How to: Make an automatic door

[Taffey]

It may surprise you to learn that my most frequently asked question is "How do you make the automatic doors in your Space Corps levels?" Instead of replying to every PM and e-mail separately, I figured I should put together a tutorial... and here it is!

This walkthrough will show you exactly how to make the doors I have in my levels, down to the sounds and the stickers. Keep in mind that this is a general formula, and it will work in a wide variety of applications.


The Basic Structure

Before we can really get started making our door, we need to lay down a foundation. For this example, I've made a short section of hallway that you might see in a secret base somewhere, or perhaps on the way to the Space Corps cafeteria. (I hear the Friday pizza special is quite good, but stay away from the baked beans.) Don't forget to also choose an appropriate costume to get you in the mood for creating. For this tutorial I've chosen a caveman outfit, just because.

>>> Using the square paintbrush tool, draw a floor, a back wall, and two sections of ceiling with a gap in between. Notice that I have made the hallway 4 squares high:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt01.jpg

(Note: It's hard to see in these pictures, but I've made the back wall of the hallway a thick layer, which means that there is only one layer for Sackboy to run around in. As a general rule, if you don't need both layers, only use the front layer.)

The next thing we need to do is make the door. Leave the material static for now. To make the door mechanism easier to see, I've used a different color metal.

>>> Using the square paintbrush tool, draw a door between the ceiling panels that is 6 squares tall:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt02.jpg





>>> Directly above the door, draw one square of material that will serve as the anchor point for the piston. The gap between the anchor and the door should be 7 squares:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt03.jpg

You now have the basic structure you need for your door. Let's move on.





Making Your Door Move

>>> Select a piston from your popit menu and connect the door to the anchor:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt04.jpg

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt05.jpg

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt06.jpg





Depending on the specific application of your door and where you're using it, you may want to adjust the piston length. If you've built your door the exact way I've shown, however, you do not need to adjust the length. Easy, huh?


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt08.jpg





Now it's time to make your door move like it's actually a door.

>>> Select the door, press the square [ ] button, and change the material properties to dynamic:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt09.jpg





Hey look, your door moves up and down. Cool! Unfortunately, we want to control exactly when it does this, so we need to do some more work.


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt10.jpg





>>> Open your popit menu and select a "Sensor Switch", otherwise known as a player proximity switch:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt12.jpg





We are making a one way door, which means we only want it to open for Sackboy when he approaches from one side - in this case from the left. There are several ways to achieve this, but the easiest way by far is to simply offset the sensor switch to one side. This will make sense in a moment.

>>> Attach the sensor switch to the wall behind the door exactly as shown. Placement is critical!


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt13.jpg





Now we need to tweak the switch to suit our purposes. To work properly, the trigger radius needs to stop precisely at the right edge of the door. This will mean that when Sackboy reaches the other side of the door, it will shut behind him and won't reopen.

>>> Select the sensor switch and press the square [ ] button. Set the switch behavior to directional, make the switch non-visible, and adjust the trigger radius value to 11:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt14.jpg

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt15.jpg

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt16.jpg





Depending on the type of switch you are using and the particular arrangement of your door, you may or may not need to change the direction of the piston. In this case, the piston will operate opposite the way we want it to, which means it will stay open until Sackboy approaches, and then slam in his face. To change this, simply tweak the piston and change its direction.

>>> Connect the sensor switch wire to the piston and change the piston's direction to backwards:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt17.jpg

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt18.jpg





There! If you've done everything correctly, your door should stay shut as long as Sackboy is not around (hovering in Create Mode doesn't count as being around.)


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt19.jpg





Testing, Fine-Tuning, and Finishing

Ok, so you have your door built and moving. Before it will be ready to publish, you'll need to do some fine-tuning. The first thing we're going to look at is the speed of the door. If your door doesn't move at the speed you want, adjust the timing. In this case, I want the door to be a little quicker, so I'm going to adjust the timing value from 4 down to 2.


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt20.jpg





Now, to make sure we've done everything right, let's test the door. I've put stickers on the back wall so that it's more clear which direction Sackboy needs to go in order to get through the door - in this case from left to right.

>>> Drop out of hover mode, unpause the game, and test your door. If you've built it correctly, it will work like this:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt21.jpg

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt22.jpg

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt23.jpg




Fantastic, it's working properly. To prevent players from selecting the suicide option and respawning back on the left side of the door, add a checkpoint.

>>> Select a player checkpoint from the popit menu and glue it to the wall to the right of the door:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt24.jpg





Q: What kinds of doors have no sound? A: The boring ones! You don't want your door to be boring do you? No, of course you don't. Choose a sound effect you like and add it to your door mechanism. I like "Hi-tech Door", but feel free to add fart noises or anything else you like.


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt25.jpg





Make sure you get the sound object as close to the sensor switch as possible so that the timing of the sound matches the movement of the door - don't forget to tweak the trigger radius to match the sensor switch.

>>> Select a sound object from your popit menu and stick it to the wall behind the door. Get it as close to the sensor switch as possible, and make sure it is aligned vertically as well. Adjust the trigger radius to 11 and set the sound object to non-visible:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt26.jpg

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt27.jpg




Ok, it sounds like a door and it acts like a door, but it looks like a block on a piston. Let's dress this up a little.

>>> Select an appropriate material and draw a thin layer in front of the door mechanism to conceal the inner workings:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt28.jpg

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt29.jpg




To really finish things off, material change the door to match the rest of your background, slap on some stickers, and add a camera zone:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt30.jpg





The Finished Product:

That's it, we're all done! Switch to play mode and enjoy the results:


http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt31.jpg

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/tross13/Automatic%20door%20tutorial/adt32.jpg



Congratulations, you've made a fully-functioning automatic door.... but where it leads is up to you. It's so easy a caveman could do it. :p

[TheNerd]

Haha, a quote from "Geico." Nice tutorial, but what I don't get, is why some people can't understand the simple mechanics. I've learned how to do this 8-10 days in the game. But we all have to start somewhere, don't we?

[robotiod]

It annoys me that people still ask about what really is pretty noobish, but then i remember LBP PSP still hasn't been out that long and it settles my mind a bit.

[SockFace]

cheers taffey. well done. I coulkd of easily done this myself but I looked at it just to see how other people do it. I never thought of a ONE -WAY door! that's ingenious.

well done taffers mate.


SockFace

[Taffey]

Thanks SockFace! I know a door like this is a fairly easy thing to make, but I thought it would be nice to have a step-by-step of the process. My guess is that most people will know most of this stuff, but there's probably one or two things they may not know, like the placement of the sound object or the checkpoint after the door closes.

Glad you found it useful! :D

[Fastbro]

Great guide Taffey! I'm sure it'll help out a lot creators.

Ps. I posted a link to it on my blog so hopefully more people will see it. ;)

[Voltergeist]

Looks very nice! If only we could get one of those mechanisms to hold the eyelids open, then we could just show all the LBP noobs out there the way. Good work!

[CyberSora]

Congratulations, you've made a fully-functioning automatic door.... but where it leads is up to you. It's so easy a caveman could do it. :p

http://img532.imageshack.us/img532/8132/caveman2zp2.jpg

:p

Anyways, I'll be sure to add this addition to your tutorial thread, Taffey. Well done. ;)

Peace

[Pete1991]

How to Make an Automatic 1-way Door

Automatic doors are very easy to make in LittleBigPlanet, a simple strip of material connected to some Dark Matter with a Piston linked up to a Directional Sensor Switch can be made in minutes, but what if you want your sackboy to walk through the door but not be able to go back? Here is your answer, and it's alot easier than you think.

1) First of all you obviously have to make your platform for your sackboy to run along, obviously with gaps in the required place to make the door. (Fig.1)

Fig.1
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/7614/aphotoz.jpg (http://img11.imageshack.us/i/aphotoz.jpg/)

2) Place a Sensor Switch where the door will go (Fig.2), set to Directional (make sure it is also inverted so that when the sackboy comes into range, the piston shown in Fig.3 retracts instead of extends). The second Sensor Switch is optional, I set it to One Shot for making sound effects.

Fig.2
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/1482/aphoto2k.jpg (http://img33.imageshack.us/i/aphoto2k.jpg/)

3) Make a piece of Dark Matter big enough to fit a Key Switch on, place the Key Switch, set it to Directional and make sure the "Inverted" option is set to yes (this is because the normal set up is that a Piston will extend when the Magentic Key comes into range of the Key Switch, and we need it to be the other way around), and another piece of Dissolve matterial that is big enough to have a Magentic Key placed on it. Place the Magnetic Key on the Dissolve and attach the two with a Piston, that is Stiff and set to a length that will mean when it is extended, the Magnetic Key will be out of the Key Switches range. Link up the Inverted Sensor Switch set to Directional to the Piston, picture of the final product (Fig.3)

Fig.3
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/9272/aphoto3.jpg (http://img101.imageshack.us/i/aphoto3.jpg/)

4) Make your door by making the strip of material big enough to close the gap, and attach it to a piece of Dark Matter using a Stiff Piston so it can open and close, tweak the piston options for length and time to your own needs (Fig.4)

Fig.4
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/1622/aphoto4.jpg (http://img528.imageshack.us/i/aphoto4.jpg/)

5) Place another Sensor Switch set to One Shot past the door, so that it will activate when the sackboy has already run through and away from the door. This Sensor Switch is to be linked up to the Dissolve material that your Magentic Key is placed on, so that when the Sensor Switch is activated, it destroys the Dissolve material and Magnetic Key that is placed on it, meaning the Key Switch will permanently keep the Piston extended. The final outcome should look like (Fig.5)

Fig.5
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/701/aphoto6.jpg (http://img405.imageshack.us/i/aphoto6.jpg/)

6) SUCCESS! You have now competed your 1-way Automatic door,it will open when approaching from one side, but when your sackboy gets through, the door will close and never re-open. Make sure you put a checkpoint after the door so that your sackboy isn't forever stuck in your level if they die. Also make sure you hide all your switches unless you choose not to.

Here are two images I made showing the door working.

- Here is one of the sackboy going through the door.
http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/1305/aphoto7.jpg (http://img697.imageshack.us/i/aphoto7.jpg/)

- And here is one of him trying to get back through it.
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/2252/aphoto8.jpg (http://img243.imageshack.us/i/aphoto8.jpg/)

I hope this has helped.

Side Note: I know Dark Matter is not available in LBP PSP, but just replace it with a Static material square, and remember to make sure your Dissolve is set to Dynamic so the Piston is able to move it.

Pete1991

[Taffey]

Great tutorial Pete - thanks for posting it! :D

I've used that method myself before, and it works very well in a number of situations. There's one more arrow in all of our quivers. :)

[CyberSora]

@Pete
Oh noes, figure 5 isn't showing. :cry:

P.S. What happens if you die and the only checkpoint is behind the door? (Ya, I had to say it. ;) )

[Pete1991]

@Pete
Oh noes, figure 5 isn't showing. :cry:

P.S. What happens if you die and the only checkpoint is behind the door? (Ya, I had to say it. ;) )

Works fine for me :confused:

And as to the question, then the player won't be able to continue playing the level obviously, hence why I said to put a checkpiint :hero:

[Domik12]

Hi, Taffey! Do you mind if I publish Russian translation of your tutorial on our Russian Community LBP site? And I plan to do my self foto for it, maybe with little bit quality.

[Taffey]

Hi, Taffey! Do you mind if I publish Russian translation of your tutorial on our Russian Community LBP site? And I plan to do my self foto for it, maybe with little bit quality.Hi Domik!

Yes, please go ahead and publish a translation on your site. The more creators we can help the better. :D

[Xenon]

Thanks for the detailed faq. I see you attached the piston to the dynamic door first instead of the static anchor. Does it matter which one you connect first? I have been avoiding pistons since they always seem to go wacky on me. Also, do you still corner editing everything? I can't get myself to trust the editor and still act as if its version 1.0

[Taffey]

Thanks for the detailed faq.Welcome! :)




I see you attached the piston to the dynamic door first instead of the static anchor. Does it matter which one you connect first? I have been avoiding pistons since they always seem to go wacky on me.Before the Strawberry Cheesecake update (2.03), it didn't matter. This was then broken following 2.03, and pistons needed to be attached to static objects first, dynamic objects second. This was quickly fixed in 2.04, and it again does not matter which you connect first.




Also, do you still corner editing everything?Yes! The drifting bug is still very much alive and kicking. Corner edit every shape and you'll be fine.




I can't get myself to trust the editor and still act as if its version 1.0Good. If you trust the level editor too much, it will stab you in the back at its first chance. Always create in pause mode, never use rewind, and make loads of backup copies of your level (http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?23990-The-corrupt-%2Alevel%2A-thread-%28Copy-your-creations-and-don-t-lose-your-work%21%29). Paranoia will save you from losing work.

;)

[Xenon]

Before the Strawberry Cheesecake update (2.03), it didn't matter. This was then broken following 2.03, and pistons needed to be attached to static objects first, dynamic objects second. This was quickly fixed in 2.04, and it again does not matter which you connect first.

Sometimes it's easier to connect to the dynamic object first so this is good news.


Yes! The drifting bug is still very much alive and kicking. Corner edit every shape and you'll be fine.

=( this gets really annoying.


Good. If you trust the level editor too much, it will stab you in the back at its first chance. Always create in pause mode, never use rewind, and make loads of backup copies of your level (http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?23990-The-corrupt-%2Alevel%2A-thread-%28Copy-your-creations-and-don-t-lose-your-work%21%29). Paranoia will save you from losing work.

I have gotten lax about being in pause mode, thanks for the reminder. I try to never use rewind but have done it when I have been editing for a while and forgot to save.
I have a pretty good backup system. I pick the crater with most save spots. My main level is in the center and I create backups starting at 12 O'clock and work my why down to 6 O'clock. That way I have at least 3-4 backups just in case the problem went undetected for a couple saves. The save points to left I use one for object creation and another for testing concepts before building them in the level. This way I am not adding and deleting stuff from the actual level, plus I always noticed that when rebuild stuff its usually better the second time =)

Thanks again.