Map editing: Interface & controls

Learning and understanding the interface and controls are the first step to map editing...

The interface

	The "cube grid" This will be shown as a white grid of squares drawn where ever you point. Each of the small squares is a single cube. The cubes in AssaultCube are known as "geometery". The bigger blue squares, indicate a selection of 8x8 cubes to make map editing easier.
	Heightfield cubes These are the light green cubes in the grid. These cubes indicate heightfields, which will be explained later here.
	Entity sparkles These are shown as blue sparkly dots. They are known as "entities", which will be explained later here.
	Cube selector This appears as a small white box with a red dot in the corner. It will appear in the middle of the screen and you can use it to select geometery, a bit like a crosshair. The red dot indicates which corner of a cube you are manipulating, if you are using heightfields, or where your entity will be placed if you are creating an entity.
	"Nearest entity" text This is the white writing along the bottom. It will tell you the locaton of the closest entity and its properties.

To get a feel for editmode, press E and float around. Try clicking and dragging the small white box at your crosshair over some cubes (you will see a red box over what you are selecting). This is how you select geometery.

Map editing controls

Below are the controls that get used in map-editing, you will use most of these controls when creating a map, so it's good to learn them.

Changing geometery

Control	Function
[	Moves cubes in the floor downwards.
]	Moves cubes in the floor upwards.
O	Moves cubes in the ceiling downwards.
P	Moves cubes in the ceiling upwards.
	Note: The mouse controls are easier.
F	Makes selected cubes a solid.
G	Makes selected cubes a space/non-heightfield.
K	Makes selected cubes a corner.
C	Copy selected cubes.
V	Pastes copied cubes. Note: It pastes from the upper corner of the red dot.
U	Undoes the last action (only applies to geometery).
,	Equalize the floor.
.	Equalize the ceiling.
H	Makes the floor a heightfield.
I	Makes the ceiling a heightfield.
9	Manipulates the corner of a cube where the red dot is positioned upwards. Works only if the cube is a heightfield.
8	Manipulates the corner of a cube where the red dot is positioned downwards. Works only if the cube is a heightfield.

Changing textures

Control	Function
Home	Browses forward through wall textures.
End	Browses backward through wall textures.
7 (on the keypad)	Browses forward through upper-wall textures.
4 (on the keypad)	Browses backward through upper-wall textures.
Insert	Browses forward through floor textures.
Delete	Browses backward through floor textures.
PageUp	Browses forward through ceiling textures.
PageDown	Browses backward through ceiling textures.

Mouse controls

Control	Function
Left-click	Allows you to select cubes.
Right-click	Show the editing menu.
Scrolling	Scrolling will move cubes up/down, depending on the direction you look.
Hold Q and scroll	This will manipulate the corner of a cube where the red dot is positioned up/down. Works only if the cube is a heightfield.
Hold Z and scroll	Scrolls forward/backwards through textures on the floor/ceiling, depending on the direction you look.
Hold X and scroll	Scrolls forward/backwards through textures on the wall/upper-wall, depending on the direction you look.

Misc

Control	Function
E	Toggle edit mode.
Backspace	Delete entity.
L	Shows the lighting menu.
F5	Toggle ocullsion on/off.
F6	Toggle showmip on/off.