Yeah I had no polies left for the interior on either LoD because of the paws being part of the cape, making it a more complex design than the usual ones... It looks a bit dumb in this view for sure but at least it's not apparent in game view ... I am kind of stuck with that !! (that's the dense LOD here )
Cool, will try that Thanks for the tips MdK and ILM.
Now I have a few questions regarding the file submission process and would like to hear your insights. Since a lot of you guys submitted many items already I am sure that this is all common knowledge around here, but I am still a Dotanoob hehe
1 - First things first : if I understand correctly, items are submitted to the workshop on a per-item basis (slot by slot) ; there is no notion of "set" at that stage (besides the extra promo pictures being added to the gallery view of a given item ). I am right to assume this ?
2 - Once the model files, textures and promo icon of each item are uploaded (from the ingame compiler interface), do they go straight to the global workshop page under recent submissions ? Or is there a way to somehow review and finalize an upload before it goes live for everyone to see ?
3 - Can I upload the mesh and textures first, and add the icon later, while the item is still hidden from view of the general public ? Same thing goes for screenshots and youtube links on an item's workshop page : can this be added later on, or is it a one-time deal ? And if page edits and gradual uploads of screenshots are indeed possible, is it common practice to upload everything at once (model files, icons, and the extra promo images for the workshop page of an item) or are people adding things gradually ? Is one or the other detrimental to upvotes and approval ?
4 - Is there a way to re-upload a component of an item (compiled model, and icon) if a problem is being spotted ? Or does the re-upload show up as duplicate in the main workshop page ?
Obviously the reason why I am asking all this is because I want to work on polished presentations for the individual items workshop pages, but I would like to release such pages to the publicly browsable workshop only when it is as close to final as possible.
Cool, will try that Thanks for the tips MdK and ILM.
Now I have a few questions regarding the file submission process and would like to hear your insights. Since a lot of you guys submitted many items already I am sure that this is all common knowledge around here, but I am still a Dotanoob hehe
1 - First things first : if I understand correctly, items are submitted to the workshop on a per-item basis (slot by slot) ; there is no notion of "set" at that stage (besides the extra promo pictures being added to the gallery view of a given item ). I am right to assume this ?
2 - Once the model files, textures and promo icon of each item are uploaded (from the ingame compiler interface), do they go straight to the global workshop page under recent submissions ? Or is there a way to somehow review and finalize an upload before it goes live for everyone to see ?
3 - Can I upload the mesh and textures first, and add the icon later, while the item is still hidden from view of the general public ? Same thing goes for screenshots and youtube links on an item's workshop page : can this be added later on, or is it a one-time deal ? And if page edits and gradual uploads of screenshots are possible, is it common practice to upload everything at once (model files, icons, and the extra promo images for the workshop page of an item) or are people adding things gradually ? Is one or the other detrimental to upvotes and approval ?
4 - Is there a way to re-upload a component of an item (compiled model, and icon) if a problem is being spotted ? Or does the re-upload show up as duplicate in the main workshop page ?
Thanks a lot for your help !
1 - Yup, they're submitted slot by slot. You can tie individual items together into a "set" using the Steam Workshop's Collections feature, which generally comes after you've uploaded all of the individual items.
2 - They're initially hidden after uploading before you finalise the financial sharing section I believe. During this time you can choose to hide it using some visibility options in the bar on the right of the screen if you really need more time to finalise how it looks like on the workshop. I don't find that generally necessary though.
3 - You have to add the icon together with the mesh and textures, or at least add a placeholder which you can change once you've finalised your icon. Screenshots, youtube links etc are all added after the item has been submitted to the workshop and you can edit any part of your submission whenever you need to.
From what I've seen so far, people try to get everything ready before submission though, or at least upload the 512x512 image first, and then put in all the screenshots and promo images as soon as possible. The longer you have the promo images on the better - each item has a sort of "life time" on the Most Popular page, since it's arranged by items Most Popular in the last week.
4 - Yup, if you see an issue you can reupload all your mesh, textures and promo pdfs using the Edit button, it doesn't show up as a duplicate and you'll have to update all your promo images and videos manually.
2. I think there is a small delay before the items get published on the workshop. On the item profile you can select to hide it for the public.
3. You can add stuff later. The only thing that is needed is a thumbnail, but i guess this can be a dummy. I suggest to upload everything at once since the item have one week to fight for a spot on the first page of the workshop. After this it will get buried with all the other cosmetics.
4. You can update and delete submissions. It's common to submit it once and deal with the bad popularity if you are unlucky.
... but unfortunatley StudioCompilier keeps crashing on my when I press Extract. Any ideas ? I also tried it with MDL Decopiler (fixed version) and I am getting a crash as well
i'w had this problem but dont remember what i did to fix it. Make sure you have the latest version, renamed the files from .90 to .80 and dont use browse to select your directory. Rather write it yourself or past it manualy. Studiocompiler is not the most stable software out there :O
Ok, I got it to (partially) work - It seems like it also requires the .vvd file. Only a fraction of the animation is usable, but at least I have the idle pose
I was able to get juggernaut ward animations from studio compiler, just dont change the default directory(documents) and it should work. If it doesnt try a couple more times. If that doesnt work maybe you should restart your computer.
I'm a little worried that the color change of his cape might be a bit much and maybe a little bright. I've had comments on my first set that one of the accessories was to big for the player to remain hidden on the edge of a skirmish. Thinking the fur might be to bright for a similarly ranged character.
Hex, what do you mean ? If you are talking about sculpting videos, unfortunately I did not record any for this project. However I can very well record some in the future, so don't hesitate to let me know what you want.
Eto, I was actually wondering if there was a way to test the portrait view as seen in the real game, since the one available in the upload previewer doesn't seem to have the proper lighting and colors. Any ideas on how to do that ? (preferably at 2 or 4 times the size of the regular portrait window)
To the far right in the workshop window when you're in the preview submission mode there's a button called test in game. click that, click on sniper, and boom! You're testing your items in game, where you can kill creeps and all that fancy stuff.
Yeah, the small red Dota icon right ? It works fine to test the loadout on the actual ingame character within the map, but it does not display portraits properly ... The portrait window shows unrigged/duplicated models for instance. Maybe it's just an issue on my machine ?
I think some characters in-game portraits are bugged in the importer. Faceless Void's head doesn't display and Bristleback's weapon shows up. Sounds like you're stuck with the normal portrait.
Yeah, the small red Dota icon right ? It works fine to test the loadout on the actual ingame character within the map, but it does not display portraits properly ... The portrait window shows unrigged/duplicated models for instance. Maybe it's just an issue on my machine ?
This seems to be a common issue at the moment in both test games and normal games. I've noticed it a number of times and ti even happens with the default models. Best way to get around it I found it to use the console to create another hero the same, when you select that hero their portrait is normally fine. If it isn't, just swap between characters for a bit and it seems to fix itself. I have no idea what is causing it but I know the exact issue you are talking about.
First of all you need to enable to console in steam by going to Dota 2 - Properties - Launch Options. Then type -console in there.
Once you launch the game you will get the console up, you can just close this for now. Import your character as normal into the game and once you are in the test server, press enter and type -createhero sniper. This is also a great command for when you want to take multiple angles ingame as it allows you to do it with one screenshot instead of a few that you then have to overlay in Photoshop.
oh to fix the portraits?
just select another unit ingame to refresh it
get sniper killed to cold reset the load out and click on a courier then back to sniper
I find this fixed every problem with the portrait
oh to fix the portraits?
just select another unit ingame to refresh it
get sniper killed to cold reset the load out and click on a courier then back to sniper
I find this fixed every problem with the portrait
Taking screenshots for promotional art, doing thumbnails, and writing descriptions took much longer than I first expected. It's interesting how big a part of the process it actually is. Lesson learned for next time !
In the end I had to split the whole thing into two collections, as it would only let me add 5 items based on the hero's slots. So basically there are two sets : Bright and Dark
Here is some art, and the links to the Collections and Items :
Thanks all I really appreciate all the comments on the set, it gives me a lot of things to think about for the next one !
Now I understand how important the thumbnails are since they are the first thing that people see and judge the set from ... I had 12 to do so I couldn't really spend much time on each but now I can see I really should have as they look very bland, compared to the badass ones in the workshop ... Oh well ! Lesson learned I guess
Snow, I totally agree ... I like how the cape looks in the loadout screen when the character is not moving too much and the model preserves its volume, but in the game the cape bones are set to be stretchy and apply a special cloth behavior to the model, making it all narrow and very thin looking ... Which makes me understand that one should test out things in game early, as simple lowpoly, as opposed to spending hours on a sculpt only to realize that it might break !
Someone on Steam also suggested that I could simply cut out the cape with an alpha, to only keep the fur pelt and get rid of the orange/blue parts altogether, and that's an interesting idea. I actually just found out that the game supports alpha cutouts a mere few days ago, when doing a mistake while saving my texture files hehe Yet another lesson learned!
Can't wait to do collabs next That stuff is fun and rewarding !
Alright, set is in ! This includes both the Bright and Dark variants of each item - style selection is accessible in the Armory screen by right-clicking on the icon of a given item
Congrats man! A really high quality set all round - must feel great to see it int eh store. Inspired choice going for a snowy theme on your promo artwork too - fits right in with the Frostvious stuff
Hi all, thanks for the comments and encouragements It really was a great learning experience, and now I am craving for more !
Speaking of which ... when the Three Spirits update came out I pretty much fell in love with the design of Earth Spirit. It has this kind of badass strong shape vocabulary that I love, along with a simple yet almost contemporary feel to its default outfit design. So I started sketching a few ideas ... and luckily enough a few weeks later it became available as a workshop hero !
So with that in mind and considering the China event coming soon, here's a full ES set design : the Strength of the Demon Stone set.
Also since I did a few variants along the way I thought I'd share this one for the fun of it - a Bruce Lee inspired alternate It might be too lore-breaking, even in green ... but who knows, with a bit of further tweaking it might fit.
Holy shit Pior, that is fucking sick! although, have you tried to let the beard go all the way on his jaw? That would perhaps look cooler on the one with hair. ^^ Looks super sick man! Can't wait to see bounches model for it!
Replies
Now I have a few questions regarding the file submission process and would like to hear your insights. Since a lot of you guys submitted many items already I am sure that this is all common knowledge around here, but I am still a Dotanoob hehe
1 - First things first : if I understand correctly, items are submitted to the workshop on a per-item basis (slot by slot) ; there is no notion of "set" at that stage (besides the extra promo pictures being added to the gallery view of a given item ). I am right to assume this ?
2 - Once the model files, textures and promo icon of each item are uploaded (from the ingame compiler interface), do they go straight to the global workshop page under recent submissions ? Or is there a way to somehow review and finalize an upload before it goes live for everyone to see ?
3 - Can I upload the mesh and textures first, and add the icon later, while the item is still hidden from view of the general public ? Same thing goes for screenshots and youtube links on an item's workshop page : can this be added later on, or is it a one-time deal ? And if page edits and gradual uploads of screenshots are indeed possible, is it common practice to upload everything at once (model files, icons, and the extra promo images for the workshop page of an item) or are people adding things gradually ? Is one or the other detrimental to upvotes and approval ?
4 - Is there a way to re-upload a component of an item (compiled model, and icon) if a problem is being spotted ? Or does the re-upload show up as duplicate in the main workshop page ?
Obviously the reason why I am asking all this is because I want to work on polished presentations for the individual items workshop pages, but I would like to release such pages to the publicly browsable workshop only when it is as close to final as possible.
Thanks a lot for your help !
1 - Yup, they're submitted slot by slot. You can tie individual items together into a "set" using the Steam Workshop's Collections feature, which generally comes after you've uploaded all of the individual items.
2 - They're initially hidden after uploading before you finalise the financial sharing section I believe. During this time you can choose to hide it using some visibility options in the bar on the right of the screen if you really need more time to finalise how it looks like on the workshop. I don't find that generally necessary though.
3 - You have to add the icon together with the mesh and textures, or at least add a placeholder which you can change once you've finalised your icon. Screenshots, youtube links etc are all added after the item has been submitted to the workshop and you can edit any part of your submission whenever you need to.
From what I've seen so far, people try to get everything ready before submission though, or at least upload the 512x512 image first, and then put in all the screenshots and promo images as soon as possible. The longer you have the promo images on the better - each item has a sort of "life time" on the Most Popular page, since it's arranged by items Most Popular in the last week.
4 - Yup, if you see an issue you can reupload all your mesh, textures and promo pdfs using the Edit button, it doesn't show up as a duplicate and you'll have to update all your promo images and videos manually.
2. I think there is a small delay before the items get published on the workshop. On the item profile you can select to hide it for the public.
3. You can add stuff later. The only thing that is needed is a thumbnail, but i guess this can be a dummy. I suggest to upload everything at once since the item have one week to fight for a spot on the first page of the workshop. After this it will get buried with all the other cosmetics.
4. You can update and delete submissions. It's common to submit it once and deal with the bad popularity if you are unlucky.
On last thing : has anyone decompiled .smd idle animations for the characters ? I have been trying to do so following this :
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1867613&postcount=2
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1598304&postcount=8
... but unfortunatley StudioCompilier keeps crashing on my when I press Extract. Any ideas ? I also tried it with MDL Decopiler (fixed version) and I am getting a crash as well
edit: maybe this helps, but i think the newest version got the fix. http://css.gamebanana.com/threads/187096
I'm a little worried that the color change of his cape might be a bit much and maybe a little bright. I've had comments on my first set that one of the accessories was to big for the player to remain hidden on the edge of a skirmish. Thinking the fur might be to bright for a similarly ranged character.
Hex, what do you mean ? If you are talking about sculpting videos, unfortunately I did not record any for this project. However I can very well record some in the future, so don't hesitate to let me know what you want.
Eto, I was actually wondering if there was a way to test the portrait view as seen in the real game, since the one available in the upload previewer doesn't seem to have the proper lighting and colors. Any ideas on how to do that ? (preferably at 2 or 4 times the size of the regular portrait window)
This seems to be a common issue at the moment in both test games and normal games. I've noticed it a number of times and ti even happens with the default models. Best way to get around it I found it to use the console to create another hero the same, when you select that hero their portrait is normally fine. If it isn't, just swap between characters for a bit and it seems to fix itself. I have no idea what is causing it but I know the exact issue you are talking about.
First of all you need to enable to console in steam by going to Dota 2 - Properties - Launch Options. Then type -console in there.
Once you launch the game you will get the console up, you can just close this for now. Import your character as normal into the game and once you are in the test server, press enter and type -createhero sniper. This is also a great command for when you want to take multiple angles ingame as it allows you to do it with one screenshot instead of a few that you then have to overlay in Photoshop.
just select another unit ingame to refresh it
get sniper killed to cold reset the load out and click on a courier then back to sniper
I find this fixed every problem with the portrait
Much easier than my method.
Taking screenshots for promotional art, doing thumbnails, and writing descriptions took much longer than I first expected. It's interesting how big a part of the process it actually is. Lesson learned for next time !
In the end I had to split the whole thing into two collections, as it would only let me add 5 items based on the hero's slots. So basically there are two sets : Bright and Dark
Here is some art, and the links to the Collections and Items :
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pioroberson/myworkshopfiles/?appid=570
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=194748774
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=194746401
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dphHzNXseSE"]Spirit Of The Howling Wolf - Loadout screen preview - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIH9Ctv3pww"]Spirit Of The Howling Wolf - Ingame preview - YouTube[/ame]
That was so much fun to do !! Thanks everybody for the help and feedback. I learned alot from it ... Now on to the next ones hehe
Good luck on the store!
I'd like to see some of the screenshots of the dark set in-game on the dark items though!
And as a final nitpick I think the cape looks perfect when down but a little long when it's flying out behind him. But that's just imo.
Now I understand how important the thumbnails are since they are the first thing that people see and judge the set from ... I had 12 to do so I couldn't really spend much time on each but now I can see I really should have as they look very bland, compared to the badass ones in the workshop ... Oh well ! Lesson learned I guess
Snow, I totally agree ... I like how the cape looks in the loadout screen when the character is not moving too much and the model preserves its volume, but in the game the cape bones are set to be stretchy and apply a special cloth behavior to the model, making it all narrow and very thin looking ... Which makes me understand that one should test out things in game early, as simple lowpoly, as opposed to spending hours on a sculpt only to realize that it might break !
Someone on Steam also suggested that I could simply cut out the cape with an alpha, to only keep the fur pelt and get rid of the orange/blue parts altogether, and that's an interesting idea. I actually just found out that the game supports alpha cutouts a mere few days ago, when doing a mistake while saving my texture files hehe Yet another lesson learned!
Can't wait to do collabs next That stuff is fun and rewarding !
http://www.dota2.com/store/itemdetails/20321
Thank you all so much for the support, feedback and help - it has been a great learning experience
On to the next !
I love the set man. I can totally get my sniped durotan on with this! Keep it up and good work
Speaking of which ... when the Three Spirits update came out I pretty much fell in love with the design of Earth Spirit. It has this kind of badass strong shape vocabulary that I love, along with a simple yet almost contemporary feel to its default outfit design. So I started sketching a few ideas ... and luckily enough a few weeks later it became available as a workshop hero !
So with that in mind and considering the China event coming soon, here's a full ES set design : the Strength of the Demon Stone set.
Also since I did a few variants along the way I thought I'd share this one for the fun of it - a Bruce Lee inspired alternate It might be too lore-breaking, even in green ... but who knows, with a bit of further tweaking it might fit.
For this set and the associated variants I am collaborating with BounchFX - so all the modelling will be posted by him in his workshop thread :
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=118005
Needless to say I am really looking forward to this collaboration ! Fun times ahead ... Hope you guys like it
(also if a mod could rename the thread title to "Pior's workshop and collabs" I would greatly appreciate it - thanks in advance)