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  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    The other thing I thought I'd start with doing is documenting a little of my progress. I started as a 3d artist on forums, so usually I have a WIP thread somewhere I can refer people to. This time I neglected that, so I thought I'd take the chance to show a little of what I have.

    So for the Drow set, I started with concepting, blocked out the shapes I wanted using subpatches in Modo, and then built the high poly meshes using either subpatches or sculpting in Zbrush. I'd love to have done all the high poly meshes in Zbrush, but I feel subpatches still give me more control and cleaner meshes than Zbrush does. Something I'll be looking to work on.

    7GgpGnf.jpg

    Converting most of the high poly meshes to game meshes was pretty easy, just a simple retopology. I almost always came in within budget as well. In some cases I had to redo the low poly to get a better normal map baked.

    sWQefXp.jpg

    There were some which were a real pain though, like the bow.

    fMMPqXw.jpg

    I'm not sure how many times I redid this nearly from scratch, 4 maybe? I guess the problem was that the forms were too "low frequency", and weren't easy to get into single polygons without spoiling the silhouette and losing detail. Thankfully it comes out pretty well in game and in the latest marketing images, but I definitely feel that I could have used another 20-30 polys for the bow.

    The other bit I had to redo was the cape.

    zR7MUUZ.jpg

    I don't have the old normal map any more, which I would have liked to upload and show, but the retopology which should have been really simple created a ton of problems with the normals. For my second try I decided to put all the polygons on the dense subpatch edges which defined the cape, and that gave a much flatter and more even map. After that I sculpted the low poly slightly to give it shape.

    The final in-game models look like this when rendered in Modo.

    9D1SDqr.jpg

    I definitely think I need to work on the texturing and sculpting aspects. Probably a lot could be improved.

    And as a side note on style, I've had several comments telling me the set isn't crazy enough. It's not different enough from the default Drow set for them to consider buying it apparently. Personally I think that this more subtle style fits better into Dota 2's requirements, but everyone will have their own take on that. That's certainly not to say that I'm against using other awesome colours or the like. My next set if I start on it will be a be a little more dramatic. I'm was (and am) a little worried that the voters wont take to it, but the reaction so far as been quite positive. I'd love to hear your thoughts on style and such.

    Not to mention seeing Valve's animations bring the model to life was extremely gratifying. Great experience.

    For convenience, if you'd like to see the individual items in-game the Steam workshop link is here:
    http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=155958475

    Comments, critique etc are all welcome.
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    So I've gotten a lot of feedback on the Workshop that the hair is really ugly. That's odd, since the hair is also the highest voted.

    Here's one of the concepts I'm exploring to see if I can find something that looks nicer. Lemme know what you think!

    Dr8uNAZ.jpg

    I've drawn up some other concepts too, but they go against the look of the set. More Luna than Drow maybe. The one above is my favourite so far.

    BUQqLeH.jpgDq91P5D.jpg
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Quick update!

    Updated the drow set a week or so ago with new boots and reworked bracers.

    Hka5M9l.jpg
    KOsyubx.jpg

    URL for the set is in the above posts.

    Also, a preview/WIP of the Spectre set I'm working on.

    WLuZiIq.jpg

    --edit-- blade with shaders and textures applied

    HvzKm2w.jpg
  • Snowstorm
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    As promised a few WIP.

    High Poly Renders, Zbrush sculpts + subpatch:
    8V3QWBl.jpg
    GCCrcVP.jpg

    A concept vs final high poly comparison. Think I got most of it into the final model :)

    E6TNoKI.jpg

    Final model wireframe:

    RXTnHJj.jpg

    The set's not without its problems - I'm hoping Valve will get back to me on how to fix this purple lighting effect:

    mrg82NT.jpg
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Have uploaded a couple of alternative blades for the Spec set.

    Items are here:

    UunVDQ2.jpg

    4ScjFh9.jpg


    Also, I've been doing a bit of concepting/painting practice. Playing around with different workflows, trying out stuff I've seen other people doing, trying to get better lighting into my textures. Probably will turn this concept into a DK weapon. Inspired by Lenny's SK and CK blades :)

    FfSCs77.jpg
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    A few of the AM WIPs from the workshop thread. Set's still missing the armour and shoulder pieces.

    nSkaNUq.jpg

    m4LKZy9.jpg

    N6UUHI6.jpg
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
  • Snowstorm
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Most likely completed marketing piece, and bonus white hair variant. Workshop link through the image.

    9T9JwaM.jpg

    9PTytyk.jpg
    (I hadn't moved the crown at the time I made the white hair pic)
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Abaddon sword concept and base mesh for sculpting.

    nh7WSmy.jpg
  • CvolotA
    spectre's set looks so good.
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    CvolotA wrote: »
    spectre's set looks so good.

    Thanks! Fingers crossed that it'll get in. But looking at the quality of submissions nowadays it'll be difficult.

    In the meantime, submitted the Abaddon sword.

    200x200.resizedimage
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    CM WIPs from the Workshop Thread:
    VxL0acp.jpg
    qzCaBRv.jpg
    TDxCDZK.jpg

    The reception for the CM hair has been utterly amazing. I still don't know what made it so popular lol. I guess people really love CM.

    And a new jugger sword WIP:

    bPQ3JrM.jpg
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    The Grin Reaper's done:

    8xTPpX4.jpg
    9ZKq9jd.jpg
  • Noblebatterfly
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    Noblebatterfly polycounter lvl 10
    I think it should be bigger
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Yup! I realised after reading a couple of posts here today that the files I'd worked with were about 20% smaller than the in-game model, so I've updated the workshop item and preview images with the latest version.

    Check it out on the workshop - link in the first post. It's much bigger and longer now.

    (that's what she said)
  • Noblebatterfly
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    Noblebatterfly polycounter lvl 10
    Now it looks great. I hope to see it in game
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Warlock golem progress images! Most of these images were posted in the Workshop Thread before, so I'm just compiling them here for people who want to see the process in full.

    The original concept:

    7n0ByEW.jpg

    The idea was to create a demon patched together with battlefield remnants into a golem, something like the Draugr from The Witcher 2. That didn't really come across in the concept though, and even though I added more odds and ends to the final model, it didn't really come across there either. I just let the model go the way it seemed natural for it at the time.

    A couple of sculpt base variants:

    4nmv83o.jpg

    I chose the first one, and this is the near final sculpt from it, just missing the rune thing on the back of the lock, which I added in just before I uploaded it to the workshop:

    bm9TfqS.jpg

    A lot of people wondered how I was going to retopo the chains whilst I was sculpting them, so here's the LOD0 in Modo. I had to cut nearly 1k polygons to get to the LOD1, a lot of which came from the duplicated chains and fingers. The bakes came out really well, so that helped a ton. Leftmost is the plain mesh, middle with normal maps, final with diffuse and normals.

    QsDRN8m.jpg

    You can see the final model in-game via the workshop link in the first post of this thread.

    As a bonus, slightly up-res-ed version of the near final promo art.

    kj3HCxr.jpg
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Doing a medusa tail item for this month's contest.

    And also taking the chance to update this thread ;)

    AGWvvcP.jpg
    Ri1d8qx.jpg
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Long time no update, polycount!

    Realised I'd never finished the WIPs for my medusa tail, so here they are.

    Couple of test bakes:
    tH8vk5C.jpg

    And what the near final item looked like in-game. The animation worked out pretty well, you can see that on the final submission, which I've added to the first post.

    PyRb3d1.jpg

    I've also been working slowly on a Gyro set that I hope to finish somewhere within the next one or 2 weeks. I'm more or less done with the wings and prop, and have been making headway on the rocket launchers.

    d7mXbRN.jpg
    bu6Vzb9.jpg

    I'm hoping I've not overdone the techy detailing on the rocket launchers, since I basically just let myself concept and sculpt it on autopilot almost. Think it should still fit into the overall theme, and not be too high tech for Dota 2. I'm also thinking of just finishing the missle next and leaving the headslot as default; Don't think I've got too much to add to that piece.
  • kite212
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    kite212 polycounter lvl 15
    Snowstorm wrote: »
    I'm hoping I've not overdone the techy detailing on the rocket launchers, since I basically just let myself concept and sculpt it on autopilot almost. Think it should still fit into the overall theme, and not be too high tech for Dota 2. I'm also thinking of just finishing the missle next and leaving the headslot as default; Don't think I've got too much to add to that piece.

    I think this Gyro set is looking pretty cool, my only concern is with the wings. Have you check it against the alt idle animation? The wing falls off and he pulls it back on. Looking at these wings it might look like he uses the force to reattach the wing
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Most of the idle alt is fine, just a little bit at the end where the hand is slightly further out than the wing when he reaches down a second time, but it's not too bad.
  • kite212
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    kite212 polycounter lvl 15
    Snowstorm wrote: »
    Most of the idle alt is fine, just a little bit at the end where the hand is slightly further out than the wing when he reaches down a second time, but it's not too bad.

    Awesome, can't wait to see it all together :)
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Long overdue WIPs! Had meant to put these in the thread the week after the Gyro set went into the workshop. Link to the workshop item is in the first post.

    I'm really proud of the set even though it didn't get much attention in the workshop. That seems quite typical of non-sponsored gyro items, but nevertheless I don't have high hopes.

    VYxNEZU.jpg
    Tzo6Wu8.jpg
    EeMNbY6.jpg
    l8yZ7sO.jpg
    VKmWQfI.jpg

    And the final set in marmoset for the promo:

    Fw520il.jpg

    Since then I've been slowly working on a single QoP hair piece for Fox.

    9wcQUwq.jpg
    3KlLCi0.jpg
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Some updates for the models I've been working on these last few months.

    First, the Flor de Flamenco QoP hair I did with Foxclover, who's also responsible for the lovely promo image. More images are in the steam workshop page linked in the first post of this thread.

    Promo Image:
    U0cml7p.jpg

    Showcase View:
    ULAUFZT.jpg

    I also finished up a sort of experimental Bounty Hunter set with Mimeo who did the 2d sketches. I finished up the rest whilst trying to translate his sketch to the Dota 2 style without compromising either. Also worked on getting the colours and textures right this time round. Fairly satisfied with the technical qualities of the result, though I think I have a ways to go in terms of making really appealing designs by myself. Especially for 2d promo images. The community's reaction has been divisive as is normal with most of my submissions.

    Kunai Sculpt:
    594g5Nl.jpg

    Shuriken and Man Catcher Sculpts:
    Lfy4PpR.jpg

    Mask Sculpt and Bakes:
    qtvmCzu.jpg

    Yukata/Pads Sculpt:
    dtIa6IU.jpg

    Promo Image:
    xSdNUPn.jpg

    As before, in-game images are in the steam workshop link on the first post. The set also has quite a few alternative items that didn't get their own sculpts, so those can be found on the workshop as well.
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    A little low on inspiration atm, so I'm doing an update to an old set. Sculpt WIP.

    9DQfJsK.jpg
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    MASSIVE WIP DUMP

    Final Sculpts:

    iAaeLNr.jpg
    8dLJnys.jpg

    Bakes (Ambient Occlusion, Matcap/Diffuse, Cavity)

    JTHbqiM.jpg
    SqZsQBH.jpg

    Final Colours (After quite a few days of experimentation):

    xY3r9K6.jpg
    zDCqCBS.jpg

    In-game with the whole set:

    3UqwZw5.jpg

    Belt and visor are due for remakes as well.
  • Vayne4800
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    Vayne4800 polycounter lvl 3
    Hey man. Can you detail your texturing process a bit more. I am very interested.
  • belkun
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    belkun polycounter lvl 7
    Is that the final diffuse or just the colors? If it's the actual diffuse, I think some more color variation and gradients would help a lot. It does look much better ingame, and maybe that's just personal preference, but I'd like to see some extra color gradients on stuff like the blade, the shoulder padding and perhaps some scratches on the chest metal, just to make them less flat and even.

    Still, I gotta say I love the set. All of the different materials look incredibly stunning put together, specially the whole armor piece. The visor is also straight up badass.

    How did you sculpt the shoulder padding material by the way? You used an alpha, or just made the whole pattern by hand?
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Vayne4800 wrote: »
    Hey man. Can you detail your texturing process a bit more. I am very interested.

    I'll do up a tutorial when I have time, but as it stands that's probably going to be after New Bloom ends. In a nutshell there's very little hand painting - that's only for the highlights on the blades and for the white dragon motifs. The rest is colours with an ambient occlusion bake set to multiply, matcap bakes set to overlay and soft light, and a cavity map on soft light. All the texturing comes from the matcap bake (so all the texturing comes from the sculpt).
    belkun wrote: »
    Is that the final diffuse or just the colors? If it's the actual diffuse, I think some more color variation and gradients would help a lot. It does look much better ingame, and maybe that's just personal preference, but I'd like to see some extra color gradients on stuff like the blade, the shoulder padding and perhaps some scratches on the chest metal, just to make them less flat and even.

    Still, I gotta say I love the set. All of the different materials look incredibly stunning put together, specially the whole armor piece. The visor is also straight up badass.

    How did you sculpt the shoulder padding material by the way? You used an alpha, or just made the whole pattern by hand?

    Thanks for the comments! That's the final diffuse actually. I think the reason why it looks better in-game is because I've used the masks to influence the gradients that you see on the blade and such. I've kept the colour map as much for colour only as I could. All the lighting/spec based gradients are in the masks, as are the metal effects. If you look at the loadout view the front armour has a subtly scratched look which blends into a nice gradient in the game view.

    I'll keep the comments in mind though. The blade looked much better after I introduced some colour gradients, so I'll consider looking at that for stuff like the pauldron. I've actually got the gradients in the .psds already, I'm just not using them.

    Oh, and the padding material is a noise alpha. Though I did additional sculpting along the padded edges.
  • keinhangia
    Wow, love your promo image, you got very good 2D skills!
  • Vayne4800
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    Vayne4800 polycounter lvl 3
    Snowstorm wrote: »
    I'll do up a tutorial when I have time, but as it stands that's probably going to be after New Bloom ends. In a nutshell there's very little hand painting - that's only for the highlights on the blades and for the white dragon motifs. The rest is colours with an ambient occlusion bake set to multiply, matcap bakes set to overlay and soft light, and a cavity map on soft light. All the texturing comes from the matcap bake (so all the texturing comes from the sculpt).



    Thanks for the comments! That's the final diffuse actually. I think the reason why it looks better in-game is because I've used the masks to influence the gradients that you see on the blade and such. I've kept the colour map as much for colour only as I could. All the lighting/spec based gradients are in the masks, as are the metal effects. If you look at the loadout view the front armour has a subtly scratched look which blends into a nice gradient in the game view.

    I'll keep the comments in mind though. The blade looked much better after I introduced some colour gradients, so I'll consider looking at that for stuff like the pauldron. I've actually got the gradients in the .psds already, I'm just not using them.

    Oh, and the padding material is a noise alpha. Though I did additional sculpting along the padded edges.

    Are using Pior's method for matcap baking?
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Nope. You'd get the same effect (or potentially an even better effect due to ZBrush's lighting) if you used his method and stitched the different maps together, but I'd like to think my method takes a lot less time. Mine bakes the entire matcap at once in Modo.
  • Vayne4800
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    Vayne4800 polycounter lvl 3
    Wow. I must know how that is done! Is this exclusive to modo?
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    My method is, because Modo does the baking. If you have a 3d software that supports matcaps then you probably could just do the same thing by dropping a matcap on and pressing bake. Might be able to do it in Blender.

    If not you're out of luck as far as this process goes.
  • mstyle028
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    mstyle028 polycounter lvl 6
    Hey man, Do you have Skype? I am doing some baking tests in Modo, and im having a hard time to make a metalic texture for the armor im working ;(
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    mstyle028 wrote: »
    Hey man, Do you have Skype? I am doing some baking tests in Modo, and im having a hard time to make a metalic texture for the armor im working ;(

    I do have skype, but I don't use it much any more.

    Check out the Creating Point Light maps tutorial in the first post of this thread. That process will bake metallic lighting into your low poly for you. I'll get round to putting this new process into a tutorial when I've got a bit more free time.
  • mstyle028
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    mstyle028 polycounter lvl 6
    Hey broo, i was hoping to asks something other than the lighting of it,. You have facebook? Great artwork btw! i love the magina sets! :)
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Just PM me via the polycount message system or ask here. I don't use facebook for workshop stuff.
  • mstyle028
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    mstyle028 polycounter lvl 6
    Okay, ill just ask the lighting process of yours. Are you baking it allof them in Modo alltogether? or one by one? cause i tried to bake them parts by parts, separate the head to the shoulder armor, to the torso armor. etc. then the lighting doesnt match to each. cause everytime i baked them by parts, i need to move the light to get some nice reflections. Do i need to baked them all together first in Xnormal, then baked the lighting in Modo??
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    I bake all the items individually in Modo. Even within single items I separate the items into components and bake them separately so there won't be artifacts from overlapping components.

    With the pauldrons on the AM set for e.g. there's 2 parts: The top purple padding and the combined side padding + armour. I bake the top padding separate from the side padding in Modo and then combine them together in Photoshop.

    My lighting looks even because I choose very carefully which direction of lighting I use to bake. In some cases I will even bake lighting from a few directions and then photoshop them together to make a nice evenly lit bake. This was the case for the hair piece that's in the AM set on the workshop (the picture of the hair in this thread is outdated).

    I don't think you need to bake them in XNormal and then in Modo. Either everything in XNormal or everything in Modo would be fine. I find that XNormal and Modo don't bake in the exact same way using default settings, so I suggest not mixing maps baked by both unless you know how to accurately control your bakes.
  • mstyle028
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    mstyle028 polycounter lvl 6
    Hi SnowStorm, Thank you for the reply. Im really having hard time to use the lights cause i never make lowpolys before, (flatshade) color, And its really hard for me to make some lighting on the texture. Hope you can do more tutorials on how you use point lights in Modo, regarding in all of the armors of the character.

    Thanks man!
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    WIP hair sculpt for this year's New Bloom event. Concept by Foxclover (the concept was actually made for last year's New Bloom)

    QDmMwpr.jpg

    drow1.jpg
  • quockhanhlk
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    quockhanhlk polycounter lvl 11
    beautiful hail style, love it ! :D
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Small update to end the weekend.

    drow2.jpg

    Sculpt's pretty much done at this point.
  • Vayne4800
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    Vayne4800 polycounter lvl 3
    While MDK is the offical Hood dude, you are the official hairstyle dude! This looks elegant and high quality! Love it!
  • obsolete
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    obsolete triangle
    Epic stuff man! That warlock golem is amazing!!
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Updates and preview. The bake looked pretty good, but ultimately I still needed to do some manual corrections via painting.

    drow3.jpg

    And here it is in-game. The ribbon over the back of the hair is kinda obscured, and I chose not to mirror the ribbon and ended up sacrificing a lot of UV space because of that.

    drowpreview.jpg

    Overall I think I'm decently pleased with how it turned out. It's a little underwhelming from the showcase view, and also because the arrows obscure so much of the already low res ribbon. Had to bend the ribbon inward because of the arrows too, which kinda reduced the interesting silhouette of the hairstyle. Need to work more on my UV layouts.
  • Snowstorm
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    Snowstorm polycounter lvl 5
    Near final textures and masks. Cleaned up the ribbon, gave it some new masks, tweaked the shading on the side of the bun.

    drowpreview2.jpg
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