[Dota2] - Phantom Lancer - TBD

marul

Hi everyone. I decided (a little late) that i should give the contest a shot since i love playing dota and 3d modeling. I'm not a veteran on game props however, so I spent the last few days figuring out the software that I'll use in the process.

I'm thinking about a set that best reflects Phantom Lancer's quality: being a master illusionist. Every set I saw consisted of wooden or metal parts but I think he needs something cool, like gems or crystals to reflect and bend light etc.


Steam Workshop:
Arcane Secrets

Latest update (Finished)


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yACu8VhiWA8"]Dota2 Arcane Secrets set in game - YouTube[/ame]

marul

Here's my initial concept sketch, very rough at the moment and open to suggestions:

Spudnik

As of yet, nothing really stands out. All of the pieces of armor looks pretty much alike and there's nothing that hooks you in and tells me a little story about who this character is. You said your inspiration is was gems, diamonds that reflect, break and scatter light - brilliant! It fits Phantom Lancer exceptionally well and has a great twist element to it that will get people hooked. All you have to do now is be a little bit more courageous with your concept, push more towards the magical, whimsical and away from the practical and realistic. Hope that helps!

marul

@Spudnik: Thanks for the input. I decided to give him less armor and more accessories, after all he's not known for his armor but his agility.

I tried a few lance models for the set, still not final though:

Spudnik

I like number 5 if you can make the blade a little less straight and give it some more attitude

dArth

+1 Spudnik

marul

I will probably go after 5 or 6. In that case there won't be a blade, the white parts are gems or crystals so it will be a 3 dimensional crystal instead of a blade.

Can you elaborate a little more? What do you mean by attitude?

Spudnik

Less of a straightforward approach I guess. Right now, the tip of the spear is rather simple in terms of it silhouette. I looks like a weapon that would be handed to a simple spearman in an army of thousands - easy to mass produce and not very intricate.

Check out some of these lances - they all are very clearly lances and work as such but they all have a little bit of a twist, a design element that pulls you in has you say "huh, that's intersting!" That's what I feel is currently missing from your design, it looks like it's been designed for easy manufacturing and not an individual with a story.

marul

Oh i see, you're talking about details. I'm not currently worried about the details but finding the outline of the parts that I'll be making, I'm kind of blocking out right now. Once I find the right proportions I'll add the details, try some colors and stuff. Thanks for the concern though.

Beezow

Spudnik wrote: »

looks like a weapon that would be handed to a simple spearman in an army of thousands - easy to mass produce and not very intricate.

I think that fits PL.
It's not like he's some kind of great warrior or anything, he's even called a "humble lancer", that's pretty much "simple spearman".

Spudnik

Exactly, he's an individual, he's not really gonna have something that looks mass produced but more tailored towards him personally.

And I'm not really talking about details per se, I'm more talking about what kind of feeling the silhouette invokes in the viewer (sounds kinda touchy-feely but bear with me). Basically what I'm saying is that right now this lance could belong to anybody. I'd suggest designing it so it has something that reminds of its owner or reflects some of the qualities of how it will be used.

Somebody said in another thread something along the lines of "use primitive shapes but down make them look like primitive shapes". Right now I'm seeing the primitive shapes that make up the weapon, in fact I'm seeing them a bit too much.

I know this is all kinda hard to grasp since there's no hard rules for this kind of thing, but I hope you can get a sense of what I mean.

marul

Well I'm not sure if I perfectly understood what you tried to tell but I agree to some degree. The item will symbolize his relationship with the dead mage (you can look up his lore if you already haven't) and will have some magical nature. It will be a unique weapon, nothing you can find in a shopping mall. With that said, I also like clean lines and simple geometry. My goal is to create both a unique and at the same time un-bloated design. (I couldn't find the right word since English is not my native tongue but I hope you understand what I mean)

marul

Still experimenting, thought I post another update:



I'll probably go with 6 or 7 (or something in-between) but I want to hear your thoughts too.

Pina

Number 1 for me is still the coolest because of the chest and shoulder combo.
Number 6 or 7 shorts look good. Weapon 6.
Do you have any ideas for his back?

marul

@Pina: No, I haven't thought about his back much. I'm probably gonna leave his back uncovered like his chest but we'll see.

Tried some coloring, let me know what you think of the material choices.


I'm currently working on the pauldron, I'll move on to the bracer next.

Baj Singh

I think the materials look fine. Maybe thicken up the straps running from the pauldron to the chest decor?

Good luck

marul

Well this is how it turned out;

9. First I added golden contours to the pieces to make it feel more valuable and unique.

10. Then I decided that I was straying too far away from what I initially aimed and went towards a less classic armor set

11. I chose to use a highly reflective blueish material -something between steel and a standard mirror. (I'm not really a concept artist so bear with me here )

12. I felt all those round corners also didn't feel right so I modified the symbol and the lance. Another advantage to hard edges is I can model them easily. It's still not finished but I rushed to post it so I can hear your thoughts.

Now, I'm not very sure if using large reflective areas on the armor is a good idea. Any suggestions on the parts on the side of the legs are greatly appreciated. I should probably decide what do to today and move on to modeling tomorrow or the day after, time is running out.

Spudnik

Cool, big improvement! #9 is my favorite but I think you can go almost double for the size of every armor piece. They're all a bit 'tight' at the moment, and don't stick out from the base in the silhouette. Also, do you see the dark spots on the chest/belly? That's how far his default belt reaches up, I'd really suggest adding something to the design to cover those dark spots. Keep it up, it's steadily improving!

marul

@Spudnik: yeah I've noticed that pieces are a little too tight now looking from a distance, thanks for pointing that out. I think the chest texture can and will be reworked (by valve) so I'm not bothering to cover that all up. I'm pretty sure once there are a few more PL belts out, they will add some makeup

Anuxinamoon

Do a quick blockout in 3D and start scaling up some of them smaller shapes. Play with that and see how it goes. You will then be able to make more overall changes to the design that way and then you can paint over it for a better concept if you want

marul

Thanks for the tip, I've done as you suggested and found out the lance is nearly twice the size I've painted here. I've also found some reference photos for the skirt part. I'm still trying things (like reflective/non-reflective surfaces) but I'm just gonna move on to the sculpting and see what I can do there.

Any suggestions on the workflow? Anything I need to look out for not having headaches afterwards?

marul

Another update. I couldn't use Zbrush as I planned, it seems I will have to learn it thoroughly first before trying hard modeling

Weapon is 90% finished. I've spent a lot of time with the armor skirt but it turned out better than I expected. I guess I'll go and add details on the cloth and the belt next.

marul

Finished high-poly models at last. I'm behind schedule so i'll try to quickly build the low poly models and start baking tomorrow.

marul

Finished low poly models and baking the normal maps. I deleted the armor skirts because I found out it was too much armor.

Next I'm going to delete a few polygons here and there, and in the darkness bind them (to the bones). I hope I can still finish this in time.

And here's my MAX viewport right now:

marul

I couldn't finish this set in time, this was my first game model so I was hindered by many things but I also learned a lot. I guess I'll wait for the winners and tweak the masks in the mean time.

See you all

marul

Finished!

Here's the link to the workshop page:
Arcane Secrets



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sIxlYeHI5k"]Dota2 Arcane Secrets set in game - YouTube[/ame]

Domovoi0ng

How do you test the models you make ingame? id like to try as well.

marul

I used the test client for this. You need to swap the original files with the ones you made. Don't forget to get backups beforehand.

Domovoi0ng

Thank you. Hmm, i dont have dota2 test downloaded. I will. Ive made items for leshrac and centaur, but not tested yet. Will do thanks. I guess i can find a wiki guide to replacing files?

marul

It's not that complicated. You must extract the .pak files first, then move them to another folder so that dota2 only uses the extracted files. Then find your imported zip file and replace the contents with the original (rename yours to match the originals).

Domovoi0ng

Thanks. ^_^ ill show you what i make.

siaoand1

amazing