For my contest entry I'm creating items for the Spy with the theme: Ordinary Objects That Are Actually Super-Spy Gadgets But Are Still Pretty Ordinary
Since I'm a little indecisive I have 3 concepts for the melee weapon replacement that I can't choose between, I'm going to model each one then maybe decide after or ask the forums which one is the favorite, they are:
The Signature Move (aka Signature Move/Stylocide/Inkcalibur/Assasspen/Assassignature/Hancock's Fury/Penmansharp/The Dagger Of Squid Pro Quo)
What appears to be an ordinary pen, Mr. Spy, is actually a CO2-powered hypodermic needle which can inject a deadly poison directly into the spinal column of the target, killing them instantly. You can also write with it.
Proposed Item Stats: -Melee weapon replacement
-Can only be used to backstab, left clicking without facing someone's back does not stab but instead makes a clicky noise, can also make clicky noise while cloaked to freak out members of the opposing team and make them paranoid/distracted
-ALTERNATIVE IDEA TO THE ABOVE: Alternatively it could instead poison the enemy much like the Tribalman's Shiv when it lands a non-backstab, and clicky noise function would instead only work when you left click while cloaked
-ALTERNATIVE #2: Pen can still only backstab, retains original clicky noise function while cloaked(non-backstab)/not-cloaked and instead taunt shoots ink in opponents face poisoning(or blinding? [boomer bile-like blinding effect?]) them (opponent cannot cure poison effect gotten from a taunt, will eventually die)
-ALTERNATIVE #3: Taunt shoots ink in your own face, putting you into 3rd person view, blinding you(boomer bile-like effect?) but giving bonk cola effect for retreat tactics?
-ALTERNATIVE #4: Taunt does same as above [ink in own face] but instead of bonk cola effect you run faster but if you get hit it mini-crits?
Curb-Stamp(aka Mean Business/Paperwork's Lament/The Label Maker/Rubber Stomper/The Approver/The Rejecter/Stampfest/Stamping Ground)
What are you doing don't touch that! That may appear to be a regular rubber stamp, but we have replaced the child-safe, non-toxic ink with KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN, VERY-TOXIC INK! It will take a lot more than club soda to get this stain out. Not to mention the stains your enemy's wardrobe will endure when they begin hemorrhaging blood out of every orifice! Oh my, what a gruesome way to go.
Proposed Item Stats:
-No dmg for non-backstabs but Poison Ink?
-Backstab puts stamp and/or your custom spray on their backs? (Like how blood splatters are applied to models probably, might be even easier to do if they always appear in the same spot)
-Taunt stamps own forehead (maybe make it so you will slowly die [non-curable] but you can touch people while dying to poison them?)
-Maybe non-backstab poison effect works like the Bonk Cola/Sandman where you can only use it once then you need to wait for it to recharge (The fiction behind this would be that the ink pad has only enough ink for one stamp, and maybe it would have a reload animation where the Spy presses the stamper into the ink pad)?
Hellacious Deathpricker (aka The Toothpick/After Dinner Splint/Hors D'uvrer/Flesh D'uvrer/Devil's Nightmare/Lumber's Vengence/Detritus Devestator/Wooden Wrath/The Perforating Prick/Hellpricker/Darksplint/Mankind's Eternal Bane/Plaque's Blight/Worldbreaker/The Scout's Mom Cooked Me Dinner/Armageddon's Child/The New Hell)
Encased in this 50-inch thick titanium, lead-coated, vacuum-sealed, bomb-proof chamber is the most terrible device ever concieved here at Mann Co. Spyology Foundation & Sons. What appears to be an ordinary household toothpick actually houses unfathomable power and unspeakable evil. If you made a toothpick from the wood of the most evil tree that ever existed, it still wouldn't even be a fraction as evil as this horrific splinter. I want to be able to sleep at night so I won't tell you what to do with this weapon of mass destruction, and I certainly don't want to read the subsequent report following its use.
Proposed Item Stats:
-1 dmg per non-backstab hit (With each hit the Spy also gains 1 HP)
-Comedy Option: Right-click to discard it on the ground, anyone attempting to walk over it gets snagged (Put in doorways to set up ambushes I guess??)
-Taunt: you pick your teeth with it then flick it away, if it hits someone it's an insta-death, can kill multiple targets before landing, makes them explode into flaming gibs
-Backstab also makes them explode into flaming gibs?
-Backstab also gives some of the victim's health to the spy
-Low chance of crit, but when it does it causes flaming gibbage from any angle? (This + Kritzkrieg = Bad News Bears [also while this is crit-glowed a demonic aura flows from it and it's on fire])
-Comedy Option: RE:The Above: When weapon is crit-glowed and the spy has very low health the spy becomes possessed and gains insane speed and can jump twice as high, and when you right click to drop it on the ground instead it shoots out at a high speed and when it hits something it creates a vortex to the netherrealm which sucks anything caught in its radius into it, insta-gibbing them (Yet again making them explode into firey gibs) and the spy then succumbs to the evil and explodes as well
-Comedy Option: Facestab makes their head explode into flaming gibs while a 12 foot-high geyser of blood shoots from their neck at high speeds, their limp body then lights on fire and explodes thereafter, damaging nearby teammates
-Super Comedy Option: The above facestab permanently kills them by uninstalling the game and deleting it from their steam account and denying them from buying it back
That's it for the melee weapon ideas, other 2 item slot items coming soon!
PROGRESS UPDATE #2:
Three more item concepts, this time some hats and a PDA1 slot item:
The Brainwaiver (aka Hairfoil/The Foiler/The Loony Tin)
Regular-assed tinfoil molded into the shape of a regular-assed hat. Protects you from enemy mind control devices.
Proposed Item Stats: +50% to Eye Shifting -100% to Mind Rays Permanent +20 to Charisma
Not much else to say about this awesome hat slot item!
The Snitch (aka Wirecap/Wirecapping)
A baseball cap with a tape recorder and microphone very blatantly taped to the underside of the brim. Look all cool and nonchalant while trying to solicit information out of an opposing agent. This concept is very loose right now and the colors/stitching/front decal are all temporary stand-ins. I think it might be funny with jigglebone on the brim to make it sag down while the spy runs to demonstrate the obvious ruse of the bulky tape recorder.
Proposed Item Stats: +12 to Pulchritude -100% to Hatlessness +100% to Evidence -15 to Levity -100% to Hat Slot
What can you say about this hat that hasn't already been said about a regular non-suspicious baseball cap?
Spytron 4000 (aka Spytron 4000)
Replaces the outdated Spytron 3000, now you can spy in style with a real man's moneyholder, a good old-fashioned genuine leather wallet with a Spytron module built into it. Now you no longer need to carry around a lady's moneyclip-slash-PDA on your espionage missions! From Mann Co. Spyology Foundation & Sons!
Proposed Item Stats: IDEA #1:
-Works like normal Spytron 3000 except now you can also shoot a small bug out of the wallet onto an enemy player
-The bug projects a hologram around the enemy player which makes them appear to their allies as an enemy team member, causing their team mates to chase them down and/or shoot at them
-Once the enemy player's ally deals damage to them the bug breaks and falls off and they return to their normal appearance (maybe only melee damage knocks the bug off?)
-Otherwise after a set duration of time the bug runs out of power and falls off
-This function takes time to recharge much like the sandman does IDEA #2:
-Works like normal Spytron 3000 except while disguised as a class you are unarmed and instead you see the spy's arms covered by a faint hologram of that class's arm models holding their signature weapon
-When you left click you can use their weapon but it does no damage or does not heal enemies in the case of the medic, but all of the weapon effects like muzzleflash/flames/healbeam work. This way you can pretend to be a medic and look like you're healing an enemy heavy and the only way he'll know you're a fake is to shoot/try to walk through you or notice that he isn't gaining any health. (Good balance check against Heavy since Heavy is extremely overpowered at the moment)
-If you switch to your knife while disguised it works like the normal Spytron 3000 and you can't use faux weapons/you will stab/lose disguise like normally IDEA #3:
-I'll think of Idea #3 later... +10 Charisma -10 Charisma (No Cigarette Holder!) [Maybe remove the cigarette while he's wearing this?] +15 Health (If cigarette is removed)
I think I might have to rethink the modified functionality of this item, otherwise I like the idea a lot for a PDA1 slot item.
PROGRESS UPDATE #1:
I'm still working on the stamper model, In the meantime I'm trying to come up with ideas for the other two items. Here they are so far:
Pair-A-Clocks (aka Paraclocks/Clocks Akimbo/Two-Timer/Tick-Toc-Twin/Worldtrotter/Jetsetter/Doppelgeiger/Cloneological Device/Time To Split/Double Trouble/Saiamese Clock/Time For Two/Clockleganger)
A pocketwatch with two clock faces for keeping time for different parts of the globe. Doubles as doppelganger hologram projector
Proposed Item Stats:
-Replaces the watch slot item
-Works like the Dead Ringer, except when you have it out and get hit you split into two spies, the real you and an AI-controlled clone that tries to run away from you and your attackers and towards nearby health sources, the idea is that the enemy won't know which one is the real spy and your chances of escaping should double.
-The hologram clone only has a small amount of health and disappears after a few seconds. The clone doesn't attack or anything it just moves around and isn't solid to other players.
-Do you and the clone cloak like with the Dead Ringer on hit? Or not?
-The hologram only has a small amount of health but every time it gets hit you take that damage too? So you can avoid dying at least?
-Depending on gameplay balance needs it might recharge/last faster/slower/longer/shorter than the Dead Ringer.
-Maybe instead of working like the Dead Ringer instead it takes away your ability to cloak but you can use it whenever you want without waiting for someone to hit you?
I think this is a pretty cool watch replacement idea but I think I might need to change my theme to make it fit with whatever melee weapon I decide to go with, also I think it needs to be a little more visually different than the Dead Ringer. I think I might make it a clamshell design with a clock face on the inside of each half which will in turn give the Clockleganger name an irresistible triple meaning.
EDIT: Ok I've decided I'm going to model it after a stopwatch.
i'd make the stamper the knife replacement. just for the fun of stamping the body with a "loser" or something of that effect. and them then dying.
I was thinking that too, especially if it had a special death animation and thirdperson deathcam for the person who got killed by it which would give a better view of their back and the stamp post-death.
But I'm torn because I really like the idea of clicking the pen while cloaked to harass an enemy.
I think I'm almost done modeling the Paperwork's Lament but I've run into some problems with smoothing groups, I can't get rid of this really sharp line here highlighted in red, I also adjusted the contrast to make the line more visible:
Are there any good tricks for dealing with misbehaving smoothing groups?
I laughed really hard at all your pen names, very funny. Also about the smoothing group, all you can really do is play around with which sections are assigned to what, but you could probably just ignore it.
Thank you! About the smoothing groups, I want all the faces on the handle there to be assigned to the same smoothing group so I can get the smooth polished wood/plastic look I'm going for.
UPDATE:
Running into some trouble while texturing the rubber stamper:
I have the whole thing as a single object in 3ds max with each part separated into elements, but I realize now that if I want the handle to be shiny like the engineer's gloves and the plastic label holder on the front to be shiny like glass I need them to have their own materials. Is there any way to separate these elements into their own separate objects without ruining the UVW Map job I already did?
Er, by making a specular map as well as a diffuse?
Not sure I understand what you mean, I need to be able to have 3 separate .vmt files if I want the results I'm looking for and I don't think I can do that when they all share the same texture "name". I know I could probably get away with using just one .vtf but not 1 .vmt file.
Not sure I understand what you mean, I need to be able to have 3 separate .vmt files if I want the results I'm looking for and I don't think I can do that when they all share the same texture "name". I know I could probably get away with using just one .vtf but not 1 .vmt file.
vmt is a text file, vtf is the image format.
vmt will contain references to the vtf's that are used, ie diffuse/bump/transparency etc.
when you compile a model, you reference the vmt, not the vtf.
specular map is usually the alpha channel on your diffuse map.
Ok so I separated the elements into 3 separate objects.
Now is there a way to render the AO texture bake for all 3 objects to the same texture? And is there a way to show all 3 objects at once on the same UVW Unwrap Edit window?
EDIT: Apparently I was supposed to apply the Unwrap UVW modifier to all three objects at once, is there a way to do this without YET AGAIN losing all my UVW work?
Finished the Curb-Stampmodel/texture! I think I might get rid of the plastic label cover thing on the front but then I'll have to re-model the base of it to get rid of the label holder slits and stuff. Also I'm not sure about any of the colors yet.
You've got some pretty nasty clipping issues there. I'd suggest remodeling the handle so it fits in the Spy's hand better.
Well I plan on letting Valve do the custom animations for it, I just wanted to see what it looked like in-game since the modelviewer doesn't even come close.
Well I plan on letting Valve do the custom animations for it, I just wanted to see what it looked like in-game since the modelviewer doesn't even come close.
yeaaaaaah no,
valve will either take the full animated item you give them
or not pick your submission.
it's a general asumption that valve will not, want to do extra work
aka animating for an item when there is plenty of already animated +thrown together packs to pick over one that'd just be extra work
Yeah probably, but I think this is a little different from a complete animation overhaul since the stamper works perfectly with the default knife animations it just needs some minor adjustments.
The problem is that I don't have any of the source files for the knife animation and I have no way of getting them to make those adjustments. And even if I did, those small adjustments would take probably 2 minutes for Valve to do while for me it would be an all-day project.
On a related note, can someone explain this quote from the contest rules page?:
Q. I want to make some melee weapons for my character. Do I have to re-model the hands as well, if so, does this add to my triangle count?
A. TF2 weapons are automatically attached to the hands of the character wielding them, so you can make things that strap onto the hands without needing to make new hands. If you make them attach cleanly to the existing player hand models, youll be fine for the future, because were not going to change them (itd break all our existing items). The triangle count is for your model only, so it doesnt include the hands youre attached to
This makes no sense to me since when I was compiling the stamper knife replacement .mdl files the Spy's hands were not "automatically attached" they were part of the knife model. But I did notice that the newer weapons added to the game do not have separate v_ and w_ models, is this what they meant? Too bad the Spy's knife has no replacement yet so this statement is still innacurate either way.
Yes. No one will make new animations. There are already plenty of excellent,animated entries here to make a whole new game. If you can't animate, model a weapon to fit perfectly with the existent animations, like the previous contributors.
You'll need an environment map for tin foil to work at all. if you get a capture of a TF2 level with an appropriate colour scheme it might work ok.
I was debating whether or not to use an envmap or to try to make a really intricate normal map which would make the tf2 cartoon shader/rimlight/etc. mimic tinfoil.
Oh and for the future if you want to make an envmap easily just open up one of the game's .bsp files with pakrat or something and you can rip out the actual envmap textures to use.
EDIT: Unfortunately I have no idea how to make this 6-sided envmap work in 3ds max now.
Finished the first draft of The Brainwaiver, I had a cubemap on it but I took it off because it made it look way too photorealistic for the TF2 universe.
I think I might add some tinfoil antennas to it or something to give it more character, I'd like to hear what other people think too! Also I think the normal map needs to be made more "pointer" and have less detail but I have no idea how to make normal maps except from regular photographs with a normalmap generator program.
A problem I ran into though was that in direct lighting like outside in the sun the whole think turns into a glowing white blob, how could I fix this?
I thought it was duct tape :O .. that's the only issue I see is extremely reflective objects like chrome and foil don't seem to play out right in the TF2 style, but maybe adding the antennas will help
I really need to figure out how to make it so darker lit areas of the hat are black or else it doesn't really look like tinfoil, but I don't know if that's possible since it seems like the ramp textures and such only work like an additive layer, I really have no idea.
Here's a pic of it in some extreme lighting situations, it looks a lot worse in-game but I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to do much about it:
And here I tried smoothing down the normal map on the front of the hat where it would have gotten smoothed out a little when he was molding it to his skull:
I think it looks nice, but I think what would really look nice is if I rotated that underlapping foil's normal map so it didn't blend into the top sheet, and then go around editing the normal map so it matches the model better instead of looking like a texture on a shape.
Yes. No one will make new animations. There are already plenty of excellent,animated entries here to make a whole new game. If you can't animate, model a weapon to fit perfectly with the existent animations, like the previous contributors.
I've ran into a problem, after modifying the stamper to add some skew to it's shape now when I import it into source the handle gets all retardo like so:
It looks like the smoothing groups are all fucked up even though all faces of the handle have the same smoothing group assigned and it definitely doesn't look like this in 3ds max, I have no idea what might be causing this to happen.
also I love the two timer watch name maybe replace the clock face with a cloak that stretches across both watches?
I'm not really sure how this relates to my problem, I don't really think whatever is wrong with my model has to do with smoothing groups exactly I think it's something else wrong with either the model in 3ds max or something going wrong when it gets imported into Source.
Since I can't finish the stamper for now I've moved on to the Pair-A-Clocks:
Carving out the chunk where the button/dial nubs go into the top lid is a pain in the ass, I haven't even started the second indent yet.
I plan on having a design on the outside face of the stopwatch and the inside two faces are going to look like in my concept drawing with the twin clock faces.
I'm not sure what to do with the front, outwards face it seems kind of plain right now.
What I'm really worried about is the inside clock faces, I still haven't figured out how the actual cloak meter fuel gauge is rendered so it's really hard to design a thing for the clock faces around that. I think I want the gauge to display on both faces and I definitely want to keep the hands there but I could move them around a little.
Any ideas on whats missing or how the gauge renders for the existing watches so I can figure out how to do it?
It will dump a list of the texture files that a tf2 model uses. If you find the watch model in the GCF files and extract it, then run the texture info tool you should be able to find the relevant vtf and vmt files. Then you can examine said texture files and deduce how they work.
Replies
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The draw animation for the Pair-A-Clocks:
For my contest entry I'm creating items for the Spy with the theme: Ordinary Objects That Are Actually Super-Spy Gadgets But Are Still Pretty Ordinary
Since I'm a little indecisive I have 3 concepts for the melee weapon replacement that I can't choose between, I'm going to model each one then maybe decide after or ask the forums which one is the favorite, they are:
The Signature Move (aka Signature Move/Stylocide/Inkcalibur/Assasspen/Assassignature/Hancock's Fury/Penmansharp/The Dagger Of Squid Pro Quo)
What appears to be an ordinary pen, Mr. Spy, is actually a CO2-powered hypodermic needle which can inject a deadly poison directly into the spinal column of the target, killing them instantly. You can also write with it.
Proposed Item Stats:
-Melee weapon replacement
-Can only be used to backstab, left clicking without facing someone's back does not stab but instead makes a clicky noise, can also make clicky noise while cloaked to freak out members of the opposing team and make them paranoid/distracted
-ALTERNATIVE IDEA TO THE ABOVE: Alternatively it could instead poison the enemy much like the Tribalman's Shiv when it lands a non-backstab, and clicky noise function would instead only work when you left click while cloaked
-ALTERNATIVE #2: Pen can still only backstab, retains original clicky noise function while cloaked(non-backstab)/not-cloaked and instead taunt shoots ink in opponents face poisoning(or blinding? [boomer bile-like blinding effect?]) them (opponent cannot cure poison effect gotten from a taunt, will eventually die)
-ALTERNATIVE #3: Taunt shoots ink in your own face, putting you into 3rd person view, blinding you(boomer bile-like effect?) but giving bonk cola effect for retreat tactics?
-ALTERNATIVE #4: Taunt does same as above [ink in own face] but instead of bonk cola effect you run faster but if you get hit it mini-crits?
Curb-Stamp (aka Mean Business/Paperwork's Lament/The Label Maker/Rubber Stomper/The Approver/The Rejecter/Stampfest/Stamping Ground)
What are you doing don't touch that! That may appear to be a regular rubber stamp, but we have replaced the child-safe, non-toxic ink with KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN, VERY-TOXIC INK! It will take a lot more than club soda to get this stain out. Not to mention the stains your enemy's wardrobe will endure when they begin hemorrhaging blood out of every orifice! Oh my, what a gruesome way to go.
Proposed Item Stats:
-No dmg for non-backstabs but Poison Ink?
-Backstab puts stamp and/or your custom spray on their backs? (Like how blood splatters are applied to models probably, might be even easier to do if they always appear in the same spot)
-Taunt stamps own forehead (maybe make it so you will slowly die [non-curable] but you can touch people while dying to poison them?)
-Maybe non-backstab poison effect works like the Bonk Cola/Sandman where you can only use it once then you need to wait for it to recharge (The fiction behind this would be that the ink pad has only enough ink for one stamp, and maybe it would have a reload animation where the Spy presses the stamper into the ink pad)?
Hellacious Deathpricker (aka The Toothpick/After Dinner Splint/Hors D'uvrer/Flesh D'uvrer/Devil's Nightmare/Lumber's Vengence/Detritus Devestator/Wooden Wrath/The Perforating Prick/Hellpricker/Darksplint/Mankind's Eternal Bane/Plaque's Blight/Worldbreaker/The Scout's Mom Cooked Me Dinner/Armageddon's Child/The New Hell)
Encased in this 50-inch thick titanium, lead-coated, vacuum-sealed, bomb-proof chamber is the most terrible device ever concieved here at Mann Co. Spyology Foundation & Sons. What appears to be an ordinary household toothpick actually houses unfathomable power and unspeakable evil. If you made a toothpick from the wood of the most evil tree that ever existed, it still wouldn't even be a fraction as evil as this horrific splinter. I want to be able to sleep at night so I won't tell you what to do with this weapon of mass destruction, and I certainly don't want to read the subsequent report following its use.
Proposed Item Stats:
-1 dmg per non-backstab hit (With each hit the Spy also gains 1 HP)
-Comedy Option: Right-click to discard it on the ground, anyone attempting to walk over it gets snagged (Put in doorways to set up ambushes I guess??)
-Taunt: you pick your teeth with it then flick it away, if it hits someone it's an insta-death, can kill multiple targets before landing, makes them explode into flaming gibs
-Backstab also makes them explode into flaming gibs?
-Backstab also gives some of the victim's health to the spy
-Low chance of crit, but when it does it causes flaming gibbage from any angle? (This + Kritzkrieg = Bad News Bears [also while this is crit-glowed a demonic aura flows from it and it's on fire])
-Comedy Option: RE:The Above: When weapon is crit-glowed and the spy has very low health the spy becomes possessed and gains insane speed and can jump twice as high, and when you right click to drop it on the ground instead it shoots out at a high speed and when it hits something it creates a vortex to the netherrealm which sucks anything caught in its radius into it, insta-gibbing them (Yet again making them explode into firey gibs) and the spy then succumbs to the evil and explodes as well
-Comedy Option: Facestab makes their head explode into flaming gibs while a 12 foot-high geyser of blood shoots from their neck at high speeds, their limp body then lights on fire and explodes thereafter, damaging nearby teammates
-Super Comedy Option: The above facestab permanently kills them by uninstalling the game and deleting it from their steam account and denying them from buying it back
That's it for the melee weapon ideas, other 2 item slot items coming soon!
PROGRESS UPDATE #2:
Three more item concepts, this time some hats and a PDA1 slot item:
The Brainwaiver (aka Hairfoil/The Foiler/The Loony Tin)
Regular-assed tinfoil molded into the shape of a regular-assed hat. Protects you from enemy mind control devices.
Proposed Item Stats:
+50% to Eye Shifting
-100% to Mind Rays
Permanent +20 to Charisma
Not much else to say about this awesome hat slot item!
The Snitch (aka Wirecap/Wirecapping)
A baseball cap with a tape recorder and microphone very blatantly taped to the underside of the brim. Look all cool and nonchalant while trying to solicit information out of an opposing agent. This concept is very loose right now and the colors/stitching/front decal are all temporary stand-ins. I think it might be funny with jigglebone on the brim to make it sag down while the spy runs to demonstrate the obvious ruse of the bulky tape recorder.
Proposed Item Stats:
+12 to Pulchritude
-100% to Hatlessness
+100% to Evidence
-15 to Levity
-100% to Hat Slot
What can you say about this hat that hasn't already been said about a regular non-suspicious baseball cap?
Spytron 4000 (aka Spytron 4000)
Replaces the outdated Spytron 3000, now you can spy in style with a real man's moneyholder, a good old-fashioned genuine leather wallet with a Spytron module built into it. Now you no longer need to carry around a lady's moneyclip-slash-PDA on your espionage missions! From Mann Co. Spyology Foundation & Sons!
Proposed Item Stats:
IDEA #1:
-Works like normal Spytron 3000 except now you can also shoot a small bug out of the wallet onto an enemy player
-The bug projects a hologram around the enemy player which makes them appear to their allies as an enemy team member, causing their team mates to chase them down and/or shoot at them
-Once the enemy player's ally deals damage to them the bug breaks and falls off and they return to their normal appearance (maybe only melee damage knocks the bug off?)
-Otherwise after a set duration of time the bug runs out of power and falls off
-This function takes time to recharge much like the sandman does
IDEA #2:
-Works like normal Spytron 3000 except while disguised as a class you are unarmed and instead you see the spy's arms covered by a faint hologram of that class's arm models holding their signature weapon
-When you left click you can use their weapon but it does no damage or does not heal enemies in the case of the medic, but all of the weapon effects like muzzleflash/flames/healbeam work. This way you can pretend to be a medic and look like you're healing an enemy heavy and the only way he'll know you're a fake is to shoot/try to walk through you or notice that he isn't gaining any health. (Good balance check against Heavy since Heavy is extremely overpowered at the moment)
-If you switch to your knife while disguised it works like the normal Spytron 3000 and you can't use faux weapons/you will stab/lose disguise like normally
IDEA #3:
-I'll think of Idea #3 later...
+10 Charisma
-10 Charisma (No Cigarette Holder!) [Maybe remove the cigarette while he's wearing this?]
+15 Health (If cigarette is removed)
I think I might have to rethink the modified functionality of this item, otherwise I like the idea a lot for a PDA1 slot item.
PROGRESS UPDATE #1:
I'm still working on the stamper model, In the meantime I'm trying to come up with ideas for the other two items. Here they are so far:
Pair-A-Clocks (aka Paraclocks/Clocks Akimbo/Two-Timer/Tick-Toc-Twin/Worldtrotter/Jetsetter/Doppelgeiger/Cloneological Device/Time To Split/Double Trouble/Saiamese Clock/Time For Two/Clockleganger)
A pocketwatch with two clock faces for keeping time for different parts of the globe. Doubles as doppelganger hologram projector
Proposed Item Stats:
-Replaces the watch slot item
-Works like the Dead Ringer, except when you have it out and get hit you split into two spies, the real you and an AI-controlled clone that tries to run away from you and your attackers and towards nearby health sources, the idea is that the enemy won't know which one is the real spy and your chances of escaping should double.
-The hologram clone only has a small amount of health and disappears after a few seconds. The clone doesn't attack or anything it just moves around and isn't solid to other players.
-Do you and the clone cloak like with the Dead Ringer on hit? Or not?
-The hologram only has a small amount of health but every time it gets hit you take that damage too? So you can avoid dying at least?
-Depending on gameplay balance needs it might recharge/last faster/slower/longer/shorter than the Dead Ringer.
-Maybe instead of working like the Dead Ringer instead it takes away your ability to cloak but you can use it whenever you want without waiting for someone to hit you?
I think this is a pretty cool watch replacement idea but I think I might need to change my theme to make it fit with whatever melee weapon I decide to go with, also I think it needs to be a little more visually different than the Dead Ringer. I think I might make it a clamshell design with a clock face on the inside of each half which will in turn give the Clockleganger name an irresistible triple meaning.
EDIT: Ok I've decided I'm going to model it after a stopwatch.
UPDATE: Revised Pair-A-Clocks concept:
I was thinking that too, especially if it had a special death animation and thirdperson deathcam for the person who got killed by it which would give a better view of their back and the stamp post-death.
But I'm torn because I really like the idea of clicking the pen while cloaked to harass an enemy.
Are there any good tricks for dealing with misbehaving smoothing groups?
EDIT: Updated the second post! (Again!) [Again!]
Running into some trouble while texturing the rubber stamper:
I have the whole thing as a single object in 3ds max with each part separated into elements, but I realize now that if I want the handle to be shiny like the engineer's gloves and the plastic label holder on the front to be shiny like glass I need them to have their own materials. Is there any way to separate these elements into their own separate objects without ruining the UVW Map job I already did?
Not sure I understand what you mean, I need to be able to have 3 separate .vmt files if I want the results I'm looking for and I don't think I can do that when they all share the same texture "name". I know I could probably get away with using just one .vtf but not 1 .vmt file.
vmt is a text file, vtf is the image format.
vmt will contain references to the vtf's that are used, ie diffuse/bump/transparency etc.
when you compile a model, you reference the vmt, not the vtf.
specular map is usually the alpha channel on your diffuse map.
Also even if I did I need the alpha channel of the diffuse map for the opacity map anyways.
Basically what I'm asking is more of a 3ds max question.
But...
^Reference of Awesome.
Was Tectrixcalibur a little too obvious? ;P
Sorry, I must have misunderstood your question.
It wasn't until you POINTED IT OUT.
;P
Now is there a way to render the AO texture bake for all 3 objects to the same texture? And is there a way to show all 3 objects at once on the same UVW Unwrap Edit window?
EDIT: Apparently I was supposed to apply the Unwrap UVW modifier to all three objects at once, is there a way to do this without YET AGAIN losing all my UVW work?
Finished the Curb-Stamp model/texture! I think I might get rid of the plastic label cover thing on the front but then I'll have to re-model the base of it to get rid of the label holder slits and stuff. Also I'm not sure about any of the colors yet.
What do you guys think?
Well I plan on letting Valve do the custom animations for it, I just wanted to see what it looked like in-game since the modelviewer doesn't even come close.
yeaaaaaah no,
valve will either take the full animated item you give them
or not pick your submission.
I didn't see anywhere in the rules where it said animations were mandatory at all.
it's a general asumption that valve will not, want to do extra work
aka animating for an item when there is plenty of already animated +thrown together packs to pick over one that'd just be extra work
Yeah probably, but I think this is a little different from a complete animation overhaul since the stamper works perfectly with the default knife animations it just needs some minor adjustments.
The problem is that I don't have any of the source files for the knife animation and I have no way of getting them to make those adjustments. And even if I did, those small adjustments would take probably 2 minutes for Valve to do while for me it would be an all-day project.
On a related note, can someone explain this quote from the contest rules page?:
This makes no sense to me since when I was compiling the stamper knife replacement .mdl files the Spy's hands were not "automatically attached" they were part of the knife model. But I did notice that the newer weapons added to the game do not have separate v_ and w_ models, is this what they meant? Too bad the Spy's knife has no replacement yet so this statement is still innacurate either way.
Trying to make the hat look like it's made out of tin foil and keeping it in line with the TF2 art style is going to be a pain in the ass.
I was debating whether or not to use an envmap or to try to make a really intricate normal map which would make the tf2 cartoon shader/rimlight/etc. mimic tinfoil.
Oh and for the future if you want to make an envmap easily just open up one of the game's .bsp files with pakrat or something and you can rip out the actual envmap textures to use.
EDIT: Unfortunately I have no idea how to make this 6-sided envmap work in 3ds max now.
Finished the first draft of The Brainwaiver, I had a cubemap on it but I took it off because it made it look way too photorealistic for the TF2 universe.
I think I might add some tinfoil antennas to it or something to give it more character, I'd like to hear what other people think too! Also I think the normal map needs to be made more "pointer" and have less detail but I have no idea how to make normal maps except from regular photographs with a normalmap generator program.
A problem I ran into though was that in direct lighting like outside in the sun the whole think turns into a glowing white blob, how could I fix this?
I think the normalmap needs to be more angular and I need to adjust the ramp texture to replicate the look of aluminium foil better.
Not really sure how to do either of those though...
Purposefully try and have overlapping geometry with a higher res mesh then transer the normals. or something along those lines.
but I like it!
I guess that's next up for me to work on then.
I really need to figure out how to make it so darker lit areas of the hat are black or else it doesn't really look like tinfoil, but I don't know if that's possible since it seems like the ramp textures and such only work like an additive layer, I really have no idea.
Here's a pic of it in some extreme lighting situations, it looks a lot worse in-game but I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to do much about it:
And here I tried smoothing down the normal map on the front of the hat where it would have gotten smoothed out a little when he was molding it to his skull:
I think it looks nice, but I think what would really look nice is if I rotated that underlapping foil's normal map so it didn't blend into the top sheet, and then go around editing the normal map so it matches the model better instead of looking like a texture on a shape.
why hello there
It looks like the smoothing groups are all fucked up even though all faces of the handle have the same smoothing group assigned and it definitely doesn't look like this in 3ds max, I have no idea what might be causing this to happen.
For reference, it's supposed to look like this
Does anyone know what the problem is here?
for Blender but maaayyyybeee the same rules apply
also I love the two timer watch name maybe replace the clock face with a cloak that stretches across both watches?
I'm not really sure how this relates to my problem, I don't really think whatever is wrong with my model has to do with smoothing groups exactly I think it's something else wrong with either the model in 3ds max or something going wrong when it gets imported into Source.
Carving out the chunk where the button/dial nubs go into the top lid is a pain in the ass, I haven't even started the second indent yet.
I plan on having a design on the outside face of the stopwatch and the inside two faces are going to look like in my concept drawing with the twin clock faces.
I'm not sure what to do with the front, outwards face it seems kind of plain right now.
What I'm really worried about is the inside clock faces, I still haven't figured out how the actual cloak meter fuel gauge is rendered so it's really hard to design a thing for the clock faces around that. I think I want the gauge to display on both faces and I definitely want to keep the hands there but I could move them around a little.
Any ideas on whats missing or how the gauge renders for the existing watches so I can figure out how to do it?
Source: http://www.wunderboy.org/sourceapps.php
It will dump a list of the texture files that a tf2 model uses. If you find the watch model in the GCF files and extract it, then run the texture info tool you should be able to find the relevant vtf and vmt files. Then you can examine said texture files and deduce how they work.