EDIT.... I just fixed this by UV'ing it... if anyone runs into the same problem.
Curious if anyone knows why I may be getting an error compiling my w_model .
ERROR: cannot find bone weapon_bone for bbox
ERROR: Aborted Processing on 'weapons\w_models\w_powerjack.mdl'
The bone and the model were exported together out of max.. it's the original bone from the fire axe and it skinned to the mesh... it even says it exported both in the SMD popup... would it have anything to do with no UV's?
It's an error in your QC man, remove all of the hitbox lines.
I switched from softimage to 3ds max and started over, the double learning curve is making me nauseous but I also think thats to do with the process of getting it to show in HLMV.
Right now when I export to SMD from 3dsmax the file only has about 4 lines in it.
My Steam name is Noggin if anyone would be kind enough to help with this!
First of all, I'd like to greet all members of the Polycount forum. I've found this page through the TF2 contest. It's a shame that I've found such a community only just now. You seem to be just the right people to ask for help.
About one and half a week before the contest was announced, an idea started evolving in my head. After some time it took shape of this Grenade Launcher replacement.
Those are the results so far. It got to over 14k tris, so i optimized it a bit, 8800 now, so I'm waiting forward to your suggestions.
After I get done with this one. I'll try to make something for the Polycount Pack contest.
I'm looking forward to your criticism and advice.
So here's my first post on the forum. All of these TF2 contributions have been awesome so far and I thought I'd give it a shot. This one was inspired by Gerald's do from Hey Arnold! but I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with it. It feels like it's going to be too plain, and there's already a 'fro for the Demoman as it is. And it makes him look more like the bride of Frankenstein than Gerald. Still in the middle of modeling it though.
Quick question though, when I load up the texture for the Demoman, I line it up just fine but the face texture is way off. On the Scout model, I was able to seperate the face as a different mesh and then apply the face texture, but on the Demoman the face is inseparable from the body. How do I go about making the face texture work?
First of all, I'd like to greet all members of the Polycount forum. I've found this page through the TF2 contest. It's a shame that I've found such a community only just now. You seem to be just the right people to ask for help.
About one and half a week before the contest was announced, an idea started evolving in my head. After some time it took shape of this Grenade Launcher replacement.
Those are the results so far. It got to over 14k tris, so i optimized it a bit, 8800 now, so I'm waiting forward to your suggestions.
After I get done with this one. I'll try to make something for the Polycount Pack contest.
I'm looking forward to your criticism and advice.
far too many wasted poly's on the barrel of the cannon, you can knock out a ton and still not get terrible faceting. Also the handle / stock or whatever need to be retopologized. or atleast the verts connected.
Thanks Progg. Indeed, I managed to remove about a ton of polys*, now it stands on 7,500. I didn't really get whether you meant the buttstock or the top grip, but I removed some polys from both. Also, what exactly did you mean with retopologizing? Modifiers topology? It's my first game model actually and I'm still learning Any suggestions what I could change/add to it?
Hawt Koffee, I like the beard, but I'm afraid that neither hats, nor misc items are face poseable. *Assuming 1 poly ≈ 1 kg
Sorry Mike, re-topologizing basically refers to going in and changing the quad and tri layout of the model so that it flows better and more evenly... aka more evenly distributed and equally scaled polygons. Of course this is a very general description.
"Re-Topology allows you to redistribute polygons so that you have a more uniform mesh. It also allows you to create new edge loops so that your mesh works better for animation. Basically, it lets you completely alter the polygonal structure of your model in any way that you wish."
aka... rebuilding some of the parts. Basically on the buttstock of the cannon, you need to connect those vertices. You have a giant N-gon (multi sided polygon) that makes up the buttstock. Of course when you export it will auto triangulate, but it's good practice to make sure your model keeps triangles and quads.
More polys at the grip? Its pretty rounded/smooth close up unless u mean something else?
Ive been tweaking the texture/vmt a lot but having trouble getting the reflection off the grip, it seems to be ignoring the alpha mask.
The uvw unwrap isnt too easy to work with, it split the sphere into odd shapes.
Well the grip should actually be the most visually interesting part, because that's what you spend all day staring at; due to the viewmodel positioning
too quotes one answer i was just refering to getting the maya shader running (from about pages back in the thread) to see how it should look, nothings actually changed for the submission, I just could have made a better thumbnail to go along with it:poly141:
coolio maybe have the band or the strings a faded team colour unless that would look stupid i dont really know but anyway congrats to everyone who got their hats in game
I really need help, im modelling a test hat with blender after two previous attempts failed.
My "Hat" is a simple cube with an UV Map projecting different characters so Ill see if its showing up wrongly in HLMV. V is Front, H is back, O is up. I set the models origin to 0/0/0 and parented it to a bone called bip_head.
I compiled etc. and when I import it into Half Life Model Viewer it shows up like this:
The yellow thing is the part of the model that is ACTUALLY showing. not only is it upside down (the other letters inside the model are upside down, you just dont see it here) but also the back (letter H, yellow) shows up in front (where the red V should be). However, if it would be mirrored on bip_head it would probably show up correctly.
Anyone got an idea what's wrong with it? I've read about a few people having the same problem but i havent found a fix for it. Even decompiling an original tf2 hat, importing it into blender and exporting again leads to a wrong position for the original tf2 hat.
I dunno if Character models do this or even tf2, but maybe you need the ever famous snap rotate -90 degrees syntax in the qc. Granted i don't know the actual code cuz i don't compile. And that probably isn't the problem either way haha
I don't know the blender importer/exporter but isn't the hat supposed to be skinned to the bip_head and not parented ? Also, does it work if you mirror the bip_head ?
After fiddling around with the parent (actually deleting it) i realised that the parent doesn't even matter. I tried skinning before I parented and it didnt work (well im not sure if its called skinning, i added a modifier "armature" ob: bip_head to the mesh) but it showed the same results. Now I did it again, and rolled the bone 180 degrees and pressed a few buttons - and it actuals works!
In HLMV that is, I know nothing about real TF2, but Im going to assume it works there too (for now).
The problem is ... the armature modifier doesnt seem to do anything at all. After celebrating that its finally working in HLMV I decided to delete it since the armature modifier didnt allow me to move the bone and the mesh at the same time (like it should be, i think) . I still have both bone and mesh, but they aren't connected in any way. Blows my mind.
Well let's hope I can recreate this for the next model. thanks for the help
I've been able to import correctly a tf2 animation in max, assuming it will work for all the others (it's a pain in the ass)
First, since the animation smd's from cannonfodder are fucked up, i used maya and .dmx files from tf2 sdk. You have to install the maya plug-ins from the sourcesdk, then have steam running and sdk up-to-date (i think). And also, run maya from the .bat in the sourcesdk maya folder. You have to open the .ma of a character, then select the bip_pelvis, then import the dmx file containing the animation. If you don't, your pets will die and maya will crash. Or something.
Then i have re-exported an smd of the animation. Some bones of the character in max, resulting of cannonfodder+wunderboy plug import, aren't correctly rotated (hips, knees, upperarms, lowerarms), so i've rotated their local axes so they look like in maya. Reimport the correct smd and BAAAAAM.
Done.
I've been able to import correctly a tf2 animation in max, assuming it will work for all the others (it's a pain in the ass)
First, since the animation smd's from cannonfodder are fucked up, i used maya and .dmx files from tf2 sdk. You have to install the maya plug-ins from the sdk, then have steam running and sdk up-to-date (i think). And also, run maya from the .bat in the sdk maya folder. You have to open the .ma of a character, then select the bip_pelvis, then import the dmx file containing the animation. If you don't, your pets will die and maya will crash. Or something.
Then i have re-exported an smd of the animation. Some bones of the character in max, resulting of cannonfodder+wunderboy plug import, aren't correctly rotated (hips, knees, upperarms, lowerarms), so i've rotated their local axes so they look like in maya. Reimport the correct smd and BAAAAAM.
Done.
nah it took me my evening.
I guess i could also export directly the character/animations from maya with fbx and not re-use the old character in max. But the mesh and skeleton weren't in the same pose Anyway, it's as fast with smd now...
nah it took me my evening.
I guess i could also export directly the character/animations from maya with fbx and not re-use the old character in max. But the mesh and skeleton weren't in the same pose Anyway, it's as fast with smd now...
Could you get me the SMD of the demoman in the eyelander idle pose? thanks
Just started modeling last week. Managed to churn out 2 fairly pants soldier hats so far., in a completely different (much lower) league to the stuff in this forum lol. Definately interested in making more stuff in future. Just wanted to say how great everything posted in this thread is o.0, really giving me something to aspire to :P lol.
Replies
Quail man?
That's what I was thinking. I'll have to look up how to implement all that, but it doesn't seem too complicated.
@Shad0wForce
Yessir! :poly121:
Update on the model.
Right now when I export to SMD from 3dsmax the file only has about 4 lines in it.
My Steam name is Noggin if anyone would be kind enough to help with this!
About one and half a week before the contest was announced, an idea started evolving in my head. After some time it took shape of this Grenade Launcher replacement.
Those are the results so far. It got to over 14k tris, so i optimized it a bit, 8800 now, so I'm waiting forward to your suggestions.
After I get done with this one. I'll try to make something for the Polycount Pack contest.
I'm looking forward to your criticism and advice.
Quick question though, when I load up the texture for the Demoman, I line it up just fine but the face texture is way off. On the Scout model, I was able to seperate the face as a different mesh and then apply the face texture, but on the Demoman the face is inseparable from the body. How do I go about making the face texture work?
edit: Use the Polygon: Material IDs section of Edit Poly/Mesh/whatever, specifically the Select ID button. Then just drag n drop like usual.
far too many wasted poly's on the barrel of the cannon, you can knock out a ton and still not get terrible faceting. Also the handle / stock or whatever need to be retopologized. or atleast the verts connected.
something I made a few days ago
I just hope hats, can be face pose-able
Do I have to do process/convert the model before I export it?
that would make a great misc slot, beard with ushanka hell yeah
Hawt Koffee, I like the beard, but I'm afraid that neither hats, nor misc items are face poseable.
*Assuming 1 poly ≈ 1 kg
Any more tuts? Tips? Drugs?
"Re-Topology allows you to redistribute polygons so that you have a more uniform mesh. It also allows you to create new edge loops so that your mesh works better for animation. Basically, it lets you completely alter the polygonal structure of your model in any way that you wish."
aka... rebuilding some of the parts. Basically on the buttstock of the cannon, you need to connect those vertices. You have a giant N-gon (multi sided polygon) that makes up the buttstock. Of course when you export it will auto triangulate, but it's good practice to make sure your model keeps triangles and quads.
Haha, I tweaked it now...
Also the mace. Throw more polys at the grip and maybe tone down the normal map/remove it. It's an alright normal map it just doesn't feel very TF2.
Ive been tweaking the texture/vmt a lot but having trouble getting the reflection off the grip, it seems to be ignoring the alpha mask.
The uvw unwrap isnt too easy to work with, it split the sphere into odd shapes.
Damn.. wanted a community Something, too :[
too quotes one answer
I'll probably go with the brown skin, but I'll submit the green layers in the PSD when I send it to Valve for contributing stuff.
edit : silly me, all animations are in SDK as dmx files. I guess i have to import them in maya or smthing then put them back in max.
I </3 3D
My "Hat" is a simple cube with an UV Map projecting different characters so Ill see if its showing up wrongly in HLMV. V is Front, H is back, O is up. I set the models origin to 0/0/0 and parented it to a bone called bip_head.
I compiled etc. and when I import it into Half Life Model Viewer it shows up like this:
The yellow thing is the part of the model that is ACTUALLY showing. not only is it upside down (the other letters inside the model are upside down, you just dont see it here) but also the back (letter H, yellow) shows up in front (where the red V should be). However, if it would be mirrored on bip_head it would probably show up correctly.
Anyone got an idea what's wrong with it? I've read about a few people having the same problem but i havent found a fix for it. Even decompiling an original tf2 hat, importing it into blender and exporting again leads to a wrong position for the original tf2 hat.
"What makes me a good demobox?"
After fiddling around with the parent (actually deleting it) i realised that the parent doesn't even matter. I tried skinning before I parented and it didnt work (well im not sure if its called skinning, i added a modifier "armature" ob: bip_head to the mesh) but it showed the same results. Now I did it again, and rolled the bone 180 degrees and pressed a few buttons - and it actuals works!
In HLMV that is, I know nothing about real TF2, but Im going to assume it works there too (for now).
The problem is ... the armature modifier doesnt seem to do anything at all. After celebrating that its finally working in HLMV I decided to delete it since the armature modifier didnt allow me to move the bone and the mesh at the same time (like it should be, i think) . I still have both bone and mesh, but they aren't connected in any way. Blows my mind.
Well let's hope I can recreate this for the next model.
First, since the animation smd's from cannonfodder are fucked up, i used maya and .dmx files from tf2 sdk. You have to install the maya plug-ins from the sourcesdk, then have steam running and sdk up-to-date (i think). And also, run maya from the .bat in the sourcesdk maya folder. You have to open the .ma of a character, then select the bip_pelvis, then import the dmx file containing the animation. If you don't, your pets will die and maya will crash. Or something.
Then i have re-exported an smd of the animation. Some bones of the character in max, resulting of cannonfodder+wunderboy plug import, aren't correctly rotated (hips, knees, upperarms, lowerarms), so i've rotated their local axes so they look like in maya. Reimport the correct smd and BAAAAAM.
Done.
you are a genius.
I guess i could also export directly the character/animations from maya with fbx and not re-use the old character in max. But the mesh and skeleton weren't in the same pose
Could you get me the SMD of the demoman in the eyelander idle pose? thanks
Nope sorry, valve didn't update the sdk with the newest weapons animations. yes, you hate them. If someone else has a workflow, be my guest...
Keep up the good work!