Branch's Workshop (?) thread

branch

Hi!
I've started playing with DOTA2 workshop, as I've always found 3d modeling a very relaxing hobby

Right now I'm trying to recreate an avlord shuriken concept.

This is what it's supposed to look like:


And this is what I've got so far:


I'm a bit concerned about those "holes" that run along the blades. My fear is that they would bring too much noise as the blades are very thin.
Tomorrow I'll try making the holes with the alpha channel and with the normal map and see what happens.

Maybe I should just widen the blades!

Thanks for the patience.

p.s. When I use the Q ability, the animation still has the old shuriken. Do I have to provide it?

Pipotchi

Im by no means an experienced 3d modeler but the blades seem much too thin to add any more detail to them. To be honest Im not sure if they are thick enough to actually be registered as sharp blades in-game, because they are so thin and the sharp edge at the end of each prong is very small (considering most of the time people will be zoomed out fully unlike in the screenshot)

Maybe worth considering? I feel that each blade would look nicer and allow more detail if you adapt the design to have a few less edges... but Im not experienced in any way so my opinion may be complete garbage.

branch

Pipotchi wrote: »

Im by no means an experienced 3d modeler but the blades seem much too thin to add any more detail to them. To be honest Im not sure if they are thick enough to actually be registered as sharp blades in-game, because they are so thin and the sharp edge at the end of each prong is very small (considering most of the time people will be zoomed out fully unlike in the screenshot)

Maybe worth considering? I feel that each blade would look nicer and allow more detail if you adapt the design to have a few less edges... but Im not experienced in any way so my opinion may be complete garbage.

Hi, thanks for the reply!
What do you mean with "adapt the design to have a few less eges"? Should I reduce the number of blades?

I have made another attempt increasing the size, and I like it more now.


p.s. Ignore the texturing!

Pipotchi

Well I originally meant reduce the number of blades, then I looked at the design again and realised you would be making a swastika if you did that, so maybe that isn't the best idea.. It looks a lot better with the size increased though.

Insaneophobia

Pipotchi wrote: »

Well I originally meant reduce the number of blades, then I looked at the design again and realised you would be making a swastika if you did that

Bounty Hitler

branch

I'm a bit stuck with the shuriken, so today I decided to try zbrush
The result is not so bad I guess, even though I don't like all that blue in the middle part. The painting is very sloppy, but I was starting to hate my mouse; I really need to get a tablet



So, I have two questions about zbrush:

1) I couldn't manage to set a local pivot point for my object. So in the end I kept my gauntlet at the origin and rotated/moved the imported model. It worked, but it felt a bit weird

2) Even if I subdivided my mesh up to millions of polys, the size of the brush and the size of the model remained at the same proportions. That felt a bit weird too... should I have scaled my model?

branch

A really quick importing test before going to bed:


The shinyness is killing my eyes!
I need to work a bit on the UVs or simplify a lot the decorations.

Insaneophobia

the gold needs to be a lighter color! It's really hard to see the decorations

branch

Yeah you're right. Another quick test with lighter color and no masks:



I think I'll have to remove the decorations, I fear they would look horrible in game whathever I do.

branch

I fixed the UV a little and decided to submit it.
I guess this now is officially my workshop



http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=167315582

branch

A quick concept made during lunch break:


The thing in the middle is supposed to be an animal skull.
I'm already at 348 polys, so I'll have rely heavily on normal maps!

branch

No clients today, so I had time to move a little further:

branch

Ok, I seriously need advice.
This is what I've got so far:


The colours are going to change for sure, these are horrible.
I think that right now it's a quite boring object. I don't know how to improve on this side, while keeping the details down.

I was thinking on adding some bandages around the horns, like he has on his body.

Another idea was to replace the horns for simpler ones, so that I can use extra polys on other areas.

Help!:poly142:

branch

Spamming my own thread!

branch

I'm starting to study a bit on how to improve my uvmaps.
I have updated my pl object:
before -> after


I have also published a new object:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=168171834&searchtext=

I'm learning a lot of new stuff and I'm having fun, I suppose I should be happy just with that :P

branch

A new weapon I made for disruptor today, I was thinking to name it eye of the storm.



I'd really like some advices on how to improve it! Thanks

branch

I'm trying some more advanced stuff (clothing with weight, a full set maybe), but I need some help.



As you can see, the back faces of his "cape" are not visible. This doesn't happen with the default cape.
How can I solve this?

Thanks!

down_limit

u can dublikate bioygons and flip!)
dota dont use doublesides materials..

Cersei_Lannister

Yeah, it always happens when you use a plane. As down_limit said, the solution is cloning the plane, separate it a very tiny little bit from the original one, and then flip its normals.

branch

Mmm I don't think I have enough triangles left
I'm pretty sure that the default cape is a single faced plane too... is this one of those things that valve can do and we can't?

branch

No cape anymore:


It looks plain, but anything more I add becomes noise. I'm not really sure what I can do to improve it.
I guess I'll just move to the next objects of the set and try to get a feeling of the whole.

branch

I'm trying to learn to sculpt something decent in zbrush.

So I created this concept while trying to improve on hard surfaces. I'm almost satisfied with some parts, others look like they have been beaten with giant clubs
The shoulderpads are very uninspired.



Some feedback would be great!

Pundt

Hard surface in Zbrush has always been something that alluded me. I have seen many artists pull it off without a hitch but I feel like some wizardry was involved.

For me I will typically sculpt in the quick general shape of the armor or hard surface I want. I dont really worry about lumps at this stage, its just something so I can get a feel of the silhouette and form. Then I just retopo it using ZBrush or Topogun. After that I work from very low resolutions and then gradually increase the resolution. When its at its lower rez it is easier to get rid of any lumps and make big changes without destroying the surface quality. This prevents that hammered in look and shouldn't add that much time, if any, to your workflow.

*DYNAMESH*
Forgot about that bad boy. If you arent looking to retopo you can always create a low resolution dynamesh and build up from that. Also Zbrush has some pretty fancy edge loop tools built in if you have the latest version. So you can check out their site for some tutorials on those.

Hope that helps!

branch

Pundt wrote: »

Hard surface in Zbrush has always been something that alluded me. I have seen many artists pull it off without a hitch but I feel like some wizardry was involved.

For me I will typically sculpt in the quick general shape of the armor or hard surface I want. I dont really worry about lumps at this stage, its just something so I can get a feel of the silhouette and form. Then I just retopo it using ZBrush or Topogun. After that I work from very low resolutions and then gradually increase the resolution. When its at its lower rez it is easier to get rid of any lumps and make big changes without destroying the surface quality. This prevents that hammered in look and shouldn't add that much time, if any, to your workflow.

*DYNAMESH*
Forgot about that bad boy. If you arent looking to retopo you can always create a low resolution dynamesh and build up from that. Also Zbrush has some pretty fancy edge loop tools built in if you have the latest version. So you can check out their site for some tutorials on those.

Hope that helps!

Thanks! So you don't use dynamesh even when your sculpting your concept?
I was thinking to try this workflow: dynamesh concept -> retopo -> lod1 + lod0 -> high poly sculpting in zbrush.
I have seen those edge loops tutorials and it seems like they give some very nice results, but it looks less... "fun".

hopgood

If you're using Maya, you can use the Crease tool on your hard edges and then use the Go-Z plugin to move it into Zbrush. This will retain those hard edges when you subdivide the mesh. This way you don't have to mess around with multiple hard edge loops.

branch

hopgood wrote: »

If you're using Maya, you can use the Crease tool on your hard edges and then use the Go-Z plugin to move it into Zbrush. This will retain those hard edges when you subdivide the mesh. This way you don't have to mess around with multiple hard edge loops.

I'm using Blender. I manually add the edge loops, not the best solution
I often think about trying maya or softimage, but then the thought of spending hours trying to find buttons and functions scares me

I'm moving forward!
Here's the completed concept. I cared much less about details and concentrated about the shapes and general look.


And here's the LOD1 version. Maybe I should add a weapon too... can set be "incomplete"?

branch

I'm getting crazy trying to rig the shoulder piece. It either becomes a slimy blob or it starts clipping like crazy.

Does anyone have some tips / best practice to share?
I also don't like Blender weight painting tools at all

Thanks!

branch

I'm still working on a pa helmet concept for this month's contest.
Feedback and help would be highly appreciated!

branch

LOD1 with baked texture. There's a lot to fix, but I think I'll try to work on 2D only as an exercise!

in game


render

branch

Too much work for a boring helmet.

What could/should I improve?
Thanks

branch

Phantom Assassin Great Helm by Branch




Sorry, I'm spamming a little hoping to get some feedback and advices on how to improve :poly122:

branch

This is supposed to be a wooden parrot. Do you think it would be appropriate as nature prophet's summon?
The top should be made of something like palm leaves (?) with some color mixed in.

All kind of feedback would be very appreciated

AboveExpert

branch wrote: »

This is supposed to be a wooden parrot. Do you think it would be appropriate as nature prophet's summon?
The top should be made of something like palm leaves (?) with some color mixed in.

All kind of feedback would be very appreciated

This is awesome! I would love to see this in game.
Question: Do you still you your mouse or have a tablet?

AboveExpert

This is awesome! I would love to see this in game.:thumbup:
Question: Do you still use your mouse or have a tablet?

branch

Thanks!
I'm working on it, but I'm not sure I'll be able to complete it.

I'm using a tablet, but I'm still getting used to it (it's also very small and low quality ).

Here's a concept for a OmniKnight hammer in all of its pencil and mouse glory! Those spikes should come out a little (a bit like a "X" with really small arms... maybe more like an "H"... ). Yeah, I know that the handling is wrong.



Harsh feedbacks are very welcome!

AboveExpert

branch wrote: »

Thanks!
I'm working on it, but I'm not sure I'll be able to complete it.

I'm using a tablet, but I'm still getting used to it (it's also very small and low quality ).

Here's a concept for a OmniKnight hammer in all of its pencil and mouse glory! Those spikes should come out a little (a bit like a "X" with really small arms... maybe more like an "H"... ). Yeah, I know that the handling is wrong.



Harsh feedbacks are very welcome!

This is awesome as well I think the concept is good +1

branch

Thanks, too kind

Some other concepts done today! The pictures also displays my incredible (?) progresses in 2D art (from left to right)

branch

I tried to sketch a set matching the third weapon, but I think I failed a bit.
I still need to think about something for the belt/legs, and I'd like to add some cloth and decorations to make it more interesting.




p.s. yeah, I know the perspective is off and some parts are just wrong, but it's the best I can do for now!