Tutorials, Guides and Resources for Dota2 Workshop

Tvidotto · Jul 2013

hey guys!
the idea is to list any helpful info regarding to create dota 2 items. Feel free to suggest:

Videos
streams
blogs
pdfs

any suggestion please post and i can update here.

we could follow this scheme

- a brief description
- the link
- who created

*this is a work in progress

--- Concept Sheets
> > Dota 2 Hero Concept Sheets < < - compiled by Spudnik

--- Tutorials

Mirroring and reusing texture space
[ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM3B6KPoMTY"]Mirroring and reusing texture space - YouTube[/ame]
by Alec Mody

Model guide viewer
http://www.cyborgmatt.com/2013/11/dota-2-model-viewer-guide/
by Cyborgmatt

Vertex based particles - import on Dota
http://www.workshophatemachine.com/2013/07/28/vertex-based-particle-import/
by Vlad

Detailing shapes using alphas on ZBrush
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1975020&postcount=11068
by Konras

Promo image using marmoset
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1975166&postcount=85
by Belkun

Mudbox Color map - projecting the concept over the highpoly model
[ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxzG9D9CoGo"]Modbox Color Map - Lennyagony - YouTube[/ame]
by Lennyagony

Skinning and Exporting, 3dsMax to Dota 2
[ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmepHy6FT2A"]Skinning and Exporting, 3dsMax to Dota 2. - YouTube[/ame]
by Lennyagony

[ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V78IJ00sTYs&"]Change UVS and keep the texture (Blender)[/ame]
by Blender2dot

Tvidotto · Jul 2013

--- Lore information

http://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=35923

Tvidotto · Jul 2013

--- Guides/PDFs

Compiling model the old way - from maya to compile using a qc and vtm file. really complete and after setup its the quickest way to test your model in game multiple times
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showp...&postcount=592
by Spudnik

Taking your textures to the next level with light baking - 3dmax
by Identikal

The Making Of A Set
by Oroboros

Valves guide to Huds

Layering all the bakes on photoshop
by belkun

Sweetfx tutorial - a way to get more crispy images for presentations
by belkun

Hair modeling by
SnowStorm

Export Assets to Source Engine with MESA
by Fuzzz

Approached To Work On A Tournament Item? A Guide For You
by Oroboros

Tvidotto · Jul 2013

--- Live Streams, Recorded streams
Anuxinamoon

T_Vidotto
http://www.twitch.tv/tvidotto

Sith Happens
http://www.twitch.tv/liveworkshop

Prosomogy
http://www.twitch.tv/masternorma

Nikey
http://www.twitch.tv/mgn_nikey/new

Helenek
www.twitch.tv/helenek

Zaphk
http://www.twitch.tv/zaphk

Motenai

http://www.youtube.com/user/motenai82/videos

Robo
http://www.twitch.tv/robomik

Tvidotto · Jul 2013

--- Resources

maya gradient shader created by the polycount user Kodde

[ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R52kclEBa8E"]Creating a gradient texture in Maya with MEL script - YouTube[/ame]

dowload at his site

Dota Hero Shader for 3d MAX and MAYA

Vengeful Spirit chart by JedTheKrampus
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2013343&postcount=69

Character rigs on Maya 2014 by Helenek
or on the guide here

Tvidotto · Jul 2013

--- Blogs/Sites

http://www.liveworkshop.com/

http://www.workshophatemachine.com/

--- Tools

MESA - maya plugin for working with source files, import and export

The objective of MESA, is to make the full asset creation process within the Maya interface so it supports mod and item creation with any games that have workshop publishing tools. MESA is compatible with all recent versions of Maya ( 2011/2012/2013/2014 with x86 and x64 bits )

more information and download on the site
http://puppet-master.net/plugins/mesa-2-0/

Krita,Digital Painting Tool
http://krita.org/item/220-krita-2-8-0-released

Tvidotto · Jul 2013

--- Work in progress / Timelapses videos

[ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arezUds3mLA&feature=share&list=PLnYib-IkrHVb4WAPw8fI6u2gp0wUhXh3q"]Legion Commander set - Sculpt part 1 - YouTube[/ame]
legion commander sculpt playlist
by Motenai

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110022
bow for drowRanger - concept

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf63aFHevR4
Radiance for spectre by Robo

http://youtu.be/3GQNW_J4lz8
by Vlad

[ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kfCMU7xK4A"]http://youtu.be/3GQNW_J4lz8[/ame]
by DoubleLeaf

[ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9emx5kWxNI"]Dota - Making Of - Bludgeon of the Aquatic Steed - Retopo - YouTube[/ame]
by Airborn Studios

[ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrQz4xfSfUA"]Dota - Making Of - Bludgeon of the Aquatic Steed - Sculpting - YouTube[/ame]
by Airborn Studios

[ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUzgwSBWm-Q"]Dota - Making Of - Bludgeon of the Aquatic Steed - Blockout - YouTube[/ame]
by Airborn Studios

[ame="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEB8Aci_-yg"]Dota2 Making of - Laments of the Dead - YouTube[/ame]
by Airborn Studios

Spudnik · Jul 2013

For what it's worth, here's my old tutorial for manually compiling from Maya

Prosomogy · Jul 2013

if you want you can add my twitch channel, http://www.twitch.tv/masternorma
Time from time make items there, its watching a lot of Russian people, but i don't think so that it will be a problem to speak whis people who know English.

Nikey · Jul 2013

Oh, it's really great idea!
Add my twitch channel - http://www.twitch.tv/mgn_nikey/new. When i'm not in google hangout, i'm streaming.

Reyne · Jul 2013

Thanks heaps for compiling this list. (and to all the creators too of course). I will certainly be looking through a lot of these

soulstice · Jul 2013

Just started getting into Dota 2 myself. Thanks for this!

Tvidotto · Jul 2013

ty for the suggestion guys! adding those

Reyne and Soulstice, thanks, hope that can help you guys

the polycount teached me a lot and im sure its true to the other guys, but sometimes is hard to someone new to find the information inside all those posts, hope that list will help =]

haiddasalami · Jul 2013

Hey Tvidotto, any chance you still have those rigging streams for cyborgmatt's stuff? Been looking into getting into the rigging/pipeline side for dota 2. Good thread btw

Sukotto · Jul 2013

Thanks for putting all this together in one place! Can we get this Stickied?

And I would love to see some courier tutorials. I've had little luck finding any hard info on the process

Tvidotto · Jul 2013

haiddasalami wrote: »

Hey Tvidotto, any chance you still have those rigging streams for cyborgmatt's stuff? Been looking into getting into the rigging/pipeline side for dota 2. Good thread btw

unfortunatelly i lost all those videos, i didnt press the "save forever buttom" on twitch...

but i plan to do a new one

Sukotto wrote: »

Thanks for putting all this together in one place! Can we get this Stickied?

And I would love to see some courier tutorials. I've had little luck finding any hard info on the process

im planning to that, my idea is to do one from the very beginning on the concept to the final submition, i hope it dont get too boring

Tvidotto · Jul 2013

stuck!

No Pie For You! · Aug 2013

hello, i was wondering if there are any texturing tutorials out there.... i`ve been working my ass out to look for some, but didnt find any, and i can`t quite figure out valve`s texture guide (for 3ds max)

AndrewHelenek · Aug 2013

http://www.twitch.tv/helenek/profile

because just making items isn't enough anymore. :smokin:

Digital_3d · Aug 2013

http://www.twitch.tv/zaphk

Hawt Koffee · Aug 2013

I could set up a tutorial video for animation from blender to dota if that helps

keyan3d · Aug 2013

Does anyone know how to add particle effects? After some searches I realized that it needs some coding into the .qc file but i didn't really get how it all works...

Hawt Koffee · Aug 2013

Actually, since Blender is potentially getting an official Steam release I'm going to put together a series of tutorials on making dota 2 items with blender.

No Pie For You! · Aug 2013

could you make a conversion from 3ds to blender to dota2 too please?

Thnk · Aug 2013

A tutorial on rigging simple things like capes and pony tails in maya would be very useful for people that have no rigging or animation background. Could somebody please make one or point me towards a good tutorial? (even if it's not dota specific)

GhostDetector · Aug 2013

I kind of want to rig this to view in the dota 2 client but I don't know how. Can somebody help me?

Oops, I put this on the wrong thread.

Here is my thread if you want to help me or give feedback.
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1905775#post1905775

Polybear · Aug 2013

Guys. Can someone make a video about shader masks 1 & 2? I made model, unwrapped, created textures _color and _normal. I have no idea how to make masks...

Spudnik · Aug 2013

@Polybear
http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/workshop/Dota2ShaderMaskGuide.pdf

llSANDKINGll · Aug 2013

guys i wanna link my workshop files here how do i post a page with items and links and stuff... pls need help am new yo this

squall787 · Sep 2013

Thnk wrote: »

A tutorial on rigging simple things like capes and pony tails in maya would be very useful for people that have no rigging or animation background. Could somebody please make one or point me towards a good tutorial? (even if it's not dota specific)

http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/824-Introduction-to-Rigging-in-Maya

Great resource if your looking to rig in maya

Tvidotto · Sep 2013

adding the new links to it guys, thanks!

AdoobII · Sep 2013

thanks a lot guys this thread is very helpful

ponyplop · Oct 2013

this is a brilliant resource, definitely going to be referring to these videos!
Thanks for sharing the links/making the videos

identikal · Oct 2013

Awesome compilation of tutes. Always interesting to see different people's workflows. I recently created a guide on light baking for 3dsmax users. I was wondering if it could be included in the main post?

You can find the link here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=183672148

Cheers!

Oroboros · Oct 2013

Just finished a guide on creating Dota 2 workshop items from a concept artists perspective. Potential challenges, reworks and advice for people looking to get into it.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=186809308&tscn=1382104264

vertical · Oct 2013

An animation workflow step-by-step-guide would be great. It's not needed to cover the super technical details, just the broad way of doing things from start to finish. Pretty much like the video From Max to Dota 2 kind of way would do.

GhostDetector · Oct 2013

http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/workshop/HUD_Skins_Guide.pdf

Hud Skin Guide

AndrewHelenek · Oct 2013

I turned my rigging project into a steam guide, better formatting and organization!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=187943419#163031

vertical wrote: »

An animation workflow step-by-step-guide would be great. It's not needed to cover the super technical details, just the broad way of doing things from start to finish. Pretty much like the video From Max to Dota 2 kind of way would do.

In the works!

Tvidotto · Oct 2013

ty for the suggestion guys, i added all of them

down_limit · Oct 2013

I record small guide to russian community for a long time (on russian language, with very useful links). you can add it to the rest of the materials, if you believe necessary. http://youtu.be/V6o3ipmg-3w

Lychee · Oct 2013

Anyone have information or tutorials about adding particle effects? I've googled as hard as I could and still can't figure out how to get it going.

Robobobo · Oct 2013

impossibru fro now

1211asd · Oct 2013

tnx sir TVidotto

down_limit · Nov 2013

motenai · Nov 2013

Just thought you could add me to the list of streaming resources or something

http://www.youtube.com/user/motenai82

belkun · Nov 2013

Not sure if this stuff fits here, but I made a breakdown of my texturing process here and posted some tips on getting a better image quality in-game using SweetFX here.

GhostDetector · Nov 2013

belkun wrote: »

Not sure if this stuff fits here, but I made a breakdown of my texturing process here and posted some tips on getting a better image quality in-game using SweetFX here.

Thanks for the info.
Are we allowed to use 3rd party applications in dota 2? I thought valve bans you for a month by using a 3rd party application. I'm not sure the details though but I think it came in with the new armory/inventory patch.

Edit, the post below is answered here in the dota 2 workshop thread

belkun · Nov 2013

GhostDetector wrote: »

Thanks for the info.
Are we allowed to use 3rd party applications in dota 2? I thought valve bans you for a month by using a 3rd party application. I'm not sure the details though but I think it came in with the new armory/inventory patch.

SweetFX exists for a long time and the only time that I heard of problems with it was with Planetside 2 for whatever reason. And SOE explicitly stated that no external tools were allowed. Meanwhile ArenaNet also explicitly said that it was allowed on Guild Wars 2, since it's just a graphical modification. SweetFX isn't malicious itself, so VAC shouldn't give a false positive, since it doesn't mess with the game's memory or files, it's just a "hook" that pretty much only changes colors.

Anyway, I always do some research before using SweetFX on games with some form of anti-cheat, and while searching for VAC's relation with SweetFX I found this thread and also a post on Reddit about using it on CSGO here. I also asked around /r/Dota2 and some people said that they use it for over a year without issues.

All in all, it's pretty much a use it at your own risk. While it isn't a cheat and I don't think it can be detected as one, you can't tell for sure without Valve's explicit statement, unless you consider that post that I've linked above. So you can either just use it on your local servers when taking promo screenshots to be safe and then turn it off when playing Matchmaking if you don't trust it, or just don't use it at all. In the end it's up to you.

Tvidotto · Nov 2013

adding them!

mestrenemesis · Nov 2013

thanks for the post, i just took a look for now, but I'm interested in animation and animation & characters, if you know some about this from the basics, please let us know.
thanks again and keep the good working

BohSheh · Nov 2013

Guys , out of so many method . Basically we make a framework in 3ds , and then sculpt it .

1) Is the framework = low poly and the sculptured = high poly ?
2) What is the term for the step converting high poly to low poly
3) Do we retain the framework as low poly ?

Tutorials, Guides and Resources for Dota2 Workshop

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