Does anyone know how to extract and import DotA 2 character animations into Maya? Or import them into Marmoset Toolbag? I just need this for posing/rendering out my item set. Thanks.
Friends, it's required to duplicate polygons for double-sided items (cape) or Valve will enable double-sided rendering to it themselves after (like a standard items)?
Spudnik, but the limit of polygons not in all cases is to allow ... and anyway why, if you can use the material...
I do not know how strongly the Valve adjusts the objects after approval.
Frum said earlier:
It's just a line in the VMT which makes the things double sided "$nocull 1". It's on for some heroes and off for others. When you submit an item it gets merged into the hero's VMT. If the hero has it off in their VMT, you can't do anything to change it and have to make two sides. If they have it on, then when you import it should work or it will work later when it's official. It's the same with transparency. Some heroes have it on in their VMT, some have it off.
However, I wouldn't even worry about it. In the game, several of the heroes capes are 1 sided and culled, because you don't usually see them from the front much. It's not a big deal.
They do very little to the items themselves after they are accepted. Certainly no modelling.
As for why they don't use double sided materials, it's probably the same reason as why they don't enable transparency on each hero: the Source engine is just showing its age and it's probably very resource intensive.
Spudnik, I think it's more related to keeping things as fast as possible for low end systems. If transparency was enabled on all models, it would be a breeze for high-end systems to handle, but it'll probably choke a lot of the low-end ones.
It makes sense to keep things as compatible as possible with low end systems to have as large a market as possible.
Also, since every character gets compiled into 1 mesh ingame, having a twosided material would make the whole character twosided. That would be unnecessarily expensive for just having a backside of a cloak (which is visible mostly in portrait/loadout aka LOD0).
You're absolutely correct, I forgot about the whole low end systems deal. Dota 1 is quite popular in China (Warcraft 3 probably runs on even phones -.-') so they want to make sure that they don't alienate that market with Dota 2 by having too high requirements for those people.
Friends, it's required to duplicate polygons for double-sided items (cape) or Valve will enable double-sided rendering to it themselves after (like a standard items)?
I've skinned my guy's staff and imported it, but one of the bones in the staff (staff_skull_top_R1C0) seems to rotate 180 degrees once ingame. It's got zero rotation in maya when I do the skinning.
So I'm trying to preview my armor set in game using the Dota2Slasher method mentioned on page 14. But am running into issues. Am wondering if any of you who have had success previewing the whole set in game could offer some advice on how to do this.
1. Can I take the complied files from the .ZIP that the Dota game creates using the workshop importer and feed this into Dota2Slasher bat file? Or do i need to manually compile it.
2. Dota2Slasher seems very temperamental in actually moving the files when trying the above. Is there a trick to get it to work properly? Specific File locations?? I've only been able to get it to work (blue info text comes up in dos window??) when Ive had the game open for a bit in a actual level and it copys something but that item I try and replace just disappears and shows "error mesh" ingame after.
Edit: Trying something new I saw posted in the Dota2 workshop thread which might solve my issues. Fingers Crossed
Edit: no luck, current process anyone suggest what im doing wrong?
1. Installed dota2 TEST.
2. extracted pak01_dir.vpk to \dota test\dota folder and deleted pak01_dir.vpk so it would use the extracted files.
3. unzipped the test helm i had compiled using the workshop importer (it was names testHelm on import) on extraction of files from zip i renamed the .mdl. .vvd, and .vtx to have the correct skeleton_king_helm prefix and overwrote the files in the dota test\dota\models\heros\skeleton_king folder.
4. fire up the game. default helm has disappeared but my mesh isnt showing.
For now i was hoping to just replace the model files.. i tried doing the same with the 4 material files under materials\models\heros etc etc but this didnt make my mesh appear in game.
will keep reading the forum in the mean time....
I struggled a while with the same issue. I think the invisible model is because the game can't find the material files.
I did the same as you until 3. Don't just copy the output files from the workshop, but recompile them and change the relevant paths in the .qc.
For me it still didn't work, and the problem was that there was one texture reference in the .mdl that was still off. Use MDL Texture Info from here to check it.
If the texture name still refers to the workshop output dir, you can use this app to change it. Good luck.
I've skinned my guy's staff and imported it, but one of the bones in the staff (staff_skull_top_R1C0) seems to rotate 180 degrees once ingame. It's got zero rotation in maya when I do the skinning.
Any suggestions?
Check if the guy is in his bind pose when you imported. My Brewmaster looked like it was in teh bind pose but once I clicked to go back after testing some animations his mouth opened
Last resort is to rotate the bone 180 degrees in the other direction before skinning.
So Valve already set up custom properties to heroes, like alpha channel or double sided polys...
I supposed this would allow custom effects to work the same, but they don't. I tried to use the "scrolling texture" effect on Death Prophet, but it didn't work. Anyone know if this is even possible ? (see attached image)
I did some tests and seem to have fixed it....by rotating the bone 180 degrees after skinning and exporting like that. It then went into game and untwisted, and is swaying like intended.
I did some tests and seem to have fixed it....by rotating the bone 180 degrees after skinning and exporting like that. It then went into game and untwisted, and is swaying like intended.
I've been having nightmares when I thought about the LOD0 / LOD1 transition and had a hard time finding good tutorials about it. It seems everyone is learning about them working in a game studio
Has anyone tried to import an item for dazzle since the last update? It is not working for me. Even importing his official items doesn't work. It says its missing a vmt template when compiling. "dark.vmt"
I tried importing items for other heroes and that worked. Also, I've already verified the cache and I'm currently re-installing Dota 2. Just wondering if anyone else has had the same problem... or if it's just on my end.
Failed to load specified VMT template 'materials/models/heroes/dazzle/dark.vmt' for class 'dazzle'.
I'm having too hard of a time rigging this thing correctly and I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I binded all of the arm piece to one bone and it's moved to the left a good half of his arm length. Any ideas/fixes? I'm using Maya 2012. All I have left for my guy is rigging but it has been really frustrating.
got it working... I originally used the .ma file to do everything, but on a whim I loaded in the body.fbx file, and everything all of a sudden moved into wrong positions. I unbinded it from the skeleton, then rebinded it, exported again, and now it's in the right spots. No idea if the .ma was off or something I did along the way, but I'm glad it's exporting proper now! HELL of a difference.
Having issues with the mesh and skinning in Dota - I skinned it in maya and copied the vert weights across from the mesh given. In maya there is no issues at all.
I tried it with a cube skinned. Going to try running it through max with an smd import / export tonight but apart from that I have no idea what to do.
It appears to be skinned to a bone lower down but has no wieghting to it in maya
One more - do we have to keep the original palette, or can the new items bring distinctly new colors/flavor to the character?
Answer: You can do whatever you think is best for your item set.
I hope this is true cause I've been spazing out over trying to stay with the original scheme, I'll take your word for It and go with what I currently have though I thought straying away from the original would be frowned upon, just want to follow the rules..
Thanks.
Also I posted a previous version of my helm and someone immediately disliked the light blue colors... so we have to please Valve and the community.
Shiv:
look into the verts assignment panel < don't know the exact name for were you added values to your verts, each one should be at 1.00 <- if one it's 0.99 then unless that 0.01 is being used by another bone your exporting with the mesh you will probably get this error.
Fair warning, i've only fooled around with maya, but I would think that is the problem.
Hi guys. Im very upset with importing venomancers mesh into the engine. I dont want to post huge text again so here is the result of my importing and link to the last page of my thread where i post all the settings. If you can help me i ll be very happy. Thanks. http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106659&page=6
3ds max screenshot.
Does anyone know if Phantom Assassin even has coloured specular enabled? I'm not getting the results im expecting in that regard once the model is imported to the game.
It seems that the specular is the default white/gray, despite what the Masks are looking like.
Does anyone know if Phantom Assassin even has coloured specular enabled? I'm not getting the results im expecting in that regard once the model is imported to the game.
It seems that the specular is the default white/gray, despite what the Masks are looking like.
the mask does not afect the specular color but you can tweak the overall specular on the vtm file
mmm... the shader guide says the blue channel from Mask 2 tints the specular with the colour of the colour map.
Also, where might I get this vtm file?
This is correct, white in Mask2.B will give the specular the color from the color map. Make sure you have pretty strong specular in Mask2.R in order to see it. Her .vmt file looks correct and it should work fine, her overall spec is a little tinted towards blue which should not affect you. It is very subtle effect though and usually perceived as weaker spec.
And unfortunately, modifying .vmts will not work since the in-game model only uses her main .vmt and ignores item's vmt
I struggled a while with the same issue. I think the invisible model is because the game can't find the material files.
I did the same as you until 3. Don't just copy the output files from the workshop, but recompile them and change the relevant paths in the .qc.
For me it still didn't work, and the problem was that there was one texture reference in the .mdl that was still off. Use MDL Texture Info from here to check it.
If the texture name still refers to the workshop output dir, you can use this app to change it. Good luck.
if the model is invisible check if it creates a shadow on the ground like the model. If yes, so its probably your alpha channel on the color texture that is black
if they cannot find the texture the engine replaces with a pink checker texture
So Valve already set up custom properties to heroes, like alpha channel or double sided polys...
I supposed this would allow custom effects to work the same, but they don't. I tried to use the "scrolling texture" effect on Death Prophet, but it didn't work. Anyone know if this is even possible ? (see attached image)
Thanks in advance
i think that is possible to every character, but as far as i know the scrolling texture can just be aplied to the detail mask, that is a 5th texture you add to the model
you need to paint white or shades of gray on the detail channel on the mask 1 (i think).
then your detail will appear trough that parts.
check if you put the right info on the vtm
mmm... the shader guide says the blue channel from Mask 2 tints the specular with the colour of the colour map.
Also, where might I get this vtm file?
yep, it tints with the color of the difuse texture
but you cannot change the color of the specular on the texture, you can make it be the color defined on the vtm or a blend between that and the base color
the vtm(shader definition) is with your vtf files(textures)
if you are using the ingame compiler it will automatically save for you in the folder:
dota2 test(or client)/dota/materials/models/hero/heroname
I was wondering how you go about changing your collection banner image. Currently mine does not display one and when I click on "edit background images/video" it just jumps to the top of the panel.
Thanks!
I was wondering how you go about changing your collection banner image. Currently mine does not display one and when I click on "edit background images/video" it just jumps to the top of the panel.
Thanks!
i never made a collection but for the normal itens to change the picture the only way is by resubmitting your files
Unfortunately, the specular doesnt seem to be taking the colour from the colour map. It just stays the white/gray default spec.
And the blue channel in mask 2 has white in that section. I'll keep at it to try figure out what the issue is.
I can see the anistropic effect on mine but it is pretty white in color. I sampled colors from the original mask to base mine off.
For the banner image, I noticed under the stars that is says "not enough votes" so maybe I need to wait a bit. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll see what happens.
So most of the binding was pretty simple. But as far as the gauntlet and cloak (Skeleton King), what bones am I supposed to bind to? I can get it close but the elbow section on the arm piece will not show up and the glove part will be a little off.
Edit: fixed the elbow not showing up, but still not sure how this thing is bound >.<
Edit: Issue has been fixed, just bound from the elbow as a hierarchy.
I have a question about the poly/tricount; the indicated budget for belt is 450 and shoulders is 450, I have just around 210 for shoulder, can I allocate the remaining 240 for the belt?
I have a question about the poly/tricount; the indicated budget for belt is 450 and shoulders is 450, I have just around 210 for shoulder, can I allocate the remaining 240 for the belt?
thanks
no, each item has to work with any item in other slots, please stick to the budget
Guys, beastmaster base model has been updated, re-download the file from the same location http://www.dota2.com/workshop/requirements/Beastmaster
Head and arms items might have to be slightly adjusted to match the new base
I've been looking around for an answer to this, but haven't found one yet. I get the 'upload successful' notification from the Workshop, but my item is invisble, no ground shadow either. I'm quite sure I've done everything correctly, but I'm at a loss. I've seen a few others with the same issue, but no solution.
Can't figure out what the problem is... And, I'm wrackin' my noggin on this... I got "Import Successful" on all my maps and meshes... Why is the item showing up BLACK?!
Is there something simple I've overlooked? All texture files have proper suffixes "_color", "_normal", "_mask1" and "_mask2"... What could be causing this?
I didn't have any luck with 3dsMax, so I went back into Maya and exported from there. The trick for me was to freeze transforms, delete the history and then bind the skin. Everything seems to be working for the time being.
Update: The problem had something to do with the scaling in 3dsMax. Originally, I didn't use the SMD importer, and had exported the bone structure as FBX from the Maya file. That apparently messed with the scale. To fix that, I used the SMD importer and exporter within 3dsMax, and all is well.
Anyone know if it's possible to update items that has been accepted into the game? Many of my old items don't have the inverted green channel in the normal map, and i want to make a better shader for most of my models now that i have more knowledge.
edit: Sorry, this was ment to be posted in the Pimping and Previews thread.
Replies
I do not know how strongly the Valve adjusts the objects after approval.
Frum said earlier:
As for why they don't use double sided materials, it's probably the same reason as why they don't enable transparency on each hero: the Source engine is just showing its age and it's probably very resource intensive.
It makes sense to keep things as compatible as possible with low end systems to have as large a market as possible.
Also, since every character gets compiled into 1 mesh ingame, having a twosided material would make the whole character twosided. That would be unnecessarily expensive for just having a backside of a cloak (which is visible mostly in portrait/loadout aka LOD0).
Any suggestions?
I did the same as you until 3. Don't just copy the output files from the workshop, but recompile them and change the relevant paths in the .qc.
For me it still didn't work, and the problem was that there was one texture reference in the .mdl that was still off. Use MDL Texture Info from here to check it.
If the texture name still refers to the workshop output dir, you can use this app to change it. Good luck.
Check if the guy is in his bind pose when you imported. My Brewmaster looked like it was in teh bind pose but once I clicked to go back after testing some animations his mouth opened
Last resort is to rotate the bone 180 degrees in the other direction before skinning.
I supposed this would allow custom effects to work the same, but they don't. I tried to use the "scrolling texture" effect on Death Prophet, but it didn't work. Anyone know if this is even possible ? (see attached image)
Thanks in advance
I did some tests and seem to have fixed it....by rotating the bone 180 degrees after skinning and exporting like that. It then went into game and untwisted, and is swaying like intended.
Cool. Good luck with the submission.
After hours of search, I've found a beautiful tutorial right under my nose: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Level_of_detail
I hope this helps anyone new to game modeling like me.
I'm having this same problem with Dazzle.
Anyone know of a solution?
edit: here's an image:
I tried it with a cube skinned. Going to try running it through max with an smd import / export tonight but apart from that I have no idea what to do.
It appears to be skinned to a bone lower down but has no wieghting to it in maya
I hope this is true cause I've been spazing out over trying to stay with the original scheme, I'll take your word for It and go with what I currently have though I thought straying away from the original would be frowned upon, just want to follow the rules..
Thanks.
Also I posted a previous version of my helm and someone immediately disliked the light blue colors... so we have to please Valve and the community.
Shiv:
look into the verts assignment panel < don't know the exact name for were you added values to your verts, each one should be at 1.00 <- if one it's 0.99 then unless that 0.01 is being used by another bone your exporting with the mesh you will probably get this error.
Fair warning, i've only fooled around with maya, but I would think that is the problem.
Grats BounchFX
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106659&page=6
3ds max screenshot.
Whats happened
It seems that the specular is the default white/gray, despite what the Masks are looking like.
the mask does not afect the specular color but you can tweak the overall specular on the vtm file
Also, where might I get this vtm file?
This is correct, white in Mask2.B will give the specular the color from the color map. Make sure you have pretty strong specular in Mask2.R in order to see it. Her .vmt file looks correct and it should work fine, her overall spec is a little tinted towards blue which should not affect you. It is very subtle effect though and usually perceived as weaker spec.
And unfortunately, modifying .vmts will not work since the in-game model only uses her main .vmt and ignores item's vmt
And the blue channel in mask 2 has white in that section. I'll keep at it to try figure out what the issue is.
if the model is invisible check if it creates a shadow on the ground like the model. If yes, so its probably your alpha channel on the color texture that is black
if they cannot find the texture the engine replaces with a pink checker texture
i think that is possible to every character, but as far as i know the scrolling texture can just be aplied to the detail mask, that is a 5th texture you add to the model
you need to paint white or shades of gray on the detail channel on the mask 1 (i think).
then your detail will appear trough that parts.
check if you put the right info on the vtm
like
yep, it tints with the color of the difuse texture
but you cannot change the color of the specular on the texture, you can make it be the color defined on the vtm or a blend between that and the base color
the vtm(shader definition) is with your vtf files(textures)
if you are using the ingame compiler it will automatically save for you in the folder:
dota2 test(or client)/dota/materials/models/hero/heroname
just edit it with a text program like notepad ++
Thanks!
i never made a collection but for the normal itens to change the picture the only way is by resubmitting your files
I can see the anistropic effect on mine but it is pretty white in color. I sampled colors from the original mask to base mine off.
For the banner image, I noticed under the stars that is says "not enough votes" so maybe I need to wait a bit. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll see what happens.
Edit: fixed the elbow not showing up, but still not sure how this thing is bound >.<
Edit: Issue has been fixed, just bound from the elbow as a hierarchy.
I have a question about the poly/tricount; the indicated budget for belt is 450 and shoulders is 450, I have just around 210 for shoulder, can I allocate the remaining 240 for the belt?
thanks
The answer to your question is no btw.
no, each item has to work with any item in other slots, please stick to the budget
http://www.dota2.com/workshop/requirements/Beastmaster
Head and arms items might have to be slightly adjusted to match the new base
Is there something simple I've overlooked? All texture files have proper suffixes "_color", "_normal", "_mask1" and "_mask2"... What could be causing this?
Nope. Normals are outfacing...
Hopefully someone else might know how to help ya.
Update: The problem had something to do with the scaling in 3dsMax. Originally, I didn't use the SMD importer, and had exported the bone structure as FBX from the Maya file. That apparently messed with the scale. To fix that, I used the SMD importer and exporter within 3dsMax, and all is well.
All the maps are the proper file sizes... I used default FBX settings when exporting from Maya... I just don't get what could be causing this.
thank you sir for the tip! BTW, I've updated my sig for my thread. thanks for your future dropby!
ok sir, thank you for the clarifications
edit: Sorry, this was ment to be posted in the Pimping and Previews thread.