Once you're done setting Radiant's preferences, click OK. Now you are presented with the editor. Note how the main window is white with grid lines. These can be changed if you don't like them.
Go to Misc>Colors>Themes and choose a theme, or make your own by selecting an item from the menu and then pick a color for it. However, if you want to print your maps, you'll need to change it to one of the other themes.
I'm not going to go through all the menu items to tell you what each function does; we'll find out as we build our maps. Some of these functions you may never use, so why waste time?
One important thing is setting up the texture render quality settings. This determines how well the 3D preview window displays your map. Go to the Textures menu and select Render Quality. This should be set no higher than Nearest Mipmap. With some video cards, anything higher will seriously bog down your machine and does not improve the 3D preview anyway.
The Riva TNT, ATI Rage Pro, or any of the 3DLabs cards can handle the trilinear setting without breaking a sweat. However, as your map size increases, even these brutes need Cubic Clipping turned on.
Notice that the editor is divided up into several panes:
On the far left is a narrow pane for Z (height) info. (See the tutorial on how this window works)
On the bottom you may have a pane showing script text. Drag this down by centering the mouse pointer on the divider bar (it will turn into a double-ended arrow). Click and drag. If you want, you can leave it open enough to show a line or two.
The script window can be opened to show vital information and can help you track down problems with your map, such as missing textures.
On the upper right is your 3D preview window. It shows how your map will look during construction. Depending on the strength of your graphics card, you may have to adjust some settings to get optimal performance with this window.
When your map starts growing, you should turn on the Cubic Clip button and adjust how far out (zoomed out) the 3D preview window sees. Ctrl-] will bring the the view in; Ctrl-[ will allow more of the map to be seen in the window. Get above your map with the camera (D key) so you can see the effect of these key commands.
If you see Radiant really slowing down, this usually means the Cubic Clip has been turned off or zoomed too far out.
The lower right pane is for displaying textures.
I've labeled the main parts of the editor in the picture above. I've also pointed out 3 important buttons:
Cubic Clip: As already mentioned, turning this on and using the Ctrl [bracket] keys determines how much map is viewable in the 3D Preview window.
Brush Clipper: Turning this on (X) allows you to clip one or more selected brushes. Just remember that the shortcut letter X looks like a pair of scissors--snip-snip!
Rotate Selection: This is a "free" rotate (R). Pressing this button and selecting a brush will allow you to rotate on any axis (dependent on the view) and click/dragging the mouse up and down. Keep in mind that the smaller the grid settings, the smoother the rotation.
Last but not least: You can adjust and size your brushes in ANY window. Enough of the basics. Let's roll up our sleeves and start mapping!
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