Just a shit ton of practice and reference. I think it took me 1 month of non stop fur sculpting to figure it out. Making sure its not over detailed, or too consistently sized. I build it up and flatten it out, making sure the detail is contained mostly to the end of the fur.
Also have good sense of form is key. knowing how the fur clumps differently in different areas of the body and the directions it takes. If you cant make the fur look have a fur like weight and form to it at lower subdivs, extra detail won't sell it as fur.
IF you go to my http://www.twitch.tv/anuxinamoon/b/531791553 vods you will see me doing fur detail but remember I already spent time blocking out the basic forms too at lower subdivs.
Thank you for answer and thank you for link to the stream! I couldn't find any good videos of sculpting fur (there is literally one video on youtube) and your stream will help a lot.
Although this totally is your personal preference (which I respect!), This is kind of like, exactly what not to do when creating renders, and bad advice/practice. Black = Color Deadzone = instant composition killer 95% of the time. Dark is fine (look at the polycount theme for example), but black is bad.
I think the baby blue is super eye catching. If I see this thing on the workshop my eyes are going to be drawn to it due to the colors, which is good, but this isn't saying the blue is perfect. It is pretty flat and I'd suggest throwing in some kind of zazz to make the image really pop(gradient, maybe a bit of noise?), just no black... please
@Spudnik: yup, it doesn't; @Artypi: Thanks, man I've thought about making another type of hair, but I find it kind of hard to come up with an original hairdo for her. But I'll see @Darren: that ward is looking fantastic!
But I will partially agree with Nemozimi. Black kills composition, but so does using the same values on the whole image. I would add more black glow around it to make it stand out more (the white rim light will also look even better I think). Blue is totally fine, and it is indeed catchy. @GhostDetector: if it's not normals, check your metallness mask. Try making it pure black. Maybe also specular intensity and rim.
Me and mihal are making alternative colours for the puck set, and one of the main things we are hoping to make is an autumn colour.
Which colours do u guys think looks nicer? (or what aspect of each works the best)
They are quite similar:
Also I thought it might be a cool idea to have the main set be the spring alternative, and this one be the automn alternative. a winter one with icy blues could work too but Im not sure.
Hello everyone, I finally submitted my Magnus set! Sorry but I don't know how to link it with an image but you can check it out in the workshop. I am currently working on a collection image but its gonna take a while because im not very good at promoting , This is what I have so far:
i solved the problem. tvidotta suggested to me dota 2 test hlmv. it works ty
The problem is the environment is not set up properly to work. I shared this a while ago, and when I'm home I can share it again. I simply wrote a batch file that sets up the environment and launches hlmv properly every time.
NB you need to reset xform or freeze transforms on your model before you bind it to the skeleton. Also make sure your pivot is at 0,0,0 world space
Funnily enough this never helps. When you get errors it's usually from something else X_X
@Mohsen: If nothing works,you can try decompiling the naga mdl files and importing the smds you get from that. The weapon smd should have one bone and the weapon model. Try skinning to it. (It's probably the hardest way, but that's how I got my QoP weapon rigged properly)
Funnily enough this never helps. When you get errors it's usually from something else X_X
@Mohsen: If nothing works,you can try decompiling the naga mdl files and importing the smds you get from that. The weapon smd should have one bone and the weapon model. Try skinning to it. (It's probably the hardest way, but that's how I got my QoP weapon rigged properly)
What format are you exporting in? It looks to be a clear orientation issue, unless her model is out of date and needs a decompile for a fresh one.
Here is the HLMV bat file I mentioned earlier. Put this file in your steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\bin, and double click it to launch HLMV. If your machine has the UAC enabled, then you may need to run it as an admin. https://www.dropbox.com/s/l4vmkofb4sm52us/RunThis.bat
And i am exporting it as a .fbx file. (Can't import by .smd, otherwise it'll just crash
fbx allows you to toggle the z-up and y-up, try toggling this to the opposite of what it is. What program are you using that exported a smd that causes a crash? smd has been my rock for years
nevermind i figured out the problem: I accidently exported my models as .DMX files, instead of .smd. I exported as .smd, and it's working perfectly fine now! thanks guys
nevermind i figured out the problem: I accidently exported my models as .DMX files, instead of .smd. I exported as .smd, and it's working perfectly fine now! thanks guys
Haha, By the way do you know how to compile .smd files to .mdl? sorry if I'm being annoying by asking too many questions..
Well the importer will kick out .mdls to steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\dota\models\items, and the zipped content to steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\content\dota\models\items. Anything not in the importer would be manually compileing it. I have not done it with Dota only tf2 but its really the same. Write the .qc, make sure everything is where it is needed, and feed the .qc to studiomdl.exe and the rest.......
I'm working on a weapon for Terrorblade, but when I open the weapon files downloaded from the technical requirements page, they appear to have no meshes for the weapons in them,
hope to get solution for this.
FBX has never given me any issues, but if you are working with a non autodesk program, smd's are the way to go and overall seem to have the most compatibility.
Funnily enough this never helps. When you get errors it's usually from something else X_X
@Mohsen: If nothing works,you can try decompiling the naga mdl files and importing the smds you get from that. The weapon smd should have one bone and the weapon model. Try skinning to it. (It's probably the hardest way, but that's how I got my QoP weapon rigged properly)
It would have to be that or export controls, I've made 3 naga sets and she doesn't have a bone rotation problem on her weapons. I have made a qop set too. The bone rotation problem with that wasn't too hard to trail and error into place
Ok spuds, so I read your tutorial, and I heard of this program called VTFedit. Do I need to use it? And are there any other programs I need that I missed in the tutorial? (Other than notepad ++)
Hello Polycount, long time lurker, first time poster. I'm having an issue with a test export into Dota from max 2015 via fbx.
I've tried different versions of the exporter, copying the transforms from the body mesh, and of course, resetting xforms. However, when I view the model in Dota, by some sorcery... well see for yourself.
I notice that the fbx files gaben has generously provided have a mysterious 39.37 scale, and odd rotations, but I'm sure I've eliminated that as a cause for this. Oh, and Y is up, convert dummies to bones and skin deformations are checked.
Sorry to bother you all with this, but I'm running out of systematic troubleshooting methods now. I'd like to avoid making sacrifices to the old gods if I can help it.
I'm testing my Spirit Bear for Lone Druid in a local server within Dota 2. The problem is, when it runs, it plays the running animation once and then freezes on the last frame and skids until it reaches the place you told it to go. Does anyone have any idea what's going on here?
Replies
Thank you for answer and thank you for link to the stream! I couldn't find any good videos of sculpting fur (there is literally one video on youtube) and your stream will help a lot.
For omniknight by me and Strawmerry
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=263835511
Although this totally is your personal preference (which I respect!), This is kind of like, exactly what not to do when creating renders, and bad advice/practice. Black = Color Deadzone = instant composition killer 95% of the time. Dark is fine (look at the polycount theme for example), but black is bad.
I think the baby blue is super eye catching. If I see this thing on the workshop my eyes are going to be drawn to it due to the colors, which is good, but this isn't saying the blue is perfect. It is pretty flat and I'd suggest throwing in some kind of zazz to make the image really pop(gradient, maybe a bit of noise?), just no black... please
Masks are making the item very dark and I can't figure out what caused it.
Any ideas?
@Artypi: Thanks, man I've thought about making another type of hair, but I find it kind of hard to come up with an original hairdo for her. But I'll see
@Darren: that ward is looking fantastic!
But I will partially agree with Nemozimi. Black kills composition, but so does using the same values on the whole image. I would add more black glow around it to make it stand out more (the white rim light will also look even better I think). Blue is totally fine, and it is indeed catchy.
@GhostDetector: if it's not normals, check your metallness mask. Try making it pure black. Maybe also specular intensity and rim.
loadout :
hlmv shot:
http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=264013254
SO MUCH WORK
s
dfjsagbdfb
zzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzZZzzz
Congratulations is not even enough to say....!!!
p.s. this has to translate into a sure invitation to TI4 imho
I finally submitted my set for witch doctor on the workshop. Here's a link to it:
http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=263837870
and here's the loading screen:
Special thank's to Todestomate who gave me some great feedback.
is that the dota hlmv or the old alien swarm / SFM one. the metal masks are borked on the old viewers
Which colours do u guys think looks nicer? (or what aspect of each works the best)
They are quite similar:
Also I thought it might be a cool idea to have the main set be the spring alternative, and this one be the automn alternative. a winter one with icy blues could work too but Im not sure.
as a side note, I still can't believe Valve doesn't have a way to combine sets into one icon yet on the workshop.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=264239469
Presentation Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUSH5Q9JCDk
Hello everyone, I finally submitted my Magnus set! Sorry but I don't know how to link it with an image but you can check it out in the workshop. I am currently working on a collection image but its gonna take a while because im not very good at promoting , This is what I have so far:
Thank you for your time!
the dota model viewer should be working, located at:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\bin\hlmv.exe"
The problem is the environment is not set up properly to work. I shared this a while ago, and when I'm home I can share it again. I simply wrote a batch file that sets up the environment and launches hlmv properly every time.
Unfortunetly, I got a problem skinning this naga weapon. Any suggestion towards a fix? ( i exported it by .fbx, if that means anything to you guys)
@Mohsen: If nothing works,you can try decompiling the naga mdl files and importing the smds you get from that. The weapon smd should have one bone and the weapon model. Try skinning to it. (It's probably the hardest way, but that's how I got my QoP weapon rigged properly)
What format are you exporting in? It looks to be a clear orientation issue, unless her model is out of date and needs a decompile for a fresh one.
Here is the HLMV bat file I mentioned earlier. Put this file in your steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\bin, and double click it to launch HLMV. If your machine has the UAC enabled, then you may need to run it as an admin. https://www.dropbox.com/s/l4vmkofb4sm52us/RunThis.bat
fbx allows you to toggle the z-up and y-up, try toggling this to the opposite of what it is. What program are you using that exported a smd that causes a crash? smd has been my rock for years
Nice, smd ftw, time to happy dance
Well the importer will kick out .mdls to steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\dota\models\items, and the zipped content to steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\content\dota\models\items. Anything not in the importer would be manually compileing it. I have not done it with Dota only tf2 but its really the same. Write the .qc, make sure everything is where it is needed, and feed the .qc to studiomdl.exe and the rest.......
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1634845&postcount=592
hope to get solution for this.
It would have to be that or export controls, I've made 3 naga sets and she doesn't have a bone rotation problem on her weapons. I have made a qop set too. The bone rotation problem with that wasn't too hard to trail and error into place
No offense to you or KAas as you both doing awesome work. Just more creativity is what we are starving for!
:thumbup: Its well made, but I think the designs could be pushed further
I've tried different versions of the exporter, copying the transforms from the body mesh, and of course, resetting xforms. However, when I view the model in Dota, by some sorcery... well see for yourself.
I notice that the fbx files gaben has generously provided have a mysterious 39.37 scale, and odd rotations, but I'm sure I've eliminated that as a cause for this. Oh, and Y is up, convert dummies to bones and skin deformations are checked.
Sorry to bother you all with this, but I'm running out of systematic troubleshooting methods now. I'd like to avoid making sacrifices to the old gods if I can help it.
Edit: Never mind, I solved it.