caulk blocking

[Springheel]

Anyone know a lot about caulk?

 

Usually, you can see models through caulk--they block worldspawn, but they don't block models. That makes them very useful for sealing visleafs in a cityscape, because you can use func_static or model roofs to create the illusion of distance, and the player can see those rooftops even though they are on the other side of caulk walls.

 

Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't work and caulk DOES block models. I can't narrow down why it works sometimes and not others, though. Oddly, taking screenshots of places where caulk actually blocks models shows the entire model, so I had to fake what it looks like in the image below.

 

Anyone have any idea how caulk works or why this might happen occasionally?

 

 

 

 

 

[Obsttorte]

At least a part of the model has to be inside one of the currently rendered visleafs. If not, the model will not be rendered at all. If this is the case in your situation the problem will most probably occour due to a visportal.

[Springheel]

At least a part of the model has to be inside one of the currently rendered visleafs.

 

 

As far as I can tell it is. This is a map that has only brushwork and a few entities surrounding the offending caulk brush. You can see the edge of the tallest building pops into view as I lean to the side, or take a step to the side. Yet as far as I can tell no visportal is opening/closing to cause this. Does anything in this video look unusual to you?

 

[demagogue]

I've seen similar effects.

My initial theory--just by visual inspection; no expertise or anything--is it's something to do with the surface normal, e.g., passing through the two surfaces making up the corner of a brush (where it breaks down) instead of passing head-on through the front and back surfaces of the brush (where it passes through).

 

It's just when I was doing that move like you were, I had the feeling it's when the image moves from passing through the back surface (piercing the brush back-to-front) to passing through a side surface (through the corner of a brush) that you get that effect.

 

To test that theory, I think I'd have to actually draw it out on a piece of paper and then see if it's reacting how that theory would expect.

[Obsttorte]

I guess it's the big caulk brush in between (the one right of the visportal right in front of you) causing the issue. I normally fix this by creating a small portal_sky brush inside the visleaf where the error occours and merge it with the func_static in question. If you are using models, this approach wont work, though. Although you could try to bind said brush to the model and see if that helps.

[Springheel]

I've checked the visportals, and none of them touching the offending caulk brush are actually closed. So the visleaf the model is in should be visible. In the vid below you can see that I take a single step to the side and the building becomes fully visible, even though no visportals are opening or closing.

 

I can hide it by putting a func static underneath that is merged with another brush, as Obs mentioned, but I sure would like to know what causes it to happen in the first place.

 

 

[demagogue]

I thought visportals simplify rendering in an outer leaf by just needing to check if an entity or model, etc, is inside its wireframe bounds (or wherever it's popping into view). If the model isn't inside that frame there's no reason for the model to render, even if the portal is 'open'. That sounds like a reasonable optimization.

[Obsttorte]

Yes. The error can occour even if no visportal is closing. I had this issue myself several times, and always applied the above fix. Why this is actually happening is something I don't know. I used the fix more out of intuition.

[Bikerdude]

Anyone know a lot about caulk?

Replied in closed thread.

[Arcturus]