Need Help Making my first Dota 2 Model
I've been teaching myself Blender and GIMP for about the last 4 months, and in a spur of madness/boredom I've decided I want to make a DOTA 2 item set, after I had an idea for Naga Siren. However, I've already met a few issues I really need to solve before starting.
* Do I delete everything except the "body" file and effectively start from scratch? Or do I keep the "legs" file as a reference to modify as the skeleton is already bound to it and the shape of it shouldn't massively change? I mean, it's easy for someone like Lina, because you're *Only* adding onto the existing human shape. For Naga, the cosmetic is a part of the character herself.
* Noob question alert! How do I set a certain camera angle as my "reference" for xyz manipulations (say I'm creating an armlet, and I want to extrude it along her arm accurately)
* For "banded" armour or plate armour, am I better modelling each panel individually, extruding off a "skin level" panel, or just making a single sheet which I texture to look like there are gaps?
Thanks for any answers you may give. I'm still fairly new to this, and what I'll make will probably be rubbish, but hopefully it won't be a total failure!
P.S. My concept is a kind of modified ornamental samurai armour set for Naga. I want it to look like something someone would or could actually wear in a battle, as opposed to a dress or nothing at all! If anyone's interested, I have a concept I can upload (if you promise not to laugh at my non-existent pencil drawing skills - there's a reason why I'm decided to learn how to do all my arty stuff on the computer!)
* Do I delete everything except the "body" file and effectively start from scratch? Or do I keep the "legs" file as a reference to modify as the skeleton is already bound to it and the shape of it shouldn't massively change? I mean, it's easy for someone like Lina, because you're *Only* adding onto the existing human shape. For Naga, the cosmetic is a part of the character herself.
* Noob question alert! How do I set a certain camera angle as my "reference" for xyz manipulations (say I'm creating an armlet, and I want to extrude it along her arm accurately)
* For "banded" armour or plate armour, am I better modelling each panel individually, extruding off a "skin level" panel, or just making a single sheet which I texture to look like there are gaps?
Thanks for any answers you may give. I'm still fairly new to this, and what I'll make will probably be rubbish, but hopefully it won't be a total failure!
P.S. My concept is a kind of modified ornamental samurai armour set for Naga. I want it to look like something someone would or could actually wear in a battle, as opposed to a dress or nothing at all! If anyone's interested, I have a concept I can upload (if you promise not to laugh at my non-existent pencil drawing skills - there's a reason why I'm decided to learn how to do all my arty stuff on the computer!)
Replies
-I've found that keeping all the original meshes for reference is important when making modeling/texturing decisions. You can just Hide them for later reference.
-There are many things to consider when working with the engine and how to plan and create your 3D assets with various software. Your workflow may vary greatly from one software to another.
I usually model things as if they would be crafted in the real world. If your plates are separate, then model them separately, so they look separate. You mainly want to ensure you have a clean sculpture with clean geo that doesn't fight against the look and shapes you want. Once you've sculpted, you can recreate (retopology) the asset as one mesh as a low resolution model.
-If you are still learning a lot of the 3D process, workflow, and your software, I would suggest you focus on a single asset and try to nail down the tools, skills, and workflow you need to achieve what you want. Maybe start with just the Blades from your design.
Hope that helps some... :poly122:
Here's my attempt at a weapon:
That's the flat, flat in edit mode, and smoothed version, with the original weapon (pink) alongside for comparison.
The theme of it is a sort of lucky weapon - it'll probably have a black and silver blade (like an ace of spades), and a mix of wood/cheap materials for the handle mixed in with some gems and gold.
The tri-count for it is 398.
The problem is that I'm now stuck. How do I change my cuboid staff into a cylinder? And why does it have those ridges on the blade in smooth mode? Also, how can it just generally be improved (I'm very new to this, so there'll be probably lots of ways to do this). Any help is really appreciated - thanks!
This is my final model - I've unwrapped it and normal and light mapped it, as well as AO mapped it. All I need now is some advice for the colour scheme for it. I'm thinking silver for the blade of the shovel and for the very bottom, which could have some gems on it too (ie stuff that's shiny that he's scavenged), and wood for the handle, maybe with a bit of a string texture to hold it all together. Any thoughts on this?