PeTI Tutorial

This is a detailed tutorial about the Puzzle Maker or PeTI (Perpetual Testing Initiative), the map editor that comes with Portal 2. I placed here all I remember. Any errors write on the comments to let me know. PS: Sorry for the photos with the portal gun.

Intro

The Portal 2 game comes with a "chamber maker" called Perpetual Testing Initiative (PeTI) and some people maybe don't know how to use it, so I'm making that guide.

PeTI is a very limited, so they have created BEE2 and Hammer Editor, but that's not the theme of this guide.
(links of guides of Hammer and BEE2 in the Useful Links category below.)

PeTI have 32 elements: Pedestal Button, Button, Sphere Button, Cube Button, Weighted Cube, Companion Cube, Edgeless Safety Cube, Franken Cube, Tractor Beam, Faith Plate, Light Bridge, Stairs, Fizzler, Glass, Piston Platform, Track Platform, Laser Emitter, Laser Catcher, Laser Relay, Reflection Cube, Glass Panel, Angled Panel, Flip Panel, Observation Room, Laser Field, Turret, Deadly Goo, Light Strip, Bounce Gel, Speed Gel, Conversion Gel and Cleansing Gel. All of them have appeared in the Story Mode, except Edgeless Safety Cube and Sphere Button. Some of these don't appear in Portal 2, but appear in Portal 1.

Buttons

So, here we have one of the most known and used object both in story mode and in CTC (Community Test Chambers): Buttons! There are 4 types of buttons: Pedestal Button, Button, Cube Button and Sphere Button. I'll start with the pedestal button.
The pedestal button, like other buttons of the game, appears in the story mode. This one was introduced in Portal 1. It also can be connected to other objects like doors, tractor beams, gel droppers and platforms. But how? The 2 photos here will show you! Left click in the button in the editor mode, then right click it. Click in Connect to... (photo 1) and only drag the blue rope to the place you want to connect the button. When you press it, that thing will activate/open/deactivate (photo 2).

Now its the common button's turn! The button looks like this: It's frequently used in the CTC and in story mode, in both Portals. The Weighted Cube is the most used object to turn the button on. Look the Cubes page below to see how it works. You can connect it to other things, like all the other buttons. To your surprise, this one appears in the first test chamber of Portal 1.

Lets go to the sphere button! The sphere button does not appear in none of the games. It was only introduced in CTC and its not very used. Only works with the edgeless safety cube. See the Cubes page.

The Cube Button its like the button, but a cube fits perfectly in it. It was shown firstly in the Chapter 7 of Portal 2, in the repulsion gel test.

Cubes

Now, we have the 'button activators' that appear on the both games, except the edgeless safety cube. We have 5 cubes in the game: Edgeless safety cube, Franken cube, Weighted cube, Companion cube and Reflection cube. Let's start with the heavy one.

The weighted cube appears in the first test chamber of Portal 1. It's the blue one and it is used to press a button or stop a laser, so it's idea is not carry it for all the chamber.A button connected to the door only turns on with a cube placed in top of it.

The Companion Cube is used to press buttons, but it was created to help you across the whole test chamber. So, use only one in a test chamber. It was that type of cube that you throwed in the Incinerator of Test Chamber 18 (or 16 write in the comments) of Portal 1, and appeared firstly in that chamber.
Now we have the Edgeless Safety Cube, that does not appear in story mode. Like the Sphere Button, it was introduced in CTC and not used frequently. The sphere button and the edgeless safety cube are better used combined.

Now, the cube that was introduced in Test Chamber 1 Chapter 8 of Portal 2: Franken Cube! It have legs and can walk, but do not try to make it press the button walking (who played chapter 8 knows what I'm saying).

The reflection cube is used to reflect laser like this:Firstly appeared in Portal 2, it removed one of the weighted cube functions: Redirect lasers! This cube was created to make the weighted cube be a 'button-only cube' and to make things more simple.

Platforms

There are two types of platforms in the game. They are the Piston Platform and the Track Platform.

The last one is from test chamber 6 of Portal 1. The piston platform i don't remember, so someone write it in the comments!

The difference is that the piston platform goes up and the track sideways.

Laser Objects

We have 4 laser objects in the game: Laser Emitter, Laser Catcher, Laser Relay and Laser Field. I will start with the first thing that appeared in the Portal 2 test chambers: Laser Emitter.

Portal 1 laser emitter was different from the Portal 2 one, but the same functions.The Portal 2 laser emitter is this one:
You can point it to other place with the portals, that way:
But to where? Now the famous laser catcher will enter the scene.
The Portal 2 Laser Catcher is that one, and, like the laser emitter, its different from Portal 1 one.

Let's go to the laser relay! It was introduced in Portal 2, chapter 3 and looks like this:
On the My Contribution page below, I placed one of my maps with the PeTI that I made for starters. In that map I placed some mechanisms of the game, including all the laser items. PS: It's not a playground map, its a puzzle.

The laser field is used when you want to block a area of the map that cannot be entered without pressing a button/turning a laser catcher on. Appeared in Portal 2.

Light Objects

To enlighten the room we have the Observation Room and the Light Strip. Both appear since the start of Portal 1 and Portal 2. Observation room cannot be deleted and looks like this:The light strip can be placed in any surface and also deleted.

GPS Objects

I call these objects of GPS objects because they help you to reach some place. They are the Faith Plate, the Light Bridge, the Stairs and Tractor Beam. The light bridge was introduced in Portal 2 and can head you to any place that have a white surface. Put a portal in the finish of it and then another in where you want to go.
The faith plate was introduced in Test Chamber 5 of Chapter 2 (Portal 2) and you can set a route to it on the editor. It sends you flying to the target.
Stairs. I will not say too much about this because everyone knows what a stair do.
The tractor beam, or funnel, appears in Test Chamber 3 chapter 8 of Portal 2. It was created by GlaDOS before I exploded the facility in Portal 1. Wheatley stole the tractor beam from GlaDOS and placed it as the main element of the Test Chamber 3 of the Chapter 8 of Portal 2. It sends you flying trough it, and if sent trough a portal, can continue.

Deadly Objects

The deadly objects are the ones that can kill you, and they are Deadly Goo and the Turret.

The turret exists since Portal 1 chamber 15 (i think) and kills you after a few bullets. In the photo i am using the god console command that makes you be immortal.

The deadly goo came to the game in test chamber 3 Portal 1. It is a water that when you fall in it, you die.

Gels

The game Portal 2 have created a very useful object called Gels. They are four: Repulsion Gel, Speed Gel, Conversion Gel and Cleansing Gel. All the gels appear in chapter 7 of Portal 2. Also they appear in 8 and 9 of Portal 2, except the cleansing gel. In the editor, the name of the repulsion gel was changed to "bounce gel" but in the story mode it is repulsion gel.

The speed gel is orange and let you get in a bigger speed than normal. Can be sent trough a portal and can help on reaching places that you can't in normal speed.

The conversion gel is the white one and its like a paint. It can make a black surface turns white (if sent trough a portal) and its power is make black surfaces be portalable. That one saved you from death in chapter 9 of Portal 2.

The cleansing gel is the only one that does not help you reach some place, it can be used only to erase gels. When you send the cleansing gel into a portal and it hits one of the other three gels, it erases that gel.

For last, the repulsion gel. It is a 'trampoline' because it sends you flying when you jump at it. If you jump in the repulsion gel of a high altitude, you fly in that altitude that you jumped from. It is blue, and the colors of the gels are very interesting, because we have the orange portal (speed gel) the blue portal (repulsion gel) and the surface we can place them (conversion gel). This is very interesting.

Panels

We finally got into the climax of the guide: Panels. We have three: Angled Panels, Flip Panels and Glass Panels.

The flip panels do something very useful: Change the color of the surface. It only works with a button connected to it. When you press that button, it gives you a time. That time is the time it will be black/white and when that time ends, it will get back to normal.
The glass panel is more a decoration than a panel, because it does not head you to any place. The only thing that does is that:
Now, the angled panel. It is the more useful thing there, because you can set a angle for it, and its portalable. So, you can fly easily if you use the 'altitude rule' that is basically: The altitude you fall, you get flying at that speed that you falled. So, the higher, the faster.

Others (Fizzler, Glass)

Now we have the last objects of the guide: Fizzlers and Glasses. The fizzlers are the thing that appear in test chamber 7 Portal 2 chapter 2, the one that was broken. In chamber 8 chapter 2, it appears as a working one. It 'grills' anything that passes trough it, like cubes. It works like this:

The glass is not a 'glass.' It is more a fence than a glass. It looks like this:Glasses (glasses, not fences) appear since Portal 1. I don't know why they look like this, if someone editted with PeTI and got a real glass, comment and place the photo.

Changing the Size of the Test Chamber

To change the size of a test chamber, you need to push/pull it. These 2 photos will make you understand: Put your mouse up a surface (editor mode) and then pull the mouse cursor to the bottom of it. Then, pull or push it.

My Contribution

Here is the map I made with the PeTI:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1928978310

Useful Links

In this category I will place links that I think that were useful to me, and I make maps with hammer (none posted yet) so I will place links of guides like this one, that explains about Hammer and BEE2 here also. (guides of how to install them and how to use)

BEE2
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=500545849
The next one is the best in my opinion because its very detailed. Comes with install explanation too.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1649109733

Hammer
P0rtalmaster's guide have 18 of parts but it helped me a lot. Most recommended. WARNING: It says 19 but if you click in guide 18 and go to next guide you see written The Surprise. Even I dont know what is that. This is not the discussion here so lets move to the link.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=668125032

Hammer: How to use?

WARNING: I recommend to use p0rtalmaster's guide and not this, because it is only a short section of what is Hammer.

Okay. PeTI is very easy to use, good, but very limited. Then you discovered about Hammer and decided to use it. When you open Hammer, you will have a blank screen, without nothing, only buttons up there. To start creating your map, you need to click in File, and then in New. Then a lot of buttons will appear, and 3 grids will show up. In up-to-down order, i'll list what the buttons (left toolbar) do.

1- This is the Selection tool. Use it to select stuff.
2- This is the Magnify tool. Use it to zoom in the 3D view.
3- The Camera tool. This is what they used at the start of Chapter 6, when you stop falling, to make you look at the broken elevator in the ceiling. Use it to make the player turn to somewhere of your map automatically (i recommend using it in the start of the tests).
4- Entity tool. This is what they use to make testing elements, func_instances, prop_dynamics, prop_statics, etc.
5- Block/brush/worldbrush tool. The floor, ceiling, and walls of your test chamber.
6- Texture Application tool. This is the easier way to apply a texture to a worldbrush.
7- Apply current texture. See the button with a grey and green image on the right, with buttons with the words Browse and Replace in the side? Click Browse, select something and double-click it. Then select a worldbrush and click the Apply current texture button. The texture of the worldbrush will change to the texture you selected earlier.
8- Apply decals. Makes the same thing than the overlays tool.
9- Apply overlays/overlays tool. Choose a texture with the Browse button, and click this. It will create a decal that you can place in a wall/floor/ceiling.
10- Clipping tool. If you fail with this and do not undo in the SAME HOUR, get out of town. This can make you split two worldbrushes or chop them up.
11- Vertex manipulation tool. With this you can manipulate the vertices of a worldbrush. With this you can make lots of things, but WATCH OUT! If you make something concave with this, you will bug the map. Anything concave in the game is two worldbrushes!
12- Export to Maya. Only appears when you select a brush and i'll not talk about this feature because its useless.

Now, you should be asking me: What are worldbrushes and entities? I can help you!
There are three types of objects in Hammer: Worldbrushes, Brush entities and point entities. What are they? Let's see right now:

Worldbrushes: (a.k.a blocks) I said it earlier: the walls, ceiling and floor of your test chamber. Can be also turned into
Brush Entities: These are triggers, logic gates and area portals. To make one, right-click a worldbrush (in one of the grids) and click Tie to Entity. Done!
Point entities: (a.k.a entities/objects) The objects of your test chamber. Anything that aren't made of textures, worldbrushes or brush entities are made from that.

So, now that we know what are these, lets start building a room. There are two ways: Using Make Hollow in a big 3D cube (not recommended) and making 6 walls. We will learn the second option.

First step: Click the block tool, and make a worldbrush (only possible in one of the three grids).
Second step: Resize it (can be made in 3D view, pressing X) This will be your floor. Before the next steps, drag your cursor to the 3D view and over the word 'camera'. Click the word 'camera' in the 3D view, and select 3D textured. Then you can see the textures that you apply.
Third step: Duplicate it (select it in one of the three grids, double-click it, and click Copy. Then, drag your cursor to somewhere of one of the three grids (an empty space) and right-click this space. Then click Paste). This will be one of your walls. If you want you can just create 6 worldbrushes without copying them, but it takes more time.
Fourth step: Duplicate the wall three times and make the four walls touch the edge of the floor. You now have a room! But wait: You need a ceiling! Just duplicate the floor and make it touch the edges of the walls. Done!

Next step is to apply textures to your room. To do that, first click the button Browse on the side of the current texture image and copy something i wrote down there into the Filters text box (in the Browse page).

Black/non-portalable surfaces:

Ceiling: There aren't none for the black, but I use this wall texture because it looks like the portalable surfaces ceiling: metal/black_wall_metal_003b
Wall: metal/black_wall_metal_003e
Floor: metal/black_floor_metal_001a

White/portalable surfaces:

Ceiling: tile/white_ceiling_tile_002a
Wall: tile/white_wall_tile_003g
Floor: tile/white_floor_tile_002a

NOTE: It's easier just put "chamber" in the Keywords text box. In doubt, use the ones I placed there.

*NEW!*

I am creating a Hammer guide series. This will be a section created to when I post them, I will make a Master Guide List with all the guides here. The links will be only placed when I finish the number, but I will place the contents here:

00- Downloading Hammer and how to make a room. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1964171939
01- About brush entities and func_details, prop_dynamics, etc. and when to use them.
02- Buttons, cubes, and laser objects.
03- Glass, grating, observation rooms, light strips.
04- Fizzlers and laserfields.
05- The Aerial Faith Plate.
06- Turrets and defective turrets.
07- How to make a Ratman's den in your Hammer map.
08- BTS maps and testing elements.
09- Map styles/themes, such as Overgrown.
10- Division between the two halfs of the guide. Short flashback about the last guides.
11- Start of the second half of the guide and the Elevators.
12- Enrichment spheres.
13- Gel pump stations and gel tubes.
14- Making a Portal 1 style map.
15- For the ones who want a guide of PeTI to Hammer; who want to make Hammer maps from scratch I recommend skipping this.
16- Personality cores: How to make Wheatley and other Portal 2 cores.
17- Sound in Portal 2.
18- Making GLaDOS (not in a monitor)
19- Bombs (like the ones that you find just before Wheatley's deadly Lair)
20- A goodbye; End of the series.
21- The cake is a lie.

NOTE: Guide 21 is not a Portal 1 movie. It is really something related to Hammer. Will only release it I get 50 likes in total, counting with this guide.

UPDATE LOG

Hello again! In this section i'll write the updates i've made between time.

1/9/2020: Updated the hammer guide 01 contents.
1/8/2020: Updated this guide for the first time.

[Vermilisix]

The hammer editor was initially made to develop Half-Life 2 (not for Portal 2 PeTI), then it was used to make Portal 1 and 2. You can still use it to make maps though