Dota 2 Monthly Community Competition #19 - SEPTEMBER
polycounter lvl 9
I'm sure Tvidotto is just busy. Sometimes he goes afk for awhile but he alreadyhad talked about it.
Guess the lunatics are running the asylum. I've started on a mount already. If I have tie I may try and do a few set pieces. And since I have no interwebz and can't play games I have a lot of time
Guess unofficial rules could be:
Sept contest:
Riders:
Alchemist, Luna, Batrider, Disruptor, Timber, Gyro, Chin, seem to be missing one.
Same rules as always, need to show wips, give advice, use the links from the top of the post for final presentation, etc...
Guess we could just post here until a thread is made.
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I'll start with some ruough references:
haha, not going for chibi but I thought it should be seen... I am using the original mount for color scheme though.
Guess the lunatics are running the asylum. I've started on a mount already. If I have tie I may try and do a few set pieces. And since I have no interwebz and can't play games I have a lot of time
Guess unofficial rules could be:
Sept contest:
Riders:
Alchemist, Luna, Batrider, Disruptor, Timber, Gyro, Chin, seem to be missing one.
Same rules as always, need to show wips, give advice, use the links from the top of the post for final presentation, etc...
Guess we could just post here until a thread is made.
=======
I'll start with some ruough references:
haha, not going for chibi but I thought it should be seen... I am using the original mount for color scheme though.
Replies
This month we will keep doing SINGLE ITEMS!
Items based on the heroes like Huds, Couriers or Wards will also be accepted, but they will not compete for the trophy to keep the competition even for everyone
The theme this month is: RIDERS
We have na increased hero pool including mounts, which will increase the average polycount and may be a good learning in anatomy and modeling for animation.
Herolist
(not repeating last month's heroes)
Str:
Abaddon
Chaos Knight
Timbersaw
Agi:
Gyro
Luna
Mirana
Int:
Batrider
Chen
KotL
Disruptor
New Banners
Belkun created some nice banners for us, we will try to get at least one of it exposed on the main page
The competition
the idea of the competition is to create items in a friendly environment and with the feedback of the other participants to get the best result possible.
It is mandatory to post the work in progress, or else the submition will not be accepted!
Prizes
We will announce the 5 best items in the end of the month based on the decision of the judges. The first place will also be winning a mini Greentooth trophy!
Getting your item displayed on the first post
*Items with images bigger then 200 px and/or missing the name of the contributor will not be accepted till fixed
Quote:
SET NAME by USERNAME
PHP Code:
/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]URL[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700]=[/COLOR][COLOR=#DD0000]"ITEM_LINK"[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]IMG[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700THUMBNAIL_IMG[/IMG][/URL]
or this one for 2 creators
PHP Code:
/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]URL[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700]=[/COLOR][COLOR=#DD0000]"ITEM_LINK"[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700/COLOR][COLOR=#0000BB]IMG[/COLOR][COLOR=#007700THUMBNAIL_IMG[/IMG][/URL]
Code:
SET NAME by USERNAME
set_name - name of your set, use equal as on the workshop
workshop_user_link - your workshop page, so people can browse your other items easily
Username - the name you think its easier to people find you, can be the one from polycount or the steam
item_link - the workshop page of your item
thumbnail_img - the image link of the thumbnail that is INSIDE your item page on the workshop (the thumbnail is the one with 200 pixels wide, you can get from your items page or add Code:
/200x200.resizedimage
to the end of the link)
**itens with larger thumbnails will not be accepted!**
Rules
Tutorials/working in progress videos
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123800
Inspiring quotes
"It is absolutely insane the amount of top quality content that is being produced every single time here on Polycount. It's great to see so many cosmetics deliver not just on the technical end but also make for such great fittings in every other branch. You guys are doing an exceptional job and contests like this are only helping boost that exponentially. Brilliant stuff."
Wykrhm Reddy
"It was bloody hard picking from this list, I honestly enjoyed all of the entries. Keep up the good work guys!"
Cyborgmatt
Wow, that's really awesome. Please keep us at Valve informed so we can help draw attention to the winners, progress threads, etc.
Some advice:
Try to give some attention to heroes that are under-served so far (in terms of amount of content).
The success of sets tracks well with the popularity of the hero. (Although popularity can vary between updates and as Icefrog changes balance.)
Look for heroes that the community seems to have trouble creating content for. Good work can really open up the design landscape and help people think about the dynamic range of potential designs.
Don't forget about single items (instead of full sets). Many of the most popular items in the game are single items. Mounts and weapons make good candidates for this, but it varies by hero.
Mix up these approaches. So maybe one month you do a popular hero and another month you do a hero that has few items.
-Brandon Reinhart (Valve)
I love you guys for doing this! Dota2 is my favorite game at the moment and Polycount is my favorite community! I'm very proud to be apart of such dedicated artists and I smile every time I see some Polycount work in game
-coots7
Presentation
the presentation is a really important part on the workshop, save some time before the deadline for that. the first impression means a lot on the workshop.
If you want to fancy your presentation here is a the polycount logo over the aegis, there is no need of it to be used
http://puu.sh/1QtZy
Previous Months
AUGUST
JULY
JUNE
MAY
APRIL
MARCH
FEBRUARY
DECEMBER
NOVEMBER
OCTOBER
SEPTEMBER
AUGUST
JULY
JUNE
MAY
APRIL
MARCH
FEBRUARY
Spotted Snow Leopard by Pragmatic Fox
Drakoptera of Yama Raskav by Markovnikov
Syx the Nightcat by danpaz3d
Storm Scarab of the Stormy Steppes by Voodoo [aka Baddcog]
Also, we may have some good news on the prizepool
And about the idea of getting ingame items for the prize, I can try to help on that and give one set I made to the winner, I have some spare genunine version of the lone druid's wolf hunter set
Str:
Abaddon
Chaos Knight
Timbersaw
Agi:
Gyro
Luna
Mirana
Int:
Batrider
Chen
KotL
Ones i can think of
@gamedivisionuk: I think this means "no".
updated with some new heroes and took off alchemist, it doesn't make much sense to me to have alchemist there since you cannot work on the mount
It's heroes that ride stuff. You can either make a mount or you can make any of the other slots. That's why it's not called "mount theme". Also gyro's "mount" can't be changed
I've had an idea of making an "ammit" for Chen for a very long time
According to Wikipedia:
Ammit (/ˈ
i mean the items i create
thank you
Sorry Vayne, i got what confused you know and it makes total sense
It was supposed to be mounts but during the time we decided and the time i created the thread there was more discussion about it and looked like everyone decided for a slight change on the theme. It still keeps the mounts but also allows other items on the set, so people can try the mount and if it doesnt work they still can go for other item more on the confort zone
My bad not explaining that before
Also, good news, we are going to have more prizes on the end of the month =]]]]
I will tell more soon
Probably want to remove CK+Abaddon from the list heh.
Not enough mounts for Luna.. need moar
Most of KotL mounts are just straight up horses, what if someone was to do a mount based on the Water Kelpie of Scottish lore? I think it could make a really interesting water based mount for KotL. Keeper does make a wave of light after all...
The Kelpie take their victims into the water, devour them, and throw the entrails to the water's edge. Sounds pretty vicious.
I'm going to post your image as reference:
Here is an image that I think is the best example of what I'm thinking. On the right:
Some rough blocking out for a Batrider mount. I'm hoping to make a sort of dragon/bat hybrid, but so far its feeling more like archeopteryx, which isn't a bad look either.
Maybe + points for mount, - points for luna mounts
The workshop selections need work Valve. I searched 'Mounts' and get a bunch of Luna, a few batriders and some Chaos mounts. Nothing else. Some Chins i guess. Some hero's like Disruptor you actually have to search the specific hero to get anything.
Even worse is that the worskhop has sets that are in game but can't be purchased, must be for tourney sets. The workshop doesn't say they are in game, gotta search the wiki for that.
Have the base mesh done. subdividing it for nice smoothness, then will be sculpting details.
@Baddcog - Very cool mount! However, it looks very forward heavy. Like it might just crash into the ground. :P You may want to give it some weights behind the legs, or tail. Something to balance it out.
I had thought about a large ball on the tail or something but i dunno. Maybe i can just thicken the tail a bit to make it feel heavier?
Possibly shrink the head just a little bit too?
Also thinking of buying the dragon Luna set to add to the prize pool. I think it's the coolest mount I've seen so far so a fitting prize.
Any rigging tut should work for the program you are using.
Also, do they work in 3d program (which program?)? Just not in game? Or not in menu but in game?
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@Aitnar, will try that, thanks.
I'll be going for my desert crocodile idea for Chen. Begun shaping out the form on the mount. Might be shaping it more similar to a Postosuchus this one won't look good.
The progress so far.
A bit more progress on the batrider mount. Its shaping up nicely, but I'm really concerned its not gong to look enough like a bat to really work. Any suggestions, besides adding bat ears (Already got that one planned)?
Also, I wasn't a huge fan of my dangly little legs, so I'm considering going for a more serpentine build. Thoughts?
Edit:
Badcog: I love the beetle concept! it looks great and works really well!
Markovnikov: I am sure it does not have to be strictly a bat, and making it more look like one could make the mount look similar to all the others and not stand out. I would rather make it more dinosaur-like so it stands out.
I made a couple of mount sketches for Mirana. I noticed she already has one wolf mount but was hoping to push this design to look little more like a dire wolf.
Worth making another wolf mount for her?
I was also wondering if it's possible to rotate and skin the neck bone of the original rig to fit the wold design on left (1), without completely messing up the original animations? Or is it preferable to try and stick with the skeletons original orientation and scale?
@Todestomate: Very unique looking design, really digging the colors too. I'd probably lean towards the red one.
@Markovnikov: Like Todestomate said, I wouldn't worry too much about having it look exactly like a bat, but it might help to decide on a design when you have some more stronger shapes there. Adding some angles around the joints and body structures will push out the features of ur creature more.
I prefer the one with legs
It seems like his mount has pretty tall shoulder. Might be abe to work armor/saddle in there?
@Markovnikov,
Without the legs seems a bit blank. What about just having them tucked up close to his body (bent up of course). Will give a little more interest but still have 'proper' anatomy.
Don't think it needs to look like a bat, better if it doesn't probably, there are already a few bats in game.
Are the flaps next to body and neck staying? I think getting rid of the ones by the neck could give it more shape.
@Todestomate, Great idea. Definitely the one with the pink. The mount needs that extra color.
@neupher, best to stick with how the rig is.
If you move the bones up, then when the mesh is matched to the animated bones it will actually have the opposite effect and your head will be looking straight up.
Hard call on wolf or not. There are a lot of cats in game and on workshop. I think it really depends on how good it looks when done. if it's really bad ass then it could still have a good chance.
Ah this is why I love this place. I was happy with the scale of everything and had looked at it a bit. But after taking suggestions to rescale I can't believe I liked it as it was. Looks so much better this way.
Head is 10% smaller, tail is 15% taller/longer (was already wide from top)
Still need to scale neck a little but...
Made tail spike bigger. Think I will make the tail a bit longer still.
[SKETCHFAB]e37838aa199149948a87ff3f305d11d5#share[/SKETCHFAB]
This is the model so far, Im learning a lot, Im having trouble with finding references from certain angles though.
Its a Spotted bat if anyone was wondering.
Something like this.
Just a note. Something that I often do when making concepts/sketches is squinting at it frequently, or even blurring the image. It really gives you a quick idea of what looks important and what doesn't.
Try with the image above, squint and the teeth nearly disappear.
Something that I didn't know as much back when I made my CK mount was to really analyze the character/creature you want to make, and accentuate the key components (I really dislike what I did back then). Eyes of an owl, ears of a dog, beak of a bird, teeth of an alligator...
It really makes a difference when trying to create an appealing character. If you need some good examples, check out all the couriers on the store. Each of them has at least 1 memorable feature. I think it helps with the process of making a good character into a great one.
Also, don't be so quick to decide on a final concept. It's the most important part.
A really important thing I've learn't is to not to rush it.
@Todestomate: That red fish looks gorgeous. If I wasn't already involved in my own project, I'd be tempted to take a crack at yours.
@Neupher: I'm no expert on the subject, but I think meddling with the bones too much will cause some horrible issues. If you can make your own animations, you should be fine, but if you can't, then it might be best to stick to the given skeleton.
Urgh, three different attempts at legs and these are the best I can do. Have to admit, Baddcog, you were right about those neck pieces.
I think you need doglegs. I was thinnking having them tight to the body for polycount. If they hang out you will waste a lot of tris.
@Paskie, I like it a lot. But yeah, maybe a bit snubbier nose and huge teeth. His mouth should open (I think all the stock mounts do), but that's gonna make a lot of teeth even tougher.
I think the proportions are pretty good though.
Hows the tail compared to original mount. Too long and stiff might look weird as far as anims go.
I think the legs are fine, you might have to shape them a little different to fit the originals well but i dont think they are far off.
Some image dump...
Made some good progress. Sculpt and LOD_0. Had to get rid of one leg spike to squeeze it. lod_1 is gonna be tough but I think I can do it.
Not sure if I should add scratches or anything to the blank areas. Don't want it to be noisy. The colors will be close to original. Darkish blue base for the shells. Pinkish dots. orange/gold horns/claws/spikes.
Here's an overhead angle, and every other angle too
I decided to purchase the new jade rabbit courier to add to the prize pool too.