will creak! Yay~

Thats all for switches for now, next up I'll show you some other neat tricks.

The One Shot Bonus Round!

What if you wnat to give the player a single chance at a bonus round, with teh hopes of obtainign soem sweet goodies?

It's a lot easier than you think. First, build your round. Then, make a save point right before hand, but don't glue it, instead, attach it to a block of wood via chain, and have the left/right side of the wood atatched to a peice of dark matter via piston.

Now, stick a sensor switch right by the save point, and tweak ti so it goes off right when they enter the round, or hit the point, make sure it forces them to gothroguh the save point.

Hook the sensor up to a one way switch, and the one way switch directionally to the chain and the piston. Now when they actvate the save point, it lfits up in the air and to the right (try putting a couple second delay on the piston so it goes up, then right, so as not to hit anything.

Have the save point end up on top of your bonus round, and put a wall in the way so they can't get back, then make sure if they fail the bonus round, they die ad warp to the point. Also make sure they can keep going somehow, like a all of dissolving material that dissolves when you beat the bonus round.

Smoke Emitter

Most people would simply make a chunk of material, turn it into horribnle gas, capture it, make an emitter, and have it spew the stuff out. Bah I say, what if you dont wnat the smoke to kill you?

Theres a much easier way to do this. What other common object automaticly makes smoke by default? Can you say, "Rocket?"

Ah, thats an idea! Let's imagine you wnat your dragon to snort smoke out of his nostrils, easy! Just make tiny rockets, insert them there out of sight, and attatch them to a time release switch out of sight too.

Easy! oss in a light in front of them for added effect, make sure you dont have the rockets too strong, or they might move the object they're attatched to (if need be, stick them to a tiny peice of dark matetr to prevent this)

2008-11-11 03:58:00

Author:
lionhart180

Posts: 200

wow man i only read half so far but this is real good!

i want to try somethings out before i read rest

2008-11-11 04:23:00

Author:
Snrm

Posts: 6419

i made a set of four clocks that control the whole first challenge in my level the every time the red hand makes one full rotation it drops 2 bombs from the roof of my challenge causing pits in the ground and you have to jump over the pits where the bombs are falling without getting hit

the first time the 1st clock goes around it not only drops the bombs but starts the second clock and the 1st time it goes around it drops its set of bombs and starts the 3rd clock and then the 1st time it goes around it drops it set of bombs and starts the 4rth clock and it just dops bombs and it needs to work without you on the button switch the entire time, Thank goodness for permanent switches

another switch project i worked on was where i had to solve how i could start a large cascade of bubles and not have to stand on the switch the entire time and then shut it off permanentaly; XOR switches, i love you, rofl

the current one i am working on and that i hope to get solved and completely done is building an actual puzzle, like the ones where you have to put together the pieces, yeah i think i have the solved, thank goodness there is more than one color of key and key switch and thank goodness for the multiple input "AND" switch using hollow circles concept or else this entire puzzel thing could not work

another kinda secret i have hidden in my current level is a 15 minute timer where if you fail to finish the level in 15 minutes, well... BOOOOOOM!!!!!, i am proud of that idea and i plan to keep it

oh but i am glad MM made so many conveniant switches for use and let people figure out ways to use them in creative ways

2008-11-11 05:32:00

Author:
RAINFIRE

Posts: 1101

Great explanation!

I don't think pictures will be necessary. The text was clear.

2008-11-11 09:43:00

Author:
Kizo

Posts: 40

I thought I'd pass on one of my switch designs. There are times when you need to activate something with one switch and deactivate it by another switch.

Dual Input on/off switch (simple)

build a flat container for the following switch.

B>BK_B<B
____M___

B - block, > - piston, M - magnetic switch, K - magnetic key

Connect the first switch to the left piston and the second switch the right piston. note that the key is no attached to the block. Now the first switch will push the key and turn on and the second switch will push the key back turning it off again.

Unforunatly if both switch are pressed at the same time something will get crushed, breaking the switch.

Dual Input on/off switch (un-crushable)

===K_=====
B>BK_B<B<<B
____M______

note that the switch needs to be encased and with the key larger and in notch to stop it from getting pushed to far.

Connect first switch to left and right piston (which is reversed) and the second switch to the middle piston. Now when the first switch is pressed, the left piston pushes to key and the right piston move the middle piston out of the way. Therefore if both switches are pressed nothing get crushed and the default state is on.

Hope that all makes sense including my naff diagrams.

Hope someone doesn't point out a simpler method :o

2008-11-12 12:14:00

Author:
staticvoid

Posts: 37

staticvoid, I don't get it.

2008-11-12 12:17:00

Author:
Kizo

Posts: 40

maybe a picture will help

http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp173/rmullett_photos/switch123.jpg

2008-11-12 19:06:00

Author:
staticvoid

Posts: 37

Simpler method:

A good example of this is the first lift on the third metropilis stage.

First, make a 20 wide, 4 tall rectangle of glass.

Cut out a 14 wide, 2 tall chunk in the middle, leaving 3 wide walls on left/right.

Stick 3 2 by 2 sqaures in the middle, side by side, don't glue, yadda yadda.

Attach the left and right ones to the left and right walls via pistons. Set them up so when off the squares are practicly glued to the wall, and when on the slide the middle sqaure all the way to touch the oppisite side.

Now stick 2 magnetic switches, one on the left wall, one on the right wall. Then put key on the middle sqaure.

Rig the left movable sqaure to the on switch, and the right sqaure to the off switch.

Thus, when the on switch s hit, the sqaure is slid across to the right side, and because it's disconected, it stays there as the piston retracts. Same goes for off position.

Once again, if you want a really good example, look at the switch near the start of metropilis stage 3, theres a lif that goes up and down with a sleeping worker on it.

2008-11-12 21:10:00

Author:
lionhart180

Posts: 200

Added these two items to the tips:

Weights - Linque

Material weight tests done with 1x1 large grid thickness 1 blocks. The reference weight is the same in both tests, so the lists are comparable.

Weight of different materials:

100 = HEAVY (Metal, Stone) - REFERENCE WEIGHT
50 = NORMAL (Wood, Glass, Rubber)
10 = LIGHT (Sponge)
5 = VERY LIGHT (Cardboard, Styrofoam)
0 = FLOATING (Pink Bubble)
-5 = FLOATING UPWARDS (Orange Bubble)
N/A = INFINITE (Dark Matter)
NO WEIGHT = TOOLS (Bolts, Strings, Other Tools)
15 = SACKBOY (This means that Sackboy weighs exactly the same as a 1x3 large grid thickness 1 cardboard block)

Weight of different shapes:

20 = Thin Block
100 = 1x1 Block with Thickness 1
200 = 1x1 Block with Thickness 2
300 = 1x1 Block with Thickness 3
120 = 1x1 Block with Thickness 1 + 1x1 Thin Block
340 = Three 1x1 Blocks with Thickness 1 + Two 1x1 Thin Blocks

Conclusions:
Strings, bolts etc. don't weigh anything.
If you have an orange bubble 20 times the size of a metal object attached to a string, their combined weight is 0 and the object floats in the air.
An object with thickness 3 does not weight the same as an object made out of 3 thickness 1 + 2 thin blocks.
Thin blocks weigh one fifth of what a normal thickness 1 block does.

----------------------------

Change material properties - Cy-Force
(Posted by GuyWithNoEyes)
(Rephrased by Linque)

You can give properties of one material to another completely different material. E.G, wood will be able to float, sponge will be slippery etc.

First off, start with the material you want to have the properties of, such as pink floaty. After you have placed it, just transform it into toxic gas. Then use the tool that transforms materials into other materials to turn the lethalised pink floaty to another material like wood.

After this, unlethalise it. The wood will now have the same properties as Pink Floaty! It can be grabbed it is extremely light. This glitch works for all materials.

Here it is again, but easier to understand:

Place material.
Turn it into toxic gas.
Transform to different material.
Unlethalise

Hope this helped.

2008-11-30 12:26:00

Author:
Linque

Posts: 607

Weight guide = best thing on this forum and for that I completely love you

2008-12-01 21:41:00

Author:
Dave-la-kingenbo

Posts: 43

my head hurts from reading this thread, but i learned alot, thanks guys

2008-12-18 23:40:00

Author:
UltraNative

Posts: 59

Thank you, the tips on glueing were really useful. Everything else in the creator has been straightforward but glueing was driving me nuts, especially in complex areas. I'm glad there's some flexibility to the tool.

2008-12-28 16:45:00

Author:
mmmiles

Posts: 16

Great thread!

"If hold L2 it will only glue to whats behind and L1 glues only to whats in front."
I didn't know that! Thanks, very very helpful

2009-01-04 14:25:00

Author:
Pinchanzee

Posts: 805

Something useful that would he helpful here.

Some people sometimes have the problem of knackering mechanisms after trying to stick something over the front of them.
For example I often use glass to cover up my mechanisms (ie pistons etc)
When you simply put a layer of glass over it, it bind all the components together, disabling their movement.
After some experimenting I discovered a "cure" if you like. Simply make a tiny bit of the material you want as a thin layer cover and stick it to part of the object so that it won't connect two pieces of the machine together, (eg the outer rim).
Then you can extend the tiny bit in the corner, by going over it with the same material but bigger. The same material MUST be in contact with the tiny bit, but after this, any amount can be added, as long as it is connected to the original thin layer.

I'm not sure if you can understand that, it's not worded very well, be good if somebody could reword it if it doesn't make sense.

2009-01-05 20:27:00

Author:
Pinchanzee

Posts: 805

[QUOTE=Pinchanzee;113149]glue trickQUOTE]

Ah I forgot that trick, yeah this is a really sweet one I use a lot, thanks for posting it, rep for jooo

Here's some other tricks for adding realism and other effects to levels:

#1 The shake: If you have a level thats falling apart or breaking down, like a collapsing mine shaft or building on fire, heres a cool way to add an occasional shake and falling dust effect.

First, fin a decent sized chunk of material like floor/ roof that you can hide this in. Roof is best for falling dust effect.

Next, cut out a large 4x4ish chunk out of it if the material is destroyable, like carboard or sponge. f its metal just cut out a little 1x1 sqaue.

Fill in the hole if its breakable with stone or metal, then cut out a 1x1 sqaure.

Stick an emmitr on it and make it emit an impact explosive every 7-8 seconds, then set emitter to invisible and cover the whole up.

The result is every 7 seconds there will be a large BOOM, the screen will shake, and "dust" (the reamins of the bomb) will fall through the roof.

#2 lightning

This is actually pretty easy. First make a 1x1 sqaure of dark matter wayyy up out of sight. Stick a fairy light on it.

Out of site build a very tall 1 way switch, and place the key halfway down instead of at the bottom. Thus when activated the other part falls down and activates switch brifly, then falls back out of range.

Set a proximity switch in your level to the 1 way. Now stick a enviornment sound near the proximity. (purple one)

Set the sound to lightning. Hook the proximity switch to the one way switch.

Now, make the fairy light REALLY REALLY bright, so it almost blinds you. Then hook the one way switch to the lightning and lght.

Now when the switch is activated, theres a really big BOOM and flash of lightning.

#3 super big enviornment background.

Ever wanted to make a constant rain in background, but got tired of placing 20 million sounds all along?

Theres a trick. First make your background sound on a piece of sponge/cardboard.polystyrene.

Set the switch to "on impact" and make sure its a background sound (denoted by a * on its name)

Now take the sound of the sponge and put it on the ground of your level. Now the range of the sound magically gets big enough to envolop the entire area, as big as the ground is!

Finally:

My personal trick I use in most of my levels...

The title!

It's always fun to add a "Designed and created by name", and such.

Signs, or other things. On one level I had the sign lower down on a winch, so on

2009-01-05 22:19:00

Author:
lionhart180

Posts: 200

Grrr I need to create!

2009-01-05 23:05:00

Author:
Killian

Posts: 2575

Good ideas lionheart! You're the fountain of all LBP creating knowledge or something ^^
Friggin awesome

2009-01-06 18:20:00

Author:
Pinchanzee

Posts: 805

Just a thought about the OP...

Where you say that your rocket used for its smoke might push your object, you suggest the player to put some dark matter to hold things down.

It really is more convenient and simple to press square on the rocket and put the boost off.

2009-01-12 16:26:00

Author:
RangerZero

Posts: 3901

- In hover mode, holding X will make you go faster, like it does with the jetpack.

- Anything a guest player saves or hearts will be ignored end of your session, so if pop a guest into a create session, they can be used as a temporary clipboard.

2009-01-13 15:50:00

Author:
Risen

Posts: 251

While looking for something else I found this thread which I'm going to bump cause people might find it useful.

What I was looking for is an answer to this question, which I found on some other forum and quite like to know the answer to as well:

Question: I'm creating a level and how do I create a kind of bridge where I
step on the first part of the bridge and then the next part appears. Then when I step on the next part, the first part disappears, and so on. I want to use blocks of wood.

How do I need to set the emitters to achieve that?

2009-07-30 13:53:00

Author:
Syroc

Posts: 3193

A couple of very basic tips if you feel like adding to the OP

As well as trying to cut down on angles on shapes wherever i can, I always use a triangle shape (unless neccesary) for any bits of hidden dark matter that hold up pistons, walls, lights, anything. It only saves one angle but over the course of a whole level can add up to a bit of thermo saving.

The basic colour stickers usually leave a black line when you overlap them. The paint splodge sticker in the same colour gets rid of the lines.

2009-07-30 14:06:00

Author:
julesyjules

Posts: 1156

Here's a simple tip: You want your level to float, but don't want to make it out of dark matter? What people usually do is stick a tiny piece of dark matter somewhere within their material; however, this leaves a little hole in your object which looks ugly, and takes twice as many vertices as it should. Instead, make a square or triangle of dark matter small enough to be invisible and glue it to the object. Half as many vertices and can't be seen in any way. I did say simple, right?

I played a level with little holes in virtually everything, which bugged me through the entire thing... so I thought I should post this.

Actually, maybe I'll put in another tip. This one's been touched on a bit, but I'd like to expand somewhat on it. First, a little bit about 3d, which fuels the game engine. Everything is made of Vertices, Edges, and Faces (Names vary through 3d software). Vertices (Vertex) are dots, which form something of a connect the dots that the PS3 processor gets to crunch. Think of a classic cube: each corner represents a vertex, as it would in 3d. Connecting these dots are edges, simple lines between pairs of vertices. Then finally are the faces, which connect all of the edges making it visible. These are flat planes, which make up the entirety of the object. Therefore, each time you move a corner with the corner editor, you're moving two vertices, one edge, and changing four other edges. Hopefully that made some sense.

The game has to process based on vertices, as the amount of vertices directly impacts the edges and faces. So, most of this will be about vertices. Simply, be careful of how many vertices you use in object and aware of what uses more and what uses less, as using less per object means your thermometer will stretch far further. So, to retouch, a simple cube has 8 vertices in LBP. I'm going to divide all of the actual vertices by two to envision wat you'd see in the front view, since what you see is only replicated exactly to create a layer.
Triangle: 3 Vertices
Cube: 4 Vertices
Circle: 20 Vertices
Moon: 26 Vertices
Sackboy Shape: 54 Vertices (18 triangles)
See how quickly, as object become more complicated, the vertex count rises? Being fiscal in choosing shapes, even shapes while painting new larger shapes, will extent the life of your thermometer by leaps and bounds. As you play through some of the more amazing levels online and MM's story levels, watch how simple the objects truly are. Although they use few edges, they artistically disguise that fact for a complicated and playable effect while relying on as few vertices as possibly. Many have expressed doubt that MM's levels can actually fit in our thermometer (they do, as confirmed by MM), this is the trick they use to make it happen. Just remember, being fiscal with your vertices = a better more complicated level with fewer thermometer limitations.

2009-07-31 01:47:00

Author:
Shredator

Posts: 151

I disagree on the permanent switch.

It's easier to use a piece of dark matter and some dissolve with a magnetic key on the dissolve and the magnetic key switch on the the dark matter. Have the magnetic key switch inverted and hook it up with whatever you need permanently switched. Hook the button up with the dissolve and there you go!

2009-07-31 21:24:00

Author:
chezhead

Posts: 1063

Something I thought I'd share, don't know if many people know this: I recently played around with sound effect, and found out you can hook up a switch set to speed to a sound object to change the sound dynamically. Some vehicle sounds can be made to sound like going in reverse, forward, etc.

2009-10-26 14:45:00

Author:
Rogar

Posts: 2284

its cool to see how other creators do stuff, it shows that the create mode is really amazing as I personally do stuff differently to you XD for one thing you make 'the one way switch' about 50x more difficult to construct! all you have to do is stick a 2x2 block of dissolve onto a wall with a key on it and then stick a key switch right next to it, connect the key switch to whatever and invert it, then connect the button, which you use to activate the door, onto the dissolve! you don't need any glass

hope this helps! good job with tips it was an interesting read!

2009-10-28 14:36:00

Author:
Hallm3

Posts: 252

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