To start off, I'm new here and to certain aspects of developing certain materials (modelling, texturing, etc.), so my apologies if certain things I say may seem rather "simple", so to speak.
So far, I've come up with an idea to combine an item similar to the Powerfist in Fallout 3, and a car engine of sorts, for the engineer's melee weapon. I made a (not so good) sketch, although I've run into some problems with the scanner... might try to post tomorrow.
Opinions on the idea would be appreciated.
Also, my apologies if this may seem a bit "n00b-ish", but what software would one recommend to use to create said item, so far I've currently looked into the following:
To start off, I'm new here and to certain aspects of developing certain materials (modelling, texturing, etc.), so my apologies if certain things I say may seem rather "simple", so to speak.
So far, I've come up with an idea to combine an item similar to the Powerfist in Fallout 3, and a car engine of sorts, for the engineer's melee weapon. I made a (not so good) sketch, although I've run into some problems with the scanner... might try to post tomorrow.
Opinions on the idea would be appreciated.
Also, my apologies if this may seem a bit "n00b-ish", but what software would one recommend to use to create said item, so far I've currently looked into the following:
I've just gotten into this game, and I thought I might as well brush up on my 3D and make some models!
...However, even after reading the links in the OP I can't get this to work correctly. If I align my models with the meshes provided by the OP or the ones provided by Valve, the compiled model ends up completely wrong. I made a quick beard and I ended up having to flip it around and even then it was misaligned (I put it's pivot point in the same place as the head mesh from Valve). Basically, I had to move it a few units, recompile, see if it's better, back to 3ds Max, move some more, etc. etc.
Does anyone have properly aligned heads? It would also be great if they had UVWs since the ones from Valve apparently doesn't.
Thanks!
e: if I manually mirror the model across zy it ends up in the right orientation. It's still off, though.
Picture to explain better:
Top: How I need to work on it in 3ds Max for the orientation to be correct.
Bottom left: How I WANT to work on it (and how it should look when finished)
Bottom right: How it looks when exported. Right orientation, but slightly off placement even though the head and beard are both rooted at (0,0,0).
I get around the Source model orientation issue by enabling the "convert from left handed coordinate space" checkbox from the SMD Import plugin dialog that comes up.
Since this only works for decompiled .SMDs, I'm assuming it won't work for the Valve head files they provide - I suggest you simply decompile the player models and use those for reference?
How would I got about mapping a texture for a uv map? It looks like a fairly daunting task. Is there a tutorial? I haven't found one.
To create a proper UV for you mesh, you just have to think about where you would cut the model to make it lay flat on a surface. Practice with small stuff like cubes, cylinders, and spheres, then start taking baby steps by unwrapping more complex meshes. Once you get decent enough at it you start looking at stuff in real life to see how you would unwrap it.
Or maybe that's just me. >_>
And of course, that's just a very general way of looking at it without getting into program specific stuff, like how Blender will completely spazz out your AO bake if even one single piece of a UV map is overlapping. :poly127:
so... I exported with the new item test and the model looks fancy and cool with its texture.
However, as it's a Fosters Facade replacement I needed to export the skinned version.
I used the old QC files (edited from the hat I did a year ago)
HOWEVER. it doesn't pick the texture right.
I thought it might be my fault. but I compiled the old hat again (the last time I did it, it worked!)
But now its texture is missing as well.
Am I doing something wrong?
And...
There is any good tutorial about making paintable hats?
What is needes in the Zip that you have to submit to the Workshop now?
Can I upload skinned hats?
Where is the Zip ItemTest generates located?
I get around the Source model orientation issue by enabling the "convert from left handed coordinate space" checkbox from the SMD Import plugin dialog that comes up.
Since this only works for decompiled .SMDs, I'm assuming it won't work for the Valve head files they provide - I suggest you simply decompile the player models and use those for reference?
Ughhhhhh
Trying once again to use the itemtest wizard.
Normal map's not working, spec map's not working, placement and scale is completely off. THIS PROGRAM DOES NOT WORK.
wipish wolfskin texture and uvmapped the other 3 items. Trousers just using a sub-obj material. i also just found out i can copy/past uv's of identical geometry objects. Wish i'd know that earlier, it saved me a at least an hours worth of uving work today alone.
Hey guys and girls, I'm impressed with what you people are creating, and I want to join in on the fun!
This is the first hat Ive ever made, intended to be wearable by the Demo. Its a Spanish police cap, its kinda silly looking yet authoritarian in my opinion.
How big are the hat textures the community tend to use by the way? Mine is at x512, I assume that is the most common?
The textures are a work in progress, feedback and suggestions is much appreciated.
If you're having texture problems, you can always check a few standard things.
See if the qc points to the correct places and see that the texture applied to the model matches the vmt it's trying to find.
Also, I made a track jacket. Was surprisingly easy to rig.
Ok, trying to get a good shot of my hat in the HLMV. It's a hat for the soldier, but I can't figure out how to view the soldier and my hat without the soldier's default hat. Anyone know how to do this?
Ok, trying to get a good shot of my hat in the HLMV. It's a hat for the soldier, but I can't figure out how to view the soldier and my hat without the soldier's default hat. Anyone know how to do this?
Gotta change the submodel for the Soldier in the Model tab for his hat.
Also Svdl and Sparkwire stop making such cool clothing items for the Scout.
Thanks. The neck was off colored in the earlier picture, that probably didn't help, but then again it's also sticking out of the neckhole pretty visibly.
I'm pretty sure I've had problems with case sensitivity before when doing stuff with QC files, so see if using the folder "pyro" instead of "Pyro" helps.
I'm pretty sure I've had problems with case sensitivity before when doing stuff with QC files, so see if using the folder "pyro" instead of "Pyro" helps.
Just been trying to submit my Vietnam helmet to the new Steam Workshop, And every time i compile it the itemtest console throws up this:
ERROR: 'EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION' (assert: 1)
ERROR: Aborted Processing on 'player/items/soldier/0x019ff1df/pylebowl/Pylebowl.mdl'
CTargetMDL::Compile Failed - c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\*****\team fortress 2\tf\models\player\items\soldier\0x019ff1df\pylebowl\Pylebowl.mdl
C
Originally it didn't compile because the name was too long, But now it's giving me "ERROR: 'EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION' (assert: 1)". I'm pretty sure i've had this issue before with studiomdl but i'm not sure.
Have any of you guys had this and/or know how to fix it?
Just been trying to submit my Vietnam helmet to the new Steam Workshop, And every time i compile it the itemtest console throws up this:
Originally it didn't compile because the name was too long, But now it's giving me "ERROR: 'EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION' (assert: 1)". I'm pretty sure i've had this issue before with studiomdl but i'm not sure.
Have any of you guys had this and/or know how to fix it?
I had this same issue if I used the .smd instead of the .obj
@Arcaltarion: I use Maya, not Max, but one thing that I've had give me issues is making sure I used the .smd import/export plugin correctly. I'm not certain which one Max uses, but I now use Prall's Exporter for Maya and it requires the source material for your mesh to be in a specific folder or else the exported .smd and subsequent .mdl wont have a working texture. This caused me quite a headache before I figured it out.
Also, I don't know of any tutorials on making paintable textures, but it was explained in this thread a while ago if you feel like searching. The concept is basically that you make any area you want paintable desaturated (basically white), then use the alpha channel to tell the game what areas are paintable (white is paintable, black is not, anything in between is semi-paintable).
Then you need to add some lines to the texture's .vmt file. I suggest looking at paintable hats in the game's materials .gcf to see how they do it, but the important lines are:
Again, check existing hats for the values they use. Also, this wiki page isn't really about making paintable hats, but it has some useful stuff for testing it in HLMV:
Is it compulsory to use Valve's Source SDK itemtest thing? Or can you just zip it up in the same way they do and submit it that way?
There is an option on the first page to upload a zip and image. I just did that as I already had everything compiled. Didn't want to go back and re-export 20 .obj files.
I've been thinking of using another program for modeling and I'm wondering if anyone has any input.
I've been using blender for modeling for the most part, though I also own a copy of Lightwave 10 and 3Ds Max 2011 that I got as presents and that I never used.
I'm pretty much in love with my workflow in blender but I'm not too far into it that I can't work it out on a different program.
Lightwave 10 vs 3Ds max 2011 vs blender
Replies
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=923
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1628
So far, I've come up with an idea to combine an item similar to the Powerfist in Fallout 3, and a car engine of sorts, for the engineer's melee weapon. I made a (not so good) sketch, although I've run into some problems with the scanner... might try to post tomorrow.
Opinions on the idea would be appreciated.
Also, my apologies if this may seem a bit "n00b-ish", but what software would one recommend to use to create said item, so far I've currently looked into the following:
Wings3D - Modelling
Blender - Modelling
GIMP - Texturing (not sure yet)
Kindly let me know if there's anything else that is necessary into creating and publishing an item/hat.
Once again, my apologies if I may be new here and perhaps a tad-bit lost/confused.
Guys please help with pallete, it looks awful with my variants, any ideas
Welcome Silver!
First off, I highly recommend 3Ds Max or Maya for modeling. You can do Blender, but I would prefer Maya or 3Ds Max.
Anyway, I used to use gimp for texturing, and it gets the job done.
Now, for learning the software, here are a couple of tutorial sites.
All software- http://cg.tutsplus.com/
3Ds Max- http://cgcookie.com/max/
Blender- http://cgcookie.com/blender/
And if you can't find a tutorial, use Google
Let me know if you have any more questions.
I said I wanted to, so I did;
Not UV'd or anything yet, just a quick test compile.
...
But but but but but
Tell me first! O_O
If I post a concept and say I want to do a coop work don't just grab the concept and make the model without contacting me O_O
Woops, I thought I did, sorry.
I forgot cos I'm so busy nowadays.
Since everyone else seems to be doing it. >_>
And I never did show off the final model for it. Maybe I'll get around to that someday.
Since this only works for decompiled .SMDs, I'm assuming it won't work for the Valve head files they provide - I suggest you simply decompile the player models and use those for reference?
To create a proper UV for you mesh, you just have to think about where you would cut the model to make it lay flat on a surface. Practice with small stuff like cubes, cylinders, and spheres, then start taking baby steps by unwrapping more complex meshes. Once you get decent enough at it you start looking at stuff in real life to see how you would unwrap it.
Or maybe that's just me. >_>
And of course, that's just a very general way of looking at it without getting into program specific stuff, like how Blender will completely spazz out your AO bake if even one single piece of a UV map is overlapping. :poly127:
so... I exported with the new item test and the model looks fancy and cool with its texture.
However, as it's a Fosters Facade replacement I needed to export the skinned version.
I used the old QC files (edited from the hat I did a year ago)
HOWEVER. it doesn't pick the texture right.
I thought it might be my fault. but I compiled the old hat again (the last time I did it, it worked!)
But now its texture is missing as well.
Am I doing something wrong?
And...
There is any good tutorial about making paintable hats?
What is needes in the Zip that you have to submit to the Workshop now?
Can I upload skinned hats?
Where is the Zip ItemTest generates located?
:thumbup:
For decompilation I suggest:
Hooch fixed mdl decompiler.
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Mdldecompiler
Trying once again to use the itemtest wizard.
Normal map's not working, spec map's not working, placement and scale is completely off. THIS PROGRAM DOES NOT WORK.
This is the first hat Ive ever made, intended to be wearable by the Demo. Its a Spanish police cap, its kinda silly looking yet authoritarian in my opinion.
How big are the hat textures the community tend to use by the way? Mine is at x512, I assume that is the most common?
The textures are a work in progress, feedback and suggestions is much appreciated.
References: http://i.imgur.com/iSoZP.jpg, http://i.imgur.com/RHbRB.jpg
Cheers
If you're having texture problems, you can always check a few standard things.
See if the qc points to the correct places and see that the texture applied to the model matches the vmt it's trying to find.
Also, I made a track jacket. Was surprisingly easy to rig.
Gotta change the submodel for the Soldier in the Model tab for his hat.
Also Svdl and Sparkwire stop making such cool clothing items for the Scout.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1878
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1879
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1880
Made it paint compatible.
Now there's an idea!
Show me your war hat!
SHOW ME YOUR REAL WAR HAT!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1887
(it's replacing Ellis_hat)
The QC the SMD (in the same folder as the QC) has the VTF texture applied from this path:
E:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\arcaltarion\sourcesdk_content\tf\models\player\items\pyro
in this same folder is the VMT as well:
"vertexLitGeneric" { "$basetexture" "Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/arcaltarion/sourcesdk_content/tf/models/player/items/pyro/invisible" }WHAT'S WRONG? this used to work....I think....I don't remember having this much trouble last time I compiled a hat ;_;
Why do I get the feeling you're using Blender?
(could the problem be the SMD exporter)
<-- here you can see a hat exported the same **#@* way
Originally it didn't compile because the name was too long, But now it's giving me "ERROR: 'EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION' (assert: 1)". I'm pretty sure i've had this issue before with studiomdl but i'm not sure.
Have any of you guys had this and/or know how to fix it?
I gave up on that. Tried a few things but ended up with the item way off correct position so I just compiled the usual way.
I had this same issue if I used the .smd instead of the .obj
Also, I don't know of any tutorials on making paintable textures, but it was explained in this thread a while ago if you feel like searching. The concept is basically that you make any area you want paintable desaturated (basically white), then use the alpha channel to tell the game what areas are paintable (white is paintable, black is not, anything in between is semi-paintable).
Then you need to add some lines to the texture's .vmt file. I suggest looking at paintable hats in the game's materials .gcf to see how they do it, but the important lines are:
"$blendtintbybasealpha" "$blendtintcoloroverbase" "$colortint_base" "$colortint_tmp"Again, check existing hats for the values they use. Also, this wiki page isn't really about making paintable hats, but it has some useful stuff for testing it in HLMV:http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Template:Painted_variants/Tutorial
LOL, that's probably true. Both are great artists
You make rigging seem easy :P. Last time I tried to rig a hat to more than 1 bone I gave up and moved to working on another hat XD
There is an option on the first page to upload a zip and image. I just did that as I already had everything compiled. Didn't want to go back and re-export 20 .obj files.
I've been thinking of using another program for modeling and I'm wondering if anyone has any input.
I've been using blender for modeling for the most part, though I also own a copy of Lightwave 10 and 3Ds Max 2011 that I got as presents and that I never used.
I'm pretty much in love with my workflow in blender but I'm not too far into it that I can't work it out on a different program.
Lightwave 10 vs 3Ds max 2011 vs blender