Dota 2 Monthly Community Competition #21 - NOVEMBER
polycounter lvl 9
Welcome to our Dota 2 Monthly Community Competition #21The theme will be based on this cosmetic list
We are getting the 3 heroes with less cosmetics that are supported to work with.
We are also keeping the SINGLE ITEMstyle, If you want to work on a set and post it here for feedback is totally fine, but just post one item as the final one
Be sure to read well the rules, breaking then means your submission will be disqualified.
And don't forget to share your feedback over the other works, no matter how much experience you have, every feedback counts!
Shadow Demon
Venomancer
Medusa
* Items based on the heroes like Huds, Couriers or Wards will also be accepted, but they will not compete for the trophy to keep the competition even for everyone
The competition
the idea of the competition is to create items in a friendly environment and with the feedback of the other participants to get the best result possible.
It is mandatory to post the work in progress, or else the submition will not be accepted!
Prizes
We will announce the 5 best items in the end of the month based on the decision of the judges. The first place will also be winning a mini Greentooth trophy!
Marmoset Toolbag 2 Prizes
*to be confirmed if they are continuing the support
1 Toolbag license
1 $125 gift card (Newegg or Steam)
Last month winners
Ethereal Witch's Hat by Sylei
Judges
Benjamin "Bronto Thunder" Retter
Stephanie "Anuxinamoon" Everett
Thiago "T_Vidotto" Vidotto
Getting your item displayed on the first post
*Items with images bigger then 200 px and/or missing the name of the contributor will not be accepted till fixed
Quote:
SET NAME by USERNAME
PHP Code:
/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]SIZE[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700]=[/COLOR][COLOR=#DD0000]"4"[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700SET NAME[/SIZE] by /COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]URL[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700]=[/COLOR][COLOR=#DD0000]"WORKSHOP_USER_LINK"[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700USERNAME[/URL]
/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]URL[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700]=[/COLOR][COLOR=#DD0000]"ITEM_LINK"[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]IMG[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700THUMBNAIL_IMG[/IMG][/URL]
/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]URL[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700]=[/COLOR][COLOR=#DD0000]"ITEM_LINK"[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]IMG[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700THUMBNAIL_IMG[/IMG][/URL]
or this one for 2 creators
PHP Code:
/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]SIZE[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700]=[/COLOR][COLOR=#DD0000]"4"[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700SET NAME[/SIZE] by /COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]URL[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700]=[/COLOR][COLOR=#DD0000]"WORKSHOPLINK"[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700USERNAME[/URL] and /COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]URL[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700]=[/COLOR][COLOR=#DD0000]"WORKSHOP_USER_LINK_2"[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700USERNAME_2[/URL]
/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]URL[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700]=[/COLOR][COLOR=#DD0000]"ITEM_LINK"[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]IMG[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700THUMBNAIL_IMG[/IMG][/URL]
/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]URL[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700]=[/COLOR][COLOR=#DD0000]"ITEM_LINK"[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]IMG[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700THUMBNAIL_IMG[/IMG][/URL]
Code:
SET NAME by USERNAME
set_name - name of your set, use equal as on the workshop
workshop_user_link - your workshop page, so people can browse your other items easily
Username - the name you think its easier to people find you, can be the one from polycount or the steam
item_link - the workshop page of your item
thumbnail_img - the image link of the thumbnail that is INSIDE your item page on the workshop (the thumbnail is the one with 200 pixels wide, you can get from your items page or add Code:
/200x200.resizedimage
to the end of the link)
**itens with larger thumbnails will not be accepted!**
Rules
- open for teams of any size
- it is allowed one item per hero per team/person ( two or more items for the same hero made by the same team/person will not be accepted)
- everyone should keep posting feedback on other works, the feedback should be constructive
- it must be submitted to the workshop before the deadline but not before the start of the competition
- The item should be made on the month of the competition, its ok to continue one started earlier, but you should work most of it during the month
- the deadline is the last day of the month at 23:59 (since we live in different timezones, some submission may be accepted couple hours after the deadline)
- From this month and the next ones, its mandatory to post the work in progress, or else the submission will not be accepted!
Tutorials/working in progress videos
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123800
Inspiring quotes
"It is absolutely insane the amount of top quality content that is being produced every single time here on Polycount. It's great to see so many cosmetics deliver not just on the technical end but also make for such great fittings in every other branch. You guys are doing an exceptional job and contests like this are only helping boost that exponentially. Brilliant stuff."
Wykrhm Reddy
"It was bloody hard picking from this list, I honestly enjoyed all of the entries. Keep up the good work guys!"
Cyborgmatt
Wow, that's really awesome. Please keep us at Valve informed so we can help draw attention to the winners, progress threads, etc.
Some advice:
Try to give some attention to heroes that are under-served so far (in terms of amount of content).
The success of sets tracks well with the popularity of the hero. (Although popularity can vary between updates and as Icefrog changes balance.)
Look for heroes that the community seems to have trouble creating content for. Good work can really open up the design landscape and help people think about the dynamic range of potential designs.
Don't forget about single items (instead of full sets). Many of the most popular items in the game are single items. Mounts and weapons make good candidates for this, but it varies by hero.
Mix up these approaches. So maybe one month you do a popular hero and another month you do a hero that has few items.
-Brandon Reinhart (Valve)
I love you guys for doing this! Dota2 is my favorite game at the moment and Polycount is my favorite community! I'm very proud to be apart of such dedicated artists and I smile every time I see some Polycount work in game
-coots7
Presentation
the presentation is a really important part on the workshop, save some time before the deadline for that. the first impression means a lot on the workshop.
If you want to fancy your presentation here is a the polycount logo over the aegis, there is no need of it to be used
http://puu.sh/1QtZy
Previous Months
OCTOBER
SEPTEMBER
AUGUST
JULY
JUNE
MAY
APRIL
MARCH
FEBRUARY
DECEMBER
NOVEMBER
OCTOBER
SEPTEMBER
AUGUST
JULY
JUNE
MAY
APRIL
MARCH
FEBRUARY
Replies
Crimson Fang by Thnk
Acidic Head of the Venomancer by Stuburrito
Tidebreaker by Aitnar
Tiger Ward by MathewO
Cape of Malice by danpaz3d
And some concepts (can collaborate if you want)
Plague Ward
In-Game Triangle Limit: 1500
Texture Size: 256x256
Animations 0
Spawn
Die
Alternate Die
Portrait idle
disabled/stunned
Animations 1
idle : Consider this as the center animation. It will be combined with left and right versions of the same animation so that the unit can smoothly track another units position
back left idle : This is a complete animation that must have the same number of frames as your center version. However the unit should twist to aim 179 degrees to the left. I.e. the bottom of the model should remain facing forward but the upper part should rotate almost completely backwards to the left.
left idle : This is a complete animation that must have the same number of frames as your center version. However the unit should twist to aim 90 degrees to the left. I.e. the bottom of the model should remain facing forward but the upper part should rotate directly to the left.
right idle : This is a complete animation that must have the same number of frames as your center version. However the unit should twist to aim 90 degrees to the right. I.e. the bottom of the model should remain facing forward but the upper part should rotate directly to the right.
back right idle : This is a complete animation that must have the same number of frames as your center version. However the unit should twist to aim 179 degrees to the right. I.e. the bottom of the model should remain facing forward but the upper part should rotate almost completely backwards to the right.
Animations 2
attack : Attack animations must match the timing of the unit's default animations. The attack animation for this unit must be 0.83 seconds long, and the attack point occurs at 0.30 seconds into it.
Back left attack : This is a complete animation that must have the same number of frames as your center version. However the unit should twist to aim 179 degrees to the left. I.e. the bottom of the model should remain facing forward but the upper part should rotate almost completely backwards to the left.
left attack : This is a complete animation that must have the same number of frames as your center version. However the unit should twist to aim 90 degrees to the left. I.e. the bottom of the model should remain facing forward but the upper part should rotate directly to the left.
right attack : This is a complete animation that must have the same number of frames as your center version. However the unit should twist to aim 90 degrees to the right. I.e. the bottom of the model should remain facing forward but the upper part should rotate directly to the right.
back right attack : This is a complete animation that must have the same number of frames as your center version. However the unit should twist to aim 179 degrees to the right. I.e. the bottom of the model should remain facing forward but the upper part should rotate almost completely backwards to the right.
EDIT: They didn't mention the length of the animations except the attack animation. Do we have any restrictions on them ?
I'm not sure of the animation but I'm pretty sure it has to be roughly the same length as the original
High poly for the ward
nothing to crit.....
So, I wanted to try something a little different to the usual "Pretty dress for a mourning Medusa", so I'm going to try and make her a cuirass similar to the standard grecco-roman soldier. Below are some reference pics. Any suggestions?
Here's what I've got so far.
Started with a super basic quick sketch to figure our what kind of shapes I wanted to go for before hopping into zbrush.
Got the main shapes of the bow done and now i'm figuring out what exactly i wanna do for the middle part.
I feel like the first one is cleaner but the 2nd one has a bit more character.
I would love to hear your opinions and get some feed back before I continue.:)
I decided to give a whack at making a venomancer ward. I hope its not too similar to the one above.
Here's my sketch and my sculpt so far..
@Yuze It's ok, but I think that kind of idea has been done in similar ways before, keep exploring more unique designs. Something to make it really special.
I'll be working on a Shadow Demon item this month. Yet to decide what I want to do yet.
@Thnk: Looking great! Personally I prefer the jewel design, seems cleaner and more elegant.
@Moosebish: It looks disgusting and slimy. So, absolutely perfect. Whislt it does have a similar silhouette to GhostDetector's, I wouldn't be too concerned in the long run. Just do your best to try and avoid making the colouration too similar and you shouldn't have a problem.
Got some work done on the low-polys for the cuirass. The central circle on the LoD0 is going to be a sculpted greek Aegis (haha, mythology joke), so hopefully I can do the whole idea some justice.
@Moosebish - It does look similar to GhostDetectors, but the process and overall look is different. Overall, it looks great! I'd add more plating of different sizes on the back, like a gradient.
@GhostDector - Also very cool and unique looking. I'm liking it. My only feedback is to make those spikes look a lot bigger, different sizes, and asymmetrical. It'll look more vicious that way.
@Thnk - Very cool bow! I looks like you might have decided to go with the diamond bow. I really like the one with the serpents head however. If you decide to go with the serpents head bow, I recommend making it larger so it can be seen.
I'm currently working on a bow for Medusa, but it's too early in concept to show. I'm also at work without the file. :P I hope to update tonight.
Keep it up, all!
Try to have the horns on his head flow with the rest of the spike. Don't forget he does have particles there
@Thnk
I think the 2nd one is better. At first I thought it was kind of stupid that the snakes mouth was open and then I remembered that split shot is basically shoots arrows from the sides!.
@Moose
I do feel that your concept is similar in terms of shape but I think you can exaggerate some details more
@Danpaz
I kind of modeled the ward like a neck so yea...
HighPoly Pass 2
1486 tris
So, you know what Medusa needs? More snake. So I made her go full snake mode.
It looks like an argonian
@Markovnikov
In my opinion the skirt is one of the core subjects in that design, maybe adding some space between the skirt and the body and reduce the gaps between the arms of skirt would maybe have a better view.
Some sketch and a primitive model to send it to mudbox from me.
That large green thing is a venom gland
Thanks for the for all the feedback so far guys!
I liked the idea of the snake head but i agreed with the fact that it was too small. However scaling it up wasn't really working for me either so I came up with another design.
Let me know what you guys think.
@Markovnikov - Basemeshes are looking good so far. If you can fit it into the poly budget I think adding the shoulder/arm armor from your reference would make the piece a bit more interesting.
@GhostDetector - Looks like quite a bit of your detail is on the sides and bottom facing areas. The top could use a bit more detail or maybe some kind of color pattern in the scales to make it more appealing when viewing it from in game perspective
Just a reminder, Medusa has a pretty low polycount requirement for her bow. Made me sad to see because it restricts a lot of freedom in her bow designs.
LOD_0 on top row and LOD_1 on bottom.
Ended up retopoing both of the center shield things just because.
There are a couple of little normal bake errors but i'll just fix em when I start texturing.
Here is my concept bow for Medusa. No shading or anything, just thinking about design. I like where it's at, but it feels like it might be missing something. Anyone have any ideas / feedback? Thanks!
@Aitnar
The blades have a very weak base, you probably should connect the edges of the bow and the blade.
Since I never do animation or complex rigging, I tried my very best to actually set up a rig!
Its not that great though
Can I get some feedback about wasted bones? And another thing is that I've been trying to use IK so I can pull the back/front. How do I do that? The pose usually deforms when I try.
Moosebish - I really like this, I would add more detail to the base though.
Doomis - This might change Medusa a little bit too much but I am looking forward to seeing it.
PrivacyEnt - I know its just a base mesh but I think it could be pushed further.
Thnk, Aitnar - The bows are coming along nicely!
Markovnikov - I like the effort your putting into the backstory, cant wait to see the sculpt.
Quick base mesh to sculpt on for Venomancer
@GhostDetector- looking awesome! i like the pattern of the second concept of the ward you did, maybe could try to incorporate the design to ur current 1? oh did u try splineIK?
@Moosebish- looking awesome too! looks simple but nice, i guess maybe ur texture can make it more interesting by adding in more colours. hahas just my opinion
@Doomis-that op snake head, maybe you could reveal parts of her face but the snake head still remain intact?
@PrivacyEnt- nice! try adding more complex shapes
@Thnk- cool designs!hope to see the end result!
@ Aitnar- nice design! is the red colour object a gem?
@Markovnikov- coollll hahahas hope to see ur scuplt man!
@StuBurrito- cool! u scuplted the venomancer?
Also, Welcome Timothyyeo!
However, I'm FREAKIN ECSTATIC that I was FINALLY able to get something with painted skin weights to work correctly! Before today I was never able to get them to work for some reason.
Sooo many more design options on the horizon now.
Hooray for learning!!! XD
@Aitnar: The new bow is looking really solid! Love the little greek sprials on the ringlets.
@Thnk: Looking good! My only complaint would be that the highlights on the gems seem a tad too extreme.
Made a start on the texturing. I never realised just how plain Medusa's textures actually were! I hope I haven't gone too realist.
@Markovnikov - Thank you! Your chest piece is coming along nicely. Yeah, Medusa looks pretty dated. I wonder if Valve plans on updating older models and their requirements? hmm..
@markovnikov, Looks pretty cool, I think it fits well but I don't like the icon in the center, looks too super hero to me. Would be a good part of the mesh to not mirror uv and have assymtry there.
I like the leather stips on the bottom but they class with stipes on her tail, maybe have fabric under that is only half as long sas strips?> more color to add too.
@Thnk, I like the boiw a lot, but maybe not red on the large parts, I think they take away from the gems.
@Ghost, nice ward, I like the shape it's different. It does need something up on top, maybe big scales. Just like 10 large diamonds of color.
@Stu, I like it, the eyebrows seem a bit disconnected but cool otherwise.
I painted a couple concepts and ended up re-working this a couple times. I plan on a snakeskin pattern on the wrap.
Anyway, I agree on both your points. I was originally going to put a gorgon head on the brass disk, but I felt the detail would just become noise later on. So I'm not entirely sure what to put there. As for the skirt, unfortunately the dress is on the tail, and the skirt is part of the torso slot. There's not a lot I can do about it except make a whole set around the concept.
I am getting back with the unfinished contests, we have some new winners that will get that nice greentooth trophy
the names are:
Xajai
Arty
Belkun
Baddcog (again)
Congrats =]]]
I need you guys address for the trophies, please send it to tvidotto@gmail.com and I can just forward to the responsible
I went back to the drawing board and thinking of making a more organic looking design to suit his freaky look, do you think I should push it further or scrap it?
@Thnk: Looks simply amazing, well done
@Markovnikov: You should go for a full roman archer set!
@Aitnar: Really clean design, I like it
We hope we manage to do something this month, since we're already working on something for Medusa.
I'm liking that bow Thnk! I just think you could try to use some different color variation like on the gem she has on her forehead, which has a bit of a blue tint at the bottom. Right now it looks a bit too 'redish', since both the gem and I guess wood on the bow have a very similar hue, so a bit of color variation would definitely help.
The inspiration comes from Leviathan/Sea Serpent which fits well with Medusa origin, which is a Sea Goddess. Additionally, I put a Circular Guard at the center of the bow, which resembles her Mana Shield.
Good point, I was struggling to keep the bra cups for some reason. I really wanted more of a shawl made from a shedding so...
Retopo and quick paint just to make sure.
This is what I maent about a skirt under the strips:
@DokiDoki, I like it, it may bend back a bit too much but a cool design.
@Yuze, that's a pretty unique design with the pauldrons around the spikes, I say do it! He's definitely one of the harder hero's to make something for.
I really like that bow. But also agreed that the gems should have a blue tint
@Baddcog
While I was looking to your images, I realised something;
That yellow snake rope(?) could be a ponytail hair of hers. But with a snake only. That would be interesting
@markovnikov
I also like a skirt under the strips more
@DokiDoki "I like it, it may bend back a bit too much but a cool design." +1 agreed.
Well not finished but made some progress on sculpting.
It looks a bit empty but I don't know what to add.
and finally, I tried snake skin but... hmm... first one is better
Heres what I got so far. I still need to edit masks and and still the color. (No animations yet) Will my entry still be accepted into this contest if I don't do animations (It wont be submitted to the workshop if I can't figure it out).
Theres also a weird stretching with it, but I'm going to ignore it until my textures finish.
I haven't done this before so i'm hoping I can atleast complete something cool and get it submitted but we shall see, any advice will be much appreciated
My concepting skills leave a lot to be desired but here's as rough idea of what I'd like to do with a Venomancer ward
I'm going to make a start on a base mesh for it now / play with shapes and silhouettes before taking it into Zbrush, I shall keep you updated for feedback
Feedback from me to you:
@GhostDetector - I love your ward, he's very cool! Strong shapes, I'd try and get more contrast into his texture work so that when he's 25 pixels tall on screen he doesn't look one solid colour. Hopefully I can do half as good a job as you're doing!
@Thnk - That bow is amazing, especially with the skinning! Have you looked at it in grey tones? It looks like they all may be very similar and maybe a few areas could "Pop" a little more.
I'll try and give some other people some food for though when I get home tonight.
Thanks guys
Mat, that ward silouette is cool. Will the feet suck up many tris?
Yeah I'm definitely going to lose a few polys to those legs but hopefully it'll be worth it, plus you get 1500 Tris for the whole ward which is pretty nice
@ Aitnar - I really like the shape of your bow dude, it looks like it'd read well to me when it's tiny in game
Here's my blockout mesh, I've been tweeking it back and forth to try and get a nice silhouette. I'd love to know what you guys think.
Cheers
this is amazing
Looking forward to modelling this tomorrow night (under the tutelage of Mat ^_^) and will hopefully be able to make some much more interesting stone shapes in ZBrush (I've no idea how to paint these things).
This is more just an excuse to get a small asset through the pipeline without throwing in the towel
Here's the concept:
Here's my idea. It's inspired by the Lionfish, I might work it out more to give it more of an amphibian face as well.