Wanted: Mentor (skinny-dipping into Hammer)
Hello.
I have a deadly concept laid down for my next Portal 2 map, and it involves a lot of non-portalable surfaces. Problem is, I hate black walls.
So I fired up Hammer. For my first skinny-dipping into this complex level editor, what I intend to do is lay down the puzzle logic in PTI, then do room design in Hammer (please tell me if that's a good idea). But for now, I'm trying to add textures in one part of my test.
I'm currently working on transforming a Clean layout (the only theme in PTI) into the Reconstructing theme. You know, with panels n shiz. I'm looking for someone to add on Steam so that I could bug him/her with some questions as I try to tame this beast. Don't get me wrong, as of now I have 10 tabs open as I try to figure out stuff.
Here are some preliminary questions:
1. Is there a "select all" shortcut so I could change the texture of all the walls in the test chamber?
2. Is there a way to temporarily remove the masks in the level? I'm just doing work on wall textures as of now, and the masks are kinda in the way.
3. In some Portal 2 maps, I saw items that look like junk pieces of metal. How do I do those? I'm trying to find it in the Textures window but it isn't there. Is there some other secret repository of metal debris that I should know of?
Thanks a lot. Hopefully I could change my signature to "professional mapper" sometime 
I'm a hammer noob myself so I'm not the person you're looking for. But maybe this helps with at least two of your questions:
Pick the Selection tool. In any of the 2D views, cick and drag a rectangle around the surfaces you want selected and hit Enter. That selects everything inside the rectangle.
The metal parts you mean are most likely "prop_statics". You can find many tutorials to place them. 
I don't understand what you mean with masks in the way.
2. Is there a way to temporarily remove the masks in the level? I'm just doing work on wall textures as of now, and the masks are kinda in the way.
3. In some Portal 2 maps, I saw items that look like junk pieces of metal. How do I do those? I'm trying to find it in the Textures window but it isn't there. Is there some other secret repository of metal debris that I should know of?
To answer your questions:
1. You can click the texture tool, click on a texture, then in the Face Edit sheet click 'Replace'. If you select a new texture here, Hammer will find all instances of that particular texture and replace them with the one you selected. Useful if you quickly want to change a room to another theme before refining the visuals.
2. Anything you want to remove that's in the way, just click on it and press 'H' to quickhide. Once you're done, press 'U' to unhide it again (important - if you have hidden objects they won't be rendered when you compile!)
3. Yeah, like zivi says, mostly prop_static, or prop-dynamic for the ones with animations involved.
You can add me on Steam if you like, but I can't promise I'll be around all that much and I'm not too experienced myself... Steam id is elfarmerino.
My maps: Double Bill / Jam / Oval Window / Gymnasium / Gymnasium Part 2 / Minimalism (collection) / Resolution
All feedback welcome!
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Hah, yes, finally! Thanks for the answers guys
Lots of luv
Most relatively easy questions get answered really quick. (basic hammer stuff)
Harder questions might take some longer (more advanced hammer/logic stuff)
And really really hard questions (this includes doing things that the portal 2 engine was never designed for) will take the longest.
There usually people in the IRC channel (myself included) willing to chat and answer questions.
I can totally help as much as possible. Although I'm not too experienced, I'm not new to Hammer either. I've made some maps with panels (I've even recreated this level from scratch! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOH6BprN9FI) so I can probably help you a lot.
Now let's solve this thing! ^^
feel free to add me on steam... mention why you're adding me
http://steamcommunity.com/id/BenVlodgi/
I've been mapping for portal 2 ever since the sdk came out, and I mapped before that. so I should be able to answer all questions