[TF2] How to create weapon skins from scratch?
Ok here's the dilemma I'm in. I want to create a skin for the scrapped Nail Grenade in TF2, as it didn't come with a skin.
However, I want to give it lots of detail and make it look very TF2-like.
The only problem is, I don't know how to create a skin from scratch or generate a <whatever>Map for a TF2 .MDL file.
By <whatever>Map, I mean something similar to this:
^-- I want to generate something similar to that using the Nail Grenade's MDL file (which I believe is under "tf/models/weapons/w_models/w_grenade_nail.mdl") so I can see where all the parts are and where exactly I need to add the parts of the texture to create a skin.
Essentially, what I plan on doing is generating a "map" similar to the image above so I can screenshot it, load it into Paint and fill in the wireframe things, then copy the now-filled-in "map" into Photoshop CS5 and begin skinning.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
However, I want to give it lots of detail and make it look very TF2-like.
The only problem is, I don't know how to create a skin from scratch or generate a <whatever>Map for a TF2 .MDL file.
By <whatever>Map, I mean something similar to this:
^-- I want to generate something similar to that using the Nail Grenade's MDL file (which I believe is under "tf/models/weapons/w_models/w_grenade_nail.mdl") so I can see where all the parts are and where exactly I need to add the parts of the texture to create a skin.
Essentially, what I plan on doing is generating a "map" similar to the image above so I can screenshot it, load it into Paint and fill in the wireframe things, then copy the now-filled-in "map" into Photoshop CS5 and begin skinning.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
I don't remember much past this, because I haven't done this in a while, but here's a link to an in-depth method of achieving the wanted results.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1109465
2nd, nordahl154 is right, you need to decompile the mdl to .smd files, then import the reference .smd file into whatever app you plan to use.
If the app doesn't have a smd import plug-in available then you'll need to use one that does, MilkShape3D does and it exports to .obj which just about every other app will import.
If it is already unwrapped and has a material name assigned to it, you don't need to recompile it, you will just need to create the material in the right spot with the right name and it will appear.
IF it hasn't been unwrapped or you can't figure out where to put the material you will need to recompile the model. But that's quite a few steps away.
But like I said, once I get the normal map, or if I can get the wireframe version of the map like in the image above, I'm going to fill in the wireframe in Paint, copy the filled-in wireframe into Photoshop and begin texturing.
Then I save it as a TGA, and use VTEX.exe to convert it into a VTF.
You can render a filled in map from Max, so you don't have to fill it in with MSPaint.
Change the mode to "solid", and un-check any edges.
Dude, you are awesome.
http://www.cuneytozdas.com/software/3dsmax/
widely spread in the warcraft 3 modding community to say skinning instead of texturing.
The shader on characters is different than on weapons. Since the model looks unfinished I doubt they did much shader work on it so there's a good chance he'll have to hack together some VMT along with the VTF's... that's a joy for sure... If anything sends people screaming to UDK its the way Source handles shaders and materials.
really i don't find it that bad since can quickly save the vmt's and the source model viewer allows you to reload the material with 1 key.
most of tf2 shaders use the same phong shading so you can just copy and past that than tweak the intensity and exponent, and you can do the same for the fresnel rimlight, though it is used on mostly just characters and there items.
even for doing materials for bsp brushes i always just make a quick uv'ed cube to view the material in the model viwer.
With the wallworm tool you get something similar for source so I would suggest anyone working with source use it, but even then UDK still makes it easier in almost every way.
If I need to do something more complex in UDK, the node based shader editor is very intuitive and updates instantly when the setting is changed. None of this, edit a text file, save it, run to another window get it to refresh and check, crap.
VMT's = easy to copy/paste but really hard to write something new or heavily customized.
UDK painless to create materials period.
A good example of this is how easy it is for people to recreate from scratch the TF2 character shader in UDK. But if you tried to create that same effect in source on your own you're paddling up S-creek without a paddle.
i was'nt saying i like using the source vmt system hell the last shader i did in udk would have taken a week to do via source and still some parts wouldnt work.
was just saying that if your making something for the engine it shouldnt really scare people off if there doing just simple stuff.
When I decompiled the Nail Grenade model, it gave me the following files:
- idle.smd
- release.smd
- phymodel.smd
- ref.smd
- w_grenade_nail_reference.dmx.smd
Also, there are no materials whatsoever for the Nail Grenade, as the material folder it points to in the .QC file is nonexistent. Valve never got around to making skins for any of the scrapped Grenades.
So from startup, what do I do to create a map like the above picture, or like the picture Nordahl posted. I found the Render option in Max 9, but it doesn't seem to do anything/I don't know if it did anything.
Refer to the above, the nail grenade model is just a model with no material files whatsoever. And I don't find creating VMT's to be hard. It's actually quite easy once you get the hang of it
Big image tutorial warning: http://yfrog.com/z/5jtutpsdj
I've got my map now
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1055556&postcount=3
And again its not hard to copy an existing VMT, and tools like the wallworm export tool can make creating basic VMT's painless.
But creating custom shaders and materials that are a bitch. Just try creating a TF2 style transparent ice shader... yea not a lot of examples of that floating around but I had to make one, it took days of tweaking and I'm still not happy with it. I could of created that material in under an hour in UDK with much better results.
See, the issue was I didn't want to create a whole new map. After following the tutorial on the Steam forums, I quickly figured out that thats what I was doing. So I stopped.
I wanted to get an image of the pre-existing map that was created by Valve, so I knew where to apply texturing for <insert part here> of the model itself. And I got it.
I also sent it off to a friend of mine who runs a TF2 server, and who needed the sheet, as a plugin he's making is going to use the Nail Grenade.
However, I haven't actually tried my hand at texturing the Grenade using the above sheet, so I'm not sure if I moved the UV map into the box (as per the image tutorial) properly.
Guess I'll find out when I actually try texturing it. And hey, with that method I found, I can nab texture sheets for all the other scrapped grenades in TF2.
Again, thank you all for the help, I'll keep you guys in mind if I need any more help with 3DS Max 9.