Hey I am a bit late, but what the heck
I would go for something like this. Symmetry mapping is very important in DOTA2 because of low texture resolution. Having mirrored geometry allows you to have more pixel density on your model. I made some loops yellow, that can be removed after you generate normalmap so the low poly mesh will not intersect to much with hipoly while baking. Also I made blue element that can be disconnected from main model to save some tris that you would spend on connecting vertices. Hope it will help you in some way
Hey, if you're in the limit and you get to keep your horns and that curly bit, then great - but i definitely agree with Konras about the symmetry and the curve on the handle. Get more pixels per face. Texe density up in the...place...yeah. that just happened.
Thanks everyone for all your help, I have managed to get it down below 350 and did the symmetry on the UVing. I've managed to get it into the game and now just need to finish the texturing and skinning it to the correct bone to get the animations to work correctly.
At the moment, I am skinning it to Bow1_0 but this seems to make it lose the animation where the bow is pulled back to fire. It also moves slightly on the ground at the end of the death animation. Has anyone else created a bow before?
How do you guys do your promo shots? how do I get my model into the modelviewer on the existing heromodel?
I got the sourcefilmmaker working so that it shows me the actually dota models, followed cyborgmatts tutorial. but he doesnt explain how I might add my own model so I can pose the char for screenshots.
Hey maybe someone can help me with a problem I'm having. I'm really close to being finished! lol.
Everything is good, except this one thing. There is a scaling issue. It gets bigger when I import it. If you look at the image below you can see its cleary way too big. I've tried everything I can think of including unbinding, freezing transforms, deleting history. re weighting it. I've tried bringing the hat in as a new obj and starting over. Does anyone know if valve default scales hats up so they are more visible in game? It doesn't look bad from the top down view, its just the close up is scaled funny. Thanks ahead of time!
Awesome, thanks guys. I've got it in the game now and all is well. I need to put together some resources now though for presentation. I've been working kind of blind this whole time as far as viewport shaders go. I have Xoliul for Max2012 and the cgfxdota one for Maya, but neither are giving me good results. I'd like to view it in the model viewer. How can I go about converting it to a .mdl ?
How do you guys do your promo shots? how do I get my model into the modelviewer on the existing heromodel?
I got the sourcefilmmaker working so that it shows me the actually dota models, followed cyborgmatts tutorial. but he doesnt explain how I might add my own model so I can pose the char for screenshots.
curious for your answers
Whenever you compile a model with the ingame compiler it actually creates the resources you need to put it in the sfm model viewer.
Compile your model ingame. Go to where the files are compiled to:
steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\content\dota\models\items\(hero_name)\
You can find a folder in this directory which should have a folder that contains a zip file named after whatever you named your item during the compile.
Open the zip file and just extract its contents to the main root directory of your sfm dota 2 game/mod folder. After that you should be able to find it within the model viewer.
Awesome, thanks guys. I've got it in the game now and all is well. I need to put together some resources now though for presentation. I've been working kind of blind this whole time as far as viewport shaders go. I have Xoliul for Max2012 and the cgfxdota one for Maya, but neither are giving me good results. I'd like to view it in the model viewer. How can I go about converting it to a .mdl ?
Do whatever it takes to make your model look good.
You could render it in vray, keyshot.. ect paint on extra lighting. If you aren't able to get the look you want from one render, do a couple and compile.
Okaaay - I'm attempting to export my ward animations using FBX to no avail.
The ward loads up into the previewer fine but yeah, no animations.
Could someone who's had experience exporting animations give me a quick checklist of what I should be doing when exporting an animation?
--
Never mind! I did it
It seems exporting a .DAE and importing that into a fresh scene and exporting a .FBX from there solved it - it was a weird solution on a forum I found deep into the Googles but it works.
Whenever you compile a model with the ingame compiler it actually creates the resources you need to put it in the sfm model viewer.
Compile your model ingame. Go to where the files are compiled to:
steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\content\dota\models\items\(hero_name)\
You can find a folder in this directory which should have a folder that contains a zip file named after whatever you named your item during the compile.
Open the zip file and just extract its contents to the main root directory of your sfm dota 2 game/mod folder. After that you should be able to find it within the model viewer.
I've got a question, a specially for people who got their stuff accepted into the game. When creating the set do you bother with both LODs or only LOD1?
Hey oDD. I have created both LOD0 and LOD1 for my models. In my opinion its really important. Lich belt slot LOD0 was 1150 and LOD1 was only 550 so it was quite a difference. You should make both. Mostly you go from LOD0 to LOD1, however sometimes you can and some geometry or double side faces to LOD1 and you will have LOD0
I was wondering, I have a LOD1 and LOD0 of my bow but the UVs for the LOD0 are not done, is there any way to transfer UVs from a LOD1 to a LOD0 to allow to to use the same textures or do I just have to redo them?
I was wondering, I have a LOD1 and LOD0 of my bow but the UVs for the LOD0 are not done, is there any way to transfer UVs from a LOD1 to a LOD0 to allow to to use the same textures or do I just have to redo them?
What I did from my first submission was to make the UV map first from the L0D1 and then just map the L0D0 with L0D1 so you don't have to make 2 separate textures.
How i typically work is I create and unwrap LOD0, then duplicate it for LOD1 and reduce the tris - this should preserve your UV's (you have to avoid moving vertices though, just deleting and/or connecting) for the lower poly model without having to remap anything. You can do the same with the skin weights (in max at least)
im having a slight issue with a PL weapon that i made. i can't seem to get it bound correctly. in blender i set it to the proper bone, line it up just perfectly with his base spear's position, but in game it just floats above his hands, i tried using a decompiled (using these instructions) version of his model hoping that the spear would be in a better position (since the model from the requirements page has the spear floating to his side) but the skeleton is incomplete so the bone i need isnt even there.
have you moved the object's pivot to 0,0,0? (or lined it up with the default weapon's pivot, on the off chance that it's not zero'd out)
i zero its location(and rotation) in object mode before moving it into the "correct" position in edit mode so its coordinates stay at zero. the default spear is also all zeros.
@Dromak you can try to export default PL weapon, and check if it will show correctly ingame. If that will be true, than you can attach your weapon to it and remove old geometry so you will maintain original pivot, scale rotation and so on.
@Dromak you can try to export default PL weapon, and check if it will show correctly ingame. If that will be true, than you can attach your weapon to it and remove old geometry so you will maintain original pivot, scale rotation and so on.
im having a strange issue with the shader on a weapon i made. for some reason the entire wooden, and leather shaft of the weapons is insanely reflective, to the point where it looks like its turning blue from PL's skin.
obviously it is an issue with my masks, but i have no idea which one. i'm fairly certain it isn't metalness or self-illumination because that part has basically no metalness (very minor on the leather wrapping), and it has no self-illumination. i figure that leaves it as either the G, or A channels of mask 2, but those parts on those channels are all fairly dark.
basically my question is which layer could be causing such extreme reflection?
of note is that the actual metal bits, that have the brighter shades in the masks, and that have high metalness are reflecting just fine. no wonky blue light, no blinding reflections.
EDIT* im noticing a similar (tho much less extreme) blue reflection on the back of PL's boots in certain spots, namely the creases. is it possible this is just some strange lighting bug with the importer? just want to be sure if i need to fix something before i actually hit submit.
I'm losing my mind over here. I feel like I've tried everything for my issue... so I decided to ask here and see if anyone had any ideas on what to do. I'm working on a Rubick set. Most of my items work just fine in the importer(head, staff, shoulders)... but for the life of me I just can't figure out what is going on with my cape item.
This is my item in 3ds max.
But when I import... I get this.
I just don't understand why that one subobject of the cape is getting in but nothing else is. I've tried resetting pivots, I've tried attaching to new objects, I've even tried messing around with mask files and stuff. But nothing works. I'm trying to remain patient but I feel like I've tried everything. :poly127: Has anyone ever come across an issue like this? Where only part of the object is showing up? I would love to move forward but this has stopped me dead in my tracks. If anyone could shed some light on this odd situation I'd be so thankful.
I use maya not max, so I don't know what the equivalent is, but you did remember to freeze the transformations and delete all object history right? Especially if the cloak on the right was duplicated from the one on the left.
How i typically work is I create and unwrap LOD0, then duplicate it for LOD1 and reduce the tris - this should preserve your UV's (you have to avoid moving vertices though, just deleting and/or connecting) for the lower poly model without having to remap anything. You can do the same with the skin weights (in max at least)
I did this on my second item and it worked great, thanks mate!
I use maya not max, so I don't know what the equivalent is, but you did remember to freeze the transformations and delete all object history right? Especially if the cloak on the right was duplicated from the one on the left.
The tails of the cloak weren't duplicated, they were both modeled separately... I just deleted object history, reset scale and transform, collapsed all modifiers and still doing the same thing. I really don't know where to go from here. I don't understand how part of the object can just disappear like this.
Thanks for the advice though. No idea what I'm going to do about it. I've worked really hard on this set but things look bleak
Export as OBJ.. open original file (the downloaded one), import obj, skin then test. That should work.
I've actually tried that several times with the same result. You'd think it would work..... thanks though..
Edit: I just tried something with bizarre results. Will post a screenshot here in a moment.
I tried swapping in the textures for one of my other items(my staff) and it did this.
This leads me to believe it IS something texture related and it's just making most of the model invisible. What could I be doing wrong? Is there actually something in the masks that makes things transparent? I just put a BS mask(just visual giberish of mostly black) in until I'm ready to work on the mask. What exactly in the texture files could cause invisibility?
Hey oDD. I have created both LOD0 and LOD1 for my models. In my opinion its really important. Lich belt slot LOD0 was 1150 and LOD1 was only 550 so it was quite a difference. You should make both. Mostly you go from LOD0 to LOD1, however sometimes you can and some geometry or double side faces to LOD1 and you will have LOD0
How do I export animation for couriers and wards? Just grab the skeleton with the animation and .fbx it? If so, how do I export just a specific frame range (i.e. 00-30 spawn, 30-60 idle etc)
Might get the answer elsewhere but why do most people start their item from a high poly program instead of making a low poly base and then add details? I believe it goes faster to start with a base.
@Taumich - It is dependent on what kind of item it is and how any given artist is most comfortable working. Organic shapes are actually a pain in the arse to do in 3dsmax or Maya compared to Zbrush - more hard surface shapes tend to get a base mesh first more often, but artists with the skillset in Zbrush can make them faster directly in the highpoly first.
Additionally, It's generally easier to reduce your tri-count from a high poly then limit your hipoly to the silhouette of your lowpoly mesh.
Does anyone have any idea what this means? I've followed the same procedure as all my other items and never had this issue before. It comes up as soon as you click import.
I'm exporting animation via the .smd exporter that comes with the Source Film maker but all the animation is flipped on the side, as if it was taking all the Y-translation values and using them for Z-translation and vice versa. Any idea where/how I can fix that?
@Taumich - It is dependent on what kind of item it is and how any given artist is most comfortable working. Organic shapes are actually a pain in the arse to do in 3dsmax or Maya compared to Zbrush - more hard surface shapes tend to get a base mesh first more often, but artists with the skillset in Zbrush can make them faster directly in the highpoly first.
Additionally, It's generally easier to reduce your tri-count from a high poly then limit your hipoly to the silhouette of your lowpoly mesh.
Thank you reverendK. I'm using blender and i have no problems making items by moving edges, gonna try out the Zbrush method too to know exacly what you mean. Thank you
im having another rigging issue im hoping someone here has some insight to.
im binding a single object to multiple bones. i've zeroed the object, ive assigned the proper parts to the proper bones, it shows up in the proper location in the Dota2 client, in blender it works perfectly. and by that i mean if i go into pose mode, and move the bones the appropriate parts of the object move with it exactly like they should. the problem is in the client the object is only bound to a single bone, as apposed to multiple (3, it's a centaur back piece so it has the 2 bones for the cloth physics, in client the "shield" is exactly where it should be, but the cloth is just jutting out from the shield instead of hanging)
I'm trying to find the source files for the heroes and so far all info I could find was the "you have to rip them". Is there a chance that someone already uploaded all the files for all the heroes or even if they might be on some hidden Valve page?
Sorry if this has been asked before, trying to catch up with the workshop right now!
Replies
I would go for something like this. Symmetry mapping is very important in DOTA2 because of low texture resolution. Having mirrored geometry allows you to have more pixel density on your model. I made some loops yellow, that can be removed after you generate normalmap so the low poly mesh will not intersect to much with hipoly while baking. Also I made blue element that can be disconnected from main model to save some tris that you would spend on connecting vertices. Hope it will help you in some way
At the moment, I am skinning it to Bow1_0 but this seems to make it lose the animation where the bow is pulled back to fire. It also moves slightly on the ground at the end of the death animation. Has anyone else created a bow before?
How do you guys do your promo shots? how do I get my model into the modelviewer on the existing heromodel?
I got the sourcefilmmaker working so that it shows me the actually dota models, followed cyborgmatts tutorial. but he doesnt explain how I might add my own model so I can pose the char for screenshots.
curious for your answers
I don't know if I have my English above right but I hope you understand what I meant.. lol. Thanks
I would also like to know how everyone makes their promo images, I find mine always look really crap!
Everything is good, except this one thing. There is a scaling issue. It gets bigger when I import it. If you look at the image below you can see its cleary way too big. I've tried everything I can think of including unbinding, freezing transforms, deleting history. re weighting it. I've tried bringing the hat in as a new obj and starting over. Does anyone know if valve default scales hats up so they are more visible in game? It doesn't look bad from the top down view, its just the close up is scaled funny. Thanks ahead of time!
http://dropcanvas.com/#6ecb2m6g0m22ce
Whenever you compile a model with the ingame compiler it actually creates the resources you need to put it in the sfm model viewer.
Compile your model ingame. Go to where the files are compiled to:
steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\content\dota\models\items\(hero_name)\
You can find a folder in this directory which should have a folder that contains a zip file named after whatever you named your item during the compile.
Open the zip file and just extract its contents to the main root directory of your sfm dota 2 game/mod folder. After that you should be able to find it within the model viewer.
Do whatever it takes to make your model look good.
You could render it in vray, keyshot.. ect paint on extra lighting. If you aren't able to get the look you want from one render, do a couple and compile.
Just make it look as good as possible!
The ward loads up into the previewer fine but yeah, no animations.
Could someone who's had experience exporting animations give me a quick checklist of what I should be doing when exporting an animation?
--
Never mind! I did it
It seems exporting a .DAE and importing that into a fresh scene and exporting a .FBX from there solved it - it was a weird solution on a forum I found deep into the Googles but it works.
thx mate, gonna do that after breakfast ^^
What I did from my first submission was to make the UV map first from the L0D1 and then just map the L0D0 with L0D1 so you don't have to make 2 separate textures.
i zero its location(and rotation) in object mode before moving it into the "correct" position in edit mode so its coordinates stay at zero. the default spear is also all zeros.
this eventually worked. thanks.
obviously it is an issue with my masks, but i have no idea which one. i'm fairly certain it isn't metalness or self-illumination because that part has basically no metalness (very minor on the leather wrapping), and it has no self-illumination. i figure that leaves it as either the G, or A channels of mask 2, but those parts on those channels are all fairly dark.
basically my question is which layer could be causing such extreme reflection?
of note is that the actual metal bits, that have the brighter shades in the masks, and that have high metalness are reflecting just fine. no wonky blue light, no blinding reflections.
EDIT* im noticing a similar (tho much less extreme) blue reflection on the back of PL's boots in certain spots, namely the creases. is it possible this is just some strange lighting bug with the importer? just want to be sure if i need to fix something before i actually hit submit.
This is my item in 3ds max. But when I import... I get this. I just don't understand why that one subobject of the cape is getting in but nothing else is. I've tried resetting pivots, I've tried attaching to new objects, I've even tried messing around with mask files and stuff. But nothing works. I'm trying to remain patient but I feel like I've tried everything. :poly127: Has anyone ever come across an issue like this? Where only part of the object is showing up? I would love to move forward but this has stopped me dead in my tracks. If anyone could shed some light on this odd situation I'd be so thankful.
I did this on my second item and it worked great, thanks mate!
Thanks for the advice though. No idea what I'm going to do about it. I've worked really hard on this set but things look bleak
Anyone else have any ideas?
Edit: I just tried something with bizarre results. Will post a screenshot here in a moment.
I tried swapping in the textures for one of my other items(my staff) and it did this. This leads me to believe it IS something texture related and it's just making most of the model invisible. What could I be doing wrong? Is there actually something in the masks that makes things transparent? I just put a BS mask(just visual giberish of mostly black) in until I'm ready to work on the mask. What exactly in the texture files could cause invisibility?
dzięki
I've been doing 32bit for everything.
Question: Can we use alphas for couriers and wards?
-24bit for color, 32bit only if you're using the alpha for transparency.
-32bit masks 1 and 2.
-24bit normal
Additionally, It's generally easier to reduce your tri-count from a high poly then limit your hipoly to the silhouette of your lowpoly mesh.
I'm exporting animation via the .smd exporter that comes with the Source Film maker but all the animation is flipped on the side, as if it was taking all the Y-translation values and using them for Z-translation and vice versa. Any idea where/how I can fix that?
Thank you reverendK. I'm using blender and i have no problems making items by moving edges, gonna try out the Zbrush method too to know exacly what you mean. Thank you
im binding a single object to multiple bones. i've zeroed the object, ive assigned the proper parts to the proper bones, it shows up in the proper location in the Dota2 client, in blender it works perfectly. and by that i mean if i go into pose mode, and move the bones the appropriate parts of the object move with it exactly like they should. the problem is in the client the object is only bound to a single bone, as apposed to multiple (3, it's a centaur back piece so it has the 2 bones for the cloth physics, in client the "shield" is exactly where it should be, but the cloth is just jutting out from the shield instead of hanging)
I'm trying to find the source files for the heroes and so far all info I could find was the "you have to rip them". Is there a chance that someone already uploaded all the files for all the heroes or even if they might be on some hidden Valve page?
Sorry if this has been asked before, trying to catch up with the workshop right now!
edit: found this http://www.dota2.com/workshop/requirements but seems to be missing bane (which i wanted to model for)