What a difference a year makes. I have been asked to rework my first Dota 2 set I made for the polycount competition last year. While initially it was just to remove skulls for less issues within China I have take it as an opportunity to rework most of the items.
I have learnt some much over the last few months and this image speaks volumes as to how helpful this community has been.
So hopgood, tell me, where the fuck goes the color in your texturing guide? ^^
no srsly, i am trying it out cause it looks really promising but where do i set color? how do YOU do it?
So hopgood, tell me, where the fuck goes the color in your texturing guide? ^^
no srsly, i am trying it out cause it looks really promising but where do i set color? how do YOU do it?
Sorry, I should maybe include another picture to describe how I do it but I use Gradient Maps to lay down the colours. Just sampling colours from the original texture or even my concept I lay down and mask out several gradient maps.
From there I hand paint details on top of that on layers will a mix of layer styles depending on what I am doing.
Like Vlad said you can put the colours underneath as base colours but I find I have less control over the specific colours I want in that situation. I am sure there are ways around this but I have just gotten use to Gradient Maps now.
My only suggestion is to be careful of the colour selection you use with a Gradient Map. If your base textures aren't defined enough you can end up washing out the details you have by not really using the advantages of Gradient Maps by using several levels and hues of colours and playing with the Gradient manager.
I hope he doesn't mind me linking this but because I don't have any streams or anything of the process you can look at Polycount member Daphz's video here. My texturing is pretty similar to his and the video is great for seeing how it works.
You can also check out this video from the Darksiders competition a few years back. From about 2:10:00 onwards they go into their texturing style. I find their style is pretty similar to Dota 2's.
WIP update. Used the stooge exporter for the first time and noticed some normal issues on the mask afterwards. Should hopefully have textures done this week.
Texture update. I found with my first set it didn't have a consistent theme across the items. I have tried to fix this up with this re-iteration, at least as much as I can while having to incorporate the colours of the dolls.
Progress, she is being made. Have to tune some of the colours that looked ok in Marmoset but are coming out too dark in Dota2. I am not sure if I am happy with the dolls looks so specular but I can experiment with that later.
Also if anyone is wondering of ever making a set for Witchdoctor. Get your blood pressure checked before you do so. His rig is infuriating and the fact that his model is completely asymmetrical and changes completely from the default to once in game is beyond frustrating when trying to adjust the rig.
Thanks guys, I've adjusted the colours on the staff slightly to be warmer and reduced the spec a fair bit. I think it was actually my specular exponent mask which was too high making it look almost wet.
Finished up this tonight. Set myself a deadline of October 30th to make sure I wouldn't drag anything out for too long. Was great to go back and rework an old set with everything I have learnt over this year. If only it wasn't on such an annoying hero to work with haha.
What do you do when it is -30 and snowing outside? Attempt a Lich set! Work in progress here, I need to work on my "ice" sculpting but pleased with how it is looking so far.
Realised I hadn't updated this in a while so here is the current progress of the in game set and the promo art. Hoping to have it dome before the Christmas break.
Finished up my entries into the Spring 2014 event last night and had them up today. With the deadline extension I could looking at pushing one more out, see how we go. Some great entries in this event!
I did end up creating a fourth item for the Spring event with the deadline extension helping out there. Congrats to everyone who was able to get something in game, looking forward to seeing more additions as the event goes on.
Work in progress of a sculpt for a Wraith King set. Looking at some Viking/Norse/Draugr inspiration on this one. Will update with the weapon once something is further along.
Update on the sculpt, Changed up the cape a little bit. I'm not the greatest at cloth sculpting so I may go back and tweak small parts of it I am not happy with
Baked down and base colours added. Some of these need to be adjusted further but pretty happy with how it is looking so far. Also added a "really" rough basemesh for the weapon.
Work in progress of the LOD1 set in game with no masks. A few skinning issues on the Bracers need to be corrected but happy with how it looks so far. I wasn't happy with the weapon and went back to the drawing board on that one.
Shaders and the new weapon have been updated. Really pleased with how it is looking so far. There are some minor skinning issues on the bracers that need to be fixed but overall I am really happy.
Finished up the set and uploaded this morning. Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I'm really pleased with how the set turned out and the suggestions and crits I received along the way played a big part.
Quick work in progress sculpt of a Puck set I have been fiddling with. I am going for a Leafy Sea Dragon inspiration but the head was something different. I call it the "Puxolotl"
Update on my Leafy Sea Dragon style Puck. Sculpt is nearing the end, looking forward to the diffuse for Puck, seems like you can get some great detail with the masks and shaders.
Played around with the rigging to get this in game to test. I may have to fiddle with the positioning of the wings to avoid clipping on the ridges on his/her back. There are a few different rigging set ups I can try with these wings so I will see what works best.
No masks yet but hopefully I can have them finished in the next few days.
I realised I never posted it above when I was working on the Wraith King set but thanks for all the kind comments everyone! I enjoyed working on that set a lot.
Messed around with Marmoset 2 and the Dota Shaders to get a turntable. Pretty quick effort here, it's hard to get Puck's tail displayed without clipping the wings but not too bad.
It's finished! So glad they have added the wing animation support in the next patch in the importer for anyone who works on Puck in the future. Having to start up an in game server just to test them everytime can get annoying.
Thanks guys, it's getting a pretty mixed response on the workshop but I am proud of how the set turned out anyway. Onto the next set, concept art to come soon.
Replies
I have learnt some much over the last few months and this image speaks volumes as to how helpful this community has been.
no srsly, i am trying it out cause it looks really promising but where do i set color? how do YOU do it?
Sorry, I should maybe include another picture to describe how I do it but I use Gradient Maps to lay down the colours. Just sampling colours from the original texture or even my concept I lay down and mask out several gradient maps.
From there I hand paint details on top of that on layers will a mix of layer styles depending on what I am doing.
Like Vlad said you can put the colours underneath as base colours but I find I have less control over the specific colours I want in that situation. I am sure there are ways around this but I have just gotten use to Gradient Maps now.
My only suggestion is to be careful of the colour selection you use with a Gradient Map. If your base textures aren't defined enough you can end up washing out the details you have by not really using the advantages of Gradient Maps by using several levels and hues of colours and playing with the Gradient manager.
I hope he doesn't mind me linking this but because I don't have any streams or anything of the process you can look at Polycount member Daphz's video here. My texturing is pretty similar to his and the video is great for seeing how it works.
You can also check out this video from the Darksiders competition a few years back. From about 2:10:00 onwards they go into their texturing style. I find their style is pretty similar to Dota 2's.
edit: oh ok, didnt try the "above all " out but gonna do that.
Also if anyone is wondering of ever making a set for Witchdoctor. Get your blood pressure checked before you do so. His rig is infuriating and the fact that his model is completely asymmetrical and changes completely from the default to once in game is beyond frustrating when trying to adjust the rig.
I agree with Jalcober however, the color of the wood itself could use tweaking, as could the spec map on it, it's a bit shiny currently. Nice work!
Blightfrore Raiment by Scuba Cat!
Rune King's Omen - Scuba Cat!
No masks yet but hopefully I can have them finished in the next few days.
I realised I never posted it above when I was working on the Wraith King set but thanks for all the kind comments everyone! I enjoyed working on that set a lot.
Nether Sprite - Scuba Cat!
-It doesn't look like the default
Just think of it as, your set looks so good on puck, it should be the default