Deans's Doodadles

Deans

Hey all! I figured I'd share what I'm working on at the moment. I've been modelling for a few weeks now so advice is more than welcome!

Juggernaut sword! Whee!


I recreated this thing from scratch. The old version just wasn't good enough. I managed to get the shaders looking okay, but it took some effort. Is the specular tint channel inverted from what it says in the guide? That thing gave me a lot of trouble.


Here's a sword/staff for Crystal Maiden!


It was originally just going to be a normal shiny crystal staff, but the shaft seemed like a wasted opportunity so I slapped a blade on it. Something still seems to be missing, though. I don't want to start texturing until I'm satisfied with the model.


I'd love to know what programs people use for their models. I'm using 3D-Coat for modelling/texturing, it works okay but sculpting hard edges is pretty difficult. My Maya trial is running out soon so I'll need a new program for rigging. Can Blender handle that okay?

Deans

I finally stopped being lazy and finished this thing!







Some details get lost in-game but no biggie. Think it's ready for upload?

marul

I suggest you to take a look at Valve's directions on texture painting and preparing masks. You can find the pdf's here: http://www.dota2.com/workshop/requirements

Your high poly is good but the textures lower the overall quality of the item. Try to get a more "golden" look and give those crystals some self illumination. Btw, keeping your color scheme limited would help.

Coyo.Te

I would try to find another color for the red crystal. It kinda breaks out of the whole color concept and imho distracts too much. Maybe try a more purple or blue-ish color there. And as marul suggested, shader masks. they are really really important and can greatly add to the whole thing, transport a good amount of information and concept as well. Take a look in the original materials for a direction if your in doubt.

Deans

Thanks, I definitely need to mess with the shaders some more. The specularity is barely showing up.

I was curious about programs. Do people think that 3D-Coat is more than adequate for Dota items, or are Zbrush or Mudbox worth the extra cost?

Coyo.Te

in the main forum was a thread about 3d coat in which most people spoke about how they use only one superior feature of the program and use other software for other parts of the modeling process. I think they only used it for painting afaik but not 100% sure. use the search if you wanna read through the thread it should be easy to find. was not too long ago.
Would be interesting to hear what other folks use for texturing and the like.

Deans

Alrighty, I think I'll stick with 3D-Coat. Looks like my nitpicks with it are really minor compared to the things it does right.

I think I found another problem with my staff. I baked the normal map with it in a vertical position, but it's mostly horizontal in the game. Does the orientation matter at all with normal maps?

Coyo.Te

I am not sure, normal maps is applied via the uv-map, but the height and depth info seems to have something to do with lighting. Someone with more expertise could propably clarify better.

Deans

Alrighty, I've been wrestling with the shaders for a while but for the life of me I can't get this golden band any shinier.



I'm just gonna upload it and move on to a more interesting project.