So guys, this is the new project I am working on. I am new to modeling hats for TF2 so probably I will ask NOOB questions :poly122:.
Ok here i post an image of a testing model of the main body that is a volcano with a "baked AOC" (it looks awful). The idea is that this volcano will be a hat for the pyro, also it will spill some lava to make it more interesting. Do you recomend making a Normal Map for the main body, or should I play with the geometry?it will be "rocky" (english is not my native language). I want the hat to be some how like a toy but with some minor details so the surface of the body will not look smooth rather rocky but may be with no BUMP.
Any other recommendations you could give to a noob modeler will be accepted
Besides that, I had a question that seemed to be skimmed by in the last page. Is there any particular reason not to use floating geometry? Both in TF2 models, or in general? I've seen a lot of effort and extra verts/polys used in making certain assets only one mesh - but I can't seem to think of a very good reason not to use floating geometry on anything that isn't rigged.
Floating geometry is fine, it doesn't need to be one mesh.
How do you triangulate your polys in max 2011-12 ? I see alot of the models from valve are tri setup, did they model this way ? Or is there a way to convert your workflow into that format? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Games like to use triangles so when you export your model to the game it converts the mesh for you. If you want to model in that mode, just right click edit poly and choose edit mesh and it'll show you what the triangulation will look like when you select edges.
Gotcha I remember back in the day with milkshape 3D, you actually modeled in Tris, vert by vert creating faces, I also know that games count tris, and tris are 2:1 to every poly.
I just wanted to know if I should work in that format as well :P thanks bro :P.
I realized that a sawn-off shotgun would fit the pyro's flaregun animations really well, so here's a WIP:
That's really great idea! You should make it as similar as you can to the Killing Floor hunting shotgun and name it something like "Apocalyptic Assistant". I mean, pyro is in the game so it would be fun reference.
modeled this yesterday, its based off of a browning 1919A4 machine gun used in ww2. right now crappy uvs/ ao as well as bad shading groups in game(put blender shots in with fixed shading) gonna tweak a few things such as the front iro sights, crits are very much welcome. hopefully i can get a proper ao bake and shading groups tonight.
ALSO if anyone knows how i can change the position of were the muzzle flash comes out of(barrel is a bit longer than the standard) and were the shells are ejected that would be greatly appreciated
and one more quick question is the trigger supposed to move? i looked at BenHenry's tomislav and all there is the weapon bone so im a bit confused on that.
I think the barrel could be thicker for a clearer game appearance and maybe some hard corners along boxiness as well. The barrel size to hand size ratio seems a bit off
@leilei thanks for the crits,ill try to make the barrel bigger and as far as the edges they should look better when i get the shading groups down. also that picture made me laugh alot :P
@Deity Link i like the idea but i think you should work on the texture, it doesnt really feel too tf2-ish, also you should make the front strap more curved
@Deity Link i like the idea but i think you should work on the texture, it doesnt really feel too tf2-ish, also you should make the front strap more curved
I just got introduced to the thread about texturing for TF2, I'll work on that. And before adding curves to that strap, I'll reduce the polycount by removing hidden polygons (there are already 12 000)
@bestlame
you could probably get away with calling your flamethrower "Fossil Fuel", you know, for the lulz
and then the obligatory: "what's the tri count on that thing"
I can't really tell but the textures may need some work, such as on the Life Stealer where the blood could use some TF2-ifying, the half zatoichi is a good example of this
EDIT: I guess I just randomly chose one
but it seems to be similiar to the ubersaw
the blood on the half zatoichi isnt really tf2 style at all. its a mis-interpretation of the style simplifying it to the point of cartoon check the 'targe or Persian persuader or splendid shield
The blood on the zatoichi is very similar to what is seen in the Meet the Spy video, so it's not right out style wise. I guess the most important difference between that and the eyelander blood is that it isn't all dried up.
---
I made a quick hat for the medic. Inspired by this guy's majestically silly hat. Skull not included for fairly obvious reasons. Still lacks almost all detail.
I've been working on a new gun for the Spy, here's some WIP shots.
This is the reference I've been using:
Now, this is a two shot pistol, but I can't seem to figure out how the firing mechanism works as you can see by the rather unfinished one on the model. I was hoping for some input on that specifically but also on the model as a whole.
Thanks in advance and thanks for this great thread, awesome work from so many people.
I've been working on a new gun for the Spy, here's some WIP shots.
This is the reference I've been using:
Now, this is a two shot pistol, but I can't seem to figure out how the firing mechanism works as you can see by the rather unfinished one on the model. I was hoping for some input on that specifically but also on the model as a whole.
Thanks in advance and thanks for this great thread, awesome work from so many people.
fixed the shading, better ao bake, beefed up the barrel,fixed the muzzle flash and shell ejection locations, few tweaks. crits/comments? also i feel like im going to have nightmares about uv mappimg models >_>
Doughnut Bear: Much better. Though I think the body of the gun is still a little blocky, maybe just chamfer a few edges, or at least the ones visible in first person view.
Well its finally released, I thought I'd write this up for anyone who was interested. First off, I really tried to make to model cheaper in terms of performance cost. I ended up toning down Recurracy's particles because of that. It includes lods(see here). The texturing is a bit odd but try to follow me here and I'll try to explain why I did things the way I did.
The model is unwraped to use 2 separate sets of uv coordinates. The reason for this is so there is part of the model using a normal mapped phong material and the other a standard phong material. Areas of the model that used the normal map detail where closer to the player and benefited from the extra detail(coils, indicator light.) Areas of the model that where further away or in motion used a standard material(the majority of the spinning claw.) The belt part of the model was part of a separate texture entirely due to the fact it needed to use a texture scroll proxy. I really tried to stay away from using a any 1024x1024 textures because of the contribution guide lines.
1 1024x1024 normal map w/alpha - used for the handle and motor, the alpha contains the phong mask
2 512x512 diffuse maps w/alpha - red/blu used for the handle and motor, the alpha contains the self illumination mask
2 512x512 diffuse maps w/alpha - red/blu used for the claws, the alpha contains the phong mask
1 256x256 self illumination map - used for the claw fluid/emitters
1 256x128 diffuse map - used for the belt
1 256x128 normal map w/alpha - used for the belt, the alpha contains the phong mask
That being said I'll move on to the model itself, there are 2 versions of the model. A version with static autoplaying idle animations(used for the replacement), and a version for valve with three blend animations.
Blend animations in the source engine are used for many things, from vehicle suspension to a character looking around. In tf2 they are used for the ubersaw's ubercharge level. I thought this would be the best way for valve to control the kralle via code. Syringe_charge is just like the ubersaw's blend, as you get more ubercharge, the syringes on the claws fill up and the gauge on the control box moves to red. Claws_grasp is based off of hl2 vehicle suspension, its just the claws grasping and letting go. Claw_spin is based off of the hl2 vehicle tires spinning, as you can imagine it just makes the claw spin. I really wish there were some way to implement these animations in the model replacement version, but sadly there isn't(with out reanimating the medic arms.)
Also there are two bodygroups as well, one for the hose and claw, another for the belt. The belt bodygroup allows the belt to be turned on and off by code. The hose body group is just like the regular medigun, except instead of just removing the hose it also swaps out the claw end with an unweighted version thats fully grasped. I thought this was the best solution since valve has moved on to the c_model system for new weapons
Well its finally released, I thought I'd write this up for anyone who was interested. First off, I really tried to make to model cheaper in terms of performance cost. I ended up toning down Recurracy's particles because of that. It includes lods(see here). The texturing is a bit odd but try to follow me here and I'll try to explain why I did things the way I did.
The model is unwraped to use 2 separate sets of uv coordinates. The reason for this is so there is part of the model using a normal mapped phong material and the other a standard phong material. Areas of the model that used the normal map detail where closer to the player and benefited from the extra detail(coils, indicator light.) Areas of the model that where further away or in motion used a standard material(the majority of the spinning claw.) The belt part of the model was part of a separate texture entirely due to the fact it needed to use a texture scroll proxy. I really tried to stay away from using a any 1024x1024 textures because of the contribution guide lines.
1 1024x1024 normal map w/alpha - used for the handle and motor, the alpha contains the phong mask
2 512x512 diffuse maps w/alpha - red/blu used for the handle and motor, the alpha contains the self illumination mask
2 512x512 diffuse maps w/alpha - red/blu used for the claws, the alpha contains the phong mask
1 256x256 self illumination map - used for the claw fluid/emitters
1 256x128 diffuse map - used for the belt
1 256x128 normal map w/alpha - used for the belt, the alpha contains the phong mask
That being said I'll move on to the model itself, there are 2 versions of the model. A version with static autoplaying idle animations(used for the replacement), and a version for valve with three blend animations.
Blend animations in the source engine are used for many things, from vehicle suspension to a character looking around. In tf2 they are used for the ubersaw's ubercharge level. I thought this would be the best way for valve to control the kralle via code. Syringe_charge is just like the ubersaw's blend, as you get more ubercharge, the syringes on the claws fill up and the gauge on the control box moves to red. Claws_grasp is based off of hl2 vehicle suspension, its just the claws grasping and letting go. Claw_spin is based off of the hl2 vehicle tires spinning, as you can imagine it just makes the claw spin. I really wish there were some way to implement these animations in the model replacement version, but sadly there isn't(with out reanimating the medic arms.)
Also there are two bodygroups as well, one for the hose and claw, another for the belt. The belt bodygroup allows the belt to be turned on and off by code. The hose body group is just like the regular medigun, except instead of just removing the hose it also swaps out the claw end with an unweighted version thats fully grasped. I thought this was the best solution since valve has moved on to the c_model system for new weapons
Wtf i don´t even, this is the best contributed weapon i have ever seen :O
I wasted my idea of this one pyro hat after i heard it was done before 7:
New engyhat
Texture coming real soon!
I made also a new Demo-weapon (based off of another guy´s concept) which i am now going to scrap because the barrel makes me cut myself and i just can´t fix it, also i had over 9000 errors in 3ds max while making it, so what the hell.
1 1024x1024 normal map w/alpha - used for the handle and motor, the alpha contains the phong mask
2 512x512 diffuse maps w/alpha - red/blu used for the handle and motor, the alpha contains the self illumination mask
2 512x512 diffuse maps w/alpha - red/blu used for the claws, the alpha contains the phong mask
1 256x256 self illumination map - used for the claw fluid/emitters
1 256x128 diffuse map - used for the belt
1 256x128 normal map w/alpha - used for the belt, the alpha contains the phong mask
It looks very nice, and the animations look neat in game. I think that you can seriously cut down on it, though. I think you can easily make Lod2 or even lod3 be the highest poly version. There is just such a small change between the top ones that I doubt anyone would notice. Second, I'd suggest getting rid of the normal maps entirely. The take up too much space for their minimum contribution (and I doubt valve would use them anyway). That said, I don't see why the belt's diffuse map can't be incorporated into one of the others.
All in all, I just think it would have been better if you made a 1024x1024 diffuse map (with the alpha containing the phong mask) for the whole model [edit: or perhaps you could keep the two 512's, but make the alpha of the handle and motor a phong mask instead of a self illum] and then a 256x256 self illumination map (again, for the whole thing).
perhaps that may constrain what you are doing with the self illumination right now, but I completely believe that it would not have too much impact on the overall quality of the finished product while making it much less space intensive.
I'm going to agree with Redsheep on this. The model is great and, it's very original and very well executed. That being said, there's pretty much no way it'll be put in game by Valve in its current state. That's EIGHT textures for one model compared to the usual TWO. Other than being way over the texture memory of nearly all of the other weapons, it's going to have way more drawcalls too. The performance decrease that weapon would cause as more people use it in the same server would be unacceptable for one weapon. Aside from texture memory and drawcalls, you also mentioned that it has custom animations. Brandon has recently said that they avoid putting weapons with custom animations in game because they don't have a pipeline set up currently to make it easy to include those custom animations from community contributions in.
You should try and cut down on the amount of textures used and possibly rethink using custom animations. As it currently is you're killing your chances of having it put in game.
Well its finally released, I thought I'd write this up for anyone who was interested. First off, I really tried to make to model cheaper in terms of performance cost. I ended up toning down Recurracy's particles because of that. It includes lods(see here). The texturing is a bit odd but try to follow me here and I'll try to explain why I did things the way I did.
The model is unwraped to use 2 separate sets of uv coordinates. The reason for this is so there is part of the model using a normal mapped phong material and the other a standard phong material. Areas of the model that used the normal map detail where closer to the player and benefited from the extra detail(coils, indicator light.) Areas of the model that where further away or in motion used a standard material(the majority of the spinning claw.) The belt part of the model was part of a separate texture entirely due to the fact it needed to use a texture scroll proxy. I really tried to stay away from using a any 1024x1024 textures because of the contribution guide lines.
1 1024x1024 normal map w/alpha - used for the handle and motor, the alpha contains the phong mask
2 512x512 diffuse maps w/alpha - red/blu used for the handle and motor, the alpha contains the self illumination mask
2 512x512 diffuse maps w/alpha - red/blu used for the claws, the alpha contains the phong mask
1 256x256 self illumination map - used for the claw fluid/emitters
1 256x128 diffuse map - used for the belt
1 256x128 normal map w/alpha - used for the belt, the alpha contains the phong mask
That being said I'll move on to the model itself, there are 2 versions of the model. A version with static autoplaying idle animations(used for the replacement), and a version for valve with three blend animations.
Blend animations in the source engine are used for many things, from vehicle suspension to a character looking around. In tf2 they are used for the ubersaw's ubercharge level. I thought this would be the best way for valve to control the kralle via code. Syringe_charge is just like the ubersaw's blend, as you get more ubercharge, the syringes on the claws fill up and the gauge on the control box moves to red. Claws_grasp is based off of hl2 vehicle suspension, its just the claws grasping and letting go. Claw_spin is based off of the hl2 vehicle tires spinning, as you can imagine it just makes the claw spin. I really wish there were some way to implement these animations in the model replacement version, but sadly there isn't(with out reanimating the medic arms.)
Also there are two bodygroups as well, one for the hose and claw, another for the belt. The belt bodygroup allows the belt to be turned on and off by code. The hose body group is just like the regular medigun, except instead of just removing the hose it also swaps out the claw end with an unweighted version thats fully grasped. I thought this was the best solution since valve has moved on to the c_model system for new weapons
VISUAL ORGASM O.O!!!!! perfecr model and texture, everything!!!
where did u studied modeling?
Replies
And a pitchfork (OK THERE IS A RAKE), a spray can flamethrower replacement that has a bomb mode instead of air blast...
Ok here i post an image of a testing model of the main body that is a volcano with a "baked AOC" (it looks awful). The idea is that this volcano will be a hat for the pyro, also it will spill some lava to make it more interesting. Do you recomend making a Normal Map for the main body, or should I play with the geometry? it will be "rocky" (english is not my native language). I want the hat to be some how like a toy but with some minor details so the surface of the body will not look smooth rather rocky but may be with no BUMP.
Any other recommendations you could give to a noob modeler will be accepted
Holy shit it's Batou
Quick, someone make that hairstyle for heavy!
Floating geometry is fine, it doesn't need to be one mesh.
Glad i wasn't the only one who thought of him.:)
I just wanted to know if I should work in that format as well :P thanks bro :P.
I sound like a douche don't I? :-<
Also finished a Vietnam style knife for what is turning into a Vietnam pack:
modeled this yesterday, its based off of a browning 1919A4 machine gun used in ww2. right now crappy uvs/ ao as well as bad shading groups in game(put blender shots in with fixed shading) gonna tweak a few things such as the front iro sights, crits are very much welcome. hopefully i can get a proper ao bake and shading groups tonight.
ALSO if anyone knows how i can change the position of were the muzzle flash comes out of(barrel is a bit longer than the standard) and were the shells are ejected that would be greatly appreciated
and one more quick question is the trigger supposed to move? i looked at BenHenry's tomislav and all there is the weapon bone so im a bit confused on that.
Look at this champ!
Nice Kabar
http://www.google.com/search?q=kabar&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=kabar&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Du&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=ZqcgTrCLILT-sQKB6KirCA&ved=0CGAQrQQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=7e3b9a0b4af1aa8b&biw=1680&bih=941
More screenshots/Download link here
@Deity Link i like the idea but i think you should work on the texture, it doesnt really feel too tf2-ish, also you should make the front strap more curved
thoughts / suggestions?
HellFire
LifeStealer
I know right, I didn't worked much on the texture (I trying a lot to fix the bones and the long coat), the Red Pyro's pants will be more grey.
I just got introduced to the thread about texturing for TF2, I'll work on that. And before adding curves to that strap, I'll reduce the polycount by removing hidden polygons (there are already 12 000)
you could probably get away with calling your flamethrower "Fossil Fuel", you know, for the lulz
and then the obligatory: "what's the tri count on that thing"
I can't really tell but the textures may need some work, such as on the Life Stealer where the blood could use some TF2-ifying, the half zatoichi is a good example of this
EDIT: I guess I just randomly chose one
but it seems to be similiar to the ubersaw
Thanks for the tips. Will improve the texture for the lifestealer.
---
I made a quick hat for the medic. Inspired by this guy's majestically silly hat. Skull not included for fairly obvious reasons. Still lacks almost all detail.
Also bonus robot.
LOL
Improved the handle, as suggested by svdl.
Also bone textures and scale of things, I think it needs something for hand gripping too, holding bones, ow
My favorite looking one out of the texture variations! Looks really nice! How about having this one as a "style"
Yeah, it's intended to be a style. Both that and the plaid version were submitted.
and I'm going to start on a pipe for the demoman but I'm not sure if I should model it properly or just get the shape then smooth it into shape?
EDIT:
Little more work
still VEEERY W.I.P
EDIT2:
I've been working on a new gun for the Spy, here's some WIP shots.
This is the reference I've been using:
Now, this is a two shot pistol, but I can't seem to figure out how the firing mechanism works as you can see by the rather unfinished one on the model. I was hoping for some input on that specifically but also on the model as a whole.
Thanks in advance and thanks for this great thread, awesome work from so many people.
I've been working on a new gun for the Spy, here's some WIP shots.
This is the reference I've been using:
Now, this is a two shot pistol, but I can't seem to figure out how the firing mechanism works as you can see by the rather unfinished one on the model. I was hoping for some input on that specifically but also on the model as a whole.
Thanks in advance and thanks for this great thread, awesome work from so many people.
fixed the shading, better ao bake, beefed up the barrel,fixed the muzzle flash and shell ejection locations, few tweaks. crits/comments? also i feel like im going to have nightmares about uv mappimg models >_>
[ame]
more screenshots here
The model is unwraped to use 2 separate sets of uv coordinates. The reason for this is so there is part of the model using a normal mapped phong material and the other a standard phong material. Areas of the model that used the normal map detail where closer to the player and benefited from the extra detail(coils, indicator light.) Areas of the model that where further away or in motion used a standard material(the majority of the spinning claw.) The belt part of the model was part of a separate texture entirely due to the fact it needed to use a texture scroll proxy. I really tried to stay away from using a any 1024x1024 textures because of the contribution guide lines.
1 1024x1024 normal map w/alpha - used for the handle and motor, the alpha contains the phong mask
2 512x512 diffuse maps w/alpha - red/blu used for the handle and motor, the alpha contains the self illumination mask
2 512x512 diffuse maps w/alpha - red/blu used for the claws, the alpha contains the phong mask
1 256x256 self illumination map - used for the claw fluid/emitters
1 256x128 diffuse map - used for the belt
1 256x128 normal map w/alpha - used for the belt, the alpha contains the phong mask
That being said I'll move on to the model itself, there are 2 versions of the model. A version with static autoplaying idle animations(used for the replacement), and a version for valve with three blend animations.
Blend animations in the source engine are used for many things, from vehicle suspension to a character looking around. In tf2 they are used for the ubersaw's ubercharge level. I thought this would be the best way for valve to control the kralle via code. Syringe_charge is just like the ubersaw's blend, as you get more ubercharge, the syringes on the claws fill up and the gauge on the control box moves to red. Claws_grasp is based off of hl2 vehicle suspension, its just the claws grasping and letting go. Claw_spin is based off of the hl2 vehicle tires spinning, as you can imagine it just makes the claw spin. I really wish there were some way to implement these animations in the model replacement version, but sadly there isn't(with out reanimating the medic arms.)
Also there are two bodygroups as well, one for the hose and claw, another for the belt. The belt bodygroup allows the belt to be turned on and off by code. The hose body group is just like the regular medigun, except instead of just removing the hose it also swaps out the claw end with an unweighted version thats fully grasped. I thought this was the best solution since valve has moved on to the c_model system for new weapons
@randomteddybear i think im going to need a new pair of pants....
That is just perfect. Daaaamn.
Quoted it so it doesn't get buried instantly.
Wtf i don´t even, this is the best contributed weapon i have ever seen :O
I wasted my idea of this one pyro hat after i heard it was done before 7:
New engyhat
Texture coming real soon!
I made also a new Demo-weapon (based off of another guy´s concept) which i am now going to scrap because the barrel makes me cut myself and i just can´t fix it, also i had over 9000 errors in 3ds max while making it, so what the hell.
It looks very nice, and the animations look neat in game. I think that you can seriously cut down on it, though. I think you can easily make Lod2 or even lod3 be the highest poly version. There is just such a small change between the top ones that I doubt anyone would notice. Second, I'd suggest getting rid of the normal maps entirely. The take up too much space for their minimum contribution (and I doubt valve would use them anyway). That said, I don't see why the belt's diffuse map can't be incorporated into one of the others.
All in all, I just think it would have been better if you made a 1024x1024 diffuse map (with the alpha containing the phong mask) for the whole model [edit: or perhaps you could keep the two 512's, but make the alpha of the handle and motor a phong mask instead of a self illum] and then a 256x256 self illumination map (again, for the whole thing).
perhaps that may constrain what you are doing with the self illumination right now, but I completely believe that it would not have too much impact on the overall quality of the finished product while making it much less space intensive.
You should try and cut down on the amount of textures used and possibly rethink using custom animations. As it currently is you're killing your chances of having it put in game.
VISUAL ORGASM O.O!!!!! perfecr model and texture, everything!!!
where did u studied modeling?
Workin' on something.