Hey guys I'm starting with 3DS Max 2012 (bacuse of the SC2 Art Tools, lucky for me I got it) and I want to show you my ongoing model. I'll be posting here many updates I get, but by the way I can only show you a little sketch of what it will be. I'm plaining to get a kind of Protoss Automaton, a big, heavy assault robotic vehicle. The best thing (I think that is the only thing which is finished) are the feet, which you can see are worked at least from my point of view. Any sugestion you have post it, obviously, here. P.S.: I may need some help with anymations and textures.
Are you working with concept art or something, or just making it up as you go along? It looks really weird right now, you should have waited till it was fleshed out more before posting it.
Oh and I'll help with animations when its done If you want, I need more practice animating things.
I'm rigth finishing the model, I TurboSmooth it and now looks really good. And I've got several animations on my head that, if you want, you can make to the model when it's totally done the modelling part. I'll explain you the animations when we came to an agreement on the modelling.
If I really say you I don't know how to see polys cuz I'm new to this :S (I'll be grateful if you show me how) but I started with only a little cube and 6 spheres.
Press "7" and you'll see a few rows of numbers in your viewport. There you can see the polycount. Usually you want to look at the triangle count since that's what StarCraft is interested in.
If you don't see the triangle count in the statistics just right click on the viewport shading mode (right next to the current viewport name), go to CONFIGURE -> STATISTICS and mark whatever you want to see in the statistics section.
Nice first model! It's good to see you're learning to grasp the basics of a modelling package, the first step into 3D can be somewhat daunting for most people. There's a lot to learn, from modelling to texturing to animations and more. My words of advice would be to prepare to make many mistakes, but take every one as a lesson to get better!
Here's some information about modelling for Starcraft 2 (and games in general) that you might not know. Because of the way RTS engines work, and how you may have many units on the screen at once, the game has some technical guidelines. SC2 uses low poly models in game, generally around the 1000 to 5000 poly range. The high-poly detail comes from using special texture maps, namely the Normal Map, which creates fake detail onto a low poly model. The low poly model would actually look similar to the model you started out with!
Normal maps are more of a advanced technique to learn, however, so don't be discouraged if you can't achieve your goals right away. There are many different methods to create a Normal map, but I would probably advise you continuing to learn more about modelling and basic texturing before jumping into that. It's simply about taking small steps and learning to do things the right way :)
There isn't any real problem with importing a 110,000 poly model (as the engine should still be able to handle it), but it is not an ideal situation to have. I would suggest taking a look at some of Blizzard's models and getting an idea of what their poly counts are and how they construct their units. You could also try making some test models under the 5000 poly budget to get a rough idea what you have to work with.
If you don't mind guys, I'd like you to teach me a little tutorial about texturing and animating a model because Ican get the model (the basics, who can't XD) but it is horrible without textures or animations.
There are shitloads of texturing and animating tutorials on youtube. Some of them are referenced on this forum, check threads in the artist tacern subforum that look tutorialistic.
Right click in the Modify Stack, on the TurboSmooth, and select Collapse All.
Select the Optimize option in the Modifier DropDown list and set the Face Tresh property to 10.
You model layout changes just a twitch, but your polycount drops to about 4.2K which is acceptable, even this is too high for the model.
Also, i don't know what the sphere has to do, but that itself is also 16k polys!
Remove the Turbosmooth and set the Segments to 20
That will drop from 16K polys to about 360 :)
In the end I got you model to drop from 110K polys to 6300, just by removing the TurboSmooth on the spheres and using the optimize on the green thingy.
Also, check for open edges, if you have them, make sure the player won't see them, like the left foot, it has open edges.
To check that, select the model convert it to a Edit Mesh, select Edge, then press the "Select open edges" button
A good guide to check is that of DOTA2 which explains that in a top down game, you should have the most polys at the top and the least amout of detail at the bottom.
Hey guys I'm starting with 3DS Max 2012 (bacuse of the SC2 Art Tools, lucky for me I got it) and I want to show you my ongoing model. I'll be posting here many updates I get, but by the way I can only show you a little sketch of what it will be.
I'm plaining to get a kind of Protoss Automaton, a big, heavy assault robotic vehicle. The best thing (I think that is the only thing which is finished) are the feet, which you can see are worked at least from my point of view.
Any sugestion you have post it, obviously, here.
P.S.: I may need some help with anymations and textures.
Are you working with concept art or something, or just making it up as you go along? It looks really weird right now, you should have waited till it was fleshed out more before posting it.
Oh and I'll help with animations when its done If you want, I need more practice animating things.
@phanalax128: Go
I'm rigth finishing the model, I TurboSmooth it and now looks really good. And I've got several animations on my head that, if you want, you can make to the model when it's totally done the modelling part.
I'll explain you the animations when we came to an agreement on the modelling.
Finally model (at least for me, any suggestion is welcome).
Upload: Doing attach points with SC2 Art Tools pretty easy :)
how many polys its that? It looks way too high for SC2 to handle.
@phanalax128: Go
If I really say you I don't know how to see polys cuz I'm new to this :S (I'll be grateful if you show me how) but I started with only a little cube and 6 spheres.
@TheSC2Maniac: Go
Press "7" and you'll see a few rows of numbers in your viewport. There you can see the polycount. Usually you want to look at the triangle count since that's what StarCraft is interested in.
If you don't see the triangle count in the statistics just right click on the viewport shading mode (right next to the current viewport name), go to CONFIGURE -> STATISTICS and mark whatever you want to see in the statistics section.
There are no so much polys XD just 110688
@Leruster: Go
Ty very much :)
Uploading model for doing animations. Currently it has some attach point, the ones related to the weapons the core, and the center.
Nice first model! It's good to see you're learning to grasp the basics of a modelling package, the first step into 3D can be somewhat daunting for most people. There's a lot to learn, from modelling to texturing to animations and more. My words of advice would be to prepare to make many mistakes, but take every one as a lesson to get better!
Here's some information about modelling for Starcraft 2 (and games in general) that you might not know. Because of the way RTS engines work, and how you may have many units on the screen at once, the game has some technical guidelines. SC2 uses low poly models in game, generally around the 1000 to 5000 poly range. The high-poly detail comes from using special texture maps, namely the Normal Map, which creates fake detail onto a low poly model. The low poly model would actually look similar to the model you started out with!
Normal maps are more of a advanced technique to learn, however, so don't be discouraged if you can't achieve your goals right away. There are many different methods to create a Normal map, but I would probably advise you continuing to learn more about modelling and basic texturing before jumping into that. It's simply about taking small steps and learning to do things the right way :)
There isn't any real problem with importing a 110,000 poly model (as the engine should still be able to handle it), but it is not an ideal situation to have. I would suggest taking a look at some of Blizzard's models and getting an idea of what their poly counts are and how they construct their units. You could also try making some test models under the 5000 poly budget to get a rough idea what you have to work with.
I hope this was helpful for you.
@Triceron: Go
Every contribution is welcome :)
And I think there might be a way on decrease the number of polys of my model
I'm leaving the last model because too complex and SCII may be lagged if used.
Creating new model: a Protoss Mobile Turret
Reduced number of polys to 9000 more or less (I don't know how :D)
@TheSC2Maniac: Go
Use the normal texture map to add fine detail.
Contribute to the wiki (Wiki button at top of page) Considered easy altering of the unit textures?
https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/resources/tutorials/179654-data-actor-events-message-texture-select-by-id
https://media.forgecdn.net/attachments/187/40/Screenshot2011-04-17_09_16_21.jpg
If you don't mind guys, I'd like you to teach me a little tutorial about texturing and animating a model because Ican get the model (the basics, who can't XD) but it is horrible without textures or animations.
@TheSC2Maniac: Go
There are shitloads of texturing and animating tutorials on youtube. Some of them are referenced on this forum, check threads in the artist tacern subforum that look tutorialistic.
@Zolden: Go
Yes I know but I need an step by step tutorial to make texturesas SCII units ones, cuz I don't know how to do anything.
There is a good step by step tutorial released with art tools wich explaines everything you need to know about sc2-related features of texturing.
Right click in the Modify Stack, on the TurboSmooth, and select Collapse All. Select the Optimize option in the Modifier DropDown list and set the Face Tresh property to 10.
You model layout changes just a twitch, but your polycount drops to about 4.2K which is acceptable, even this is too high for the model. Also, i don't know what the sphere has to do, but that itself is also 16k polys! Remove the Turbosmooth and set the Segments to 20 That will drop from 16K polys to about 360 :)
In the end I got you model to drop from 110K polys to 6300, just by removing the TurboSmooth on the spheres and using the optimize on the green thingy.
Also, check for open edges, if you have them, make sure the player won't see them, like the left foot, it has open edges.
To check that, select the model convert it to a Edit Mesh, select Edge, then press the "Select open edges" button
A good guide to check is that of DOTA2 which explains that in a top down game, you should have the most polys at the top and the least amout of detail at the bottom.
Hope this helps... a little :p
T.
My Starcraft II Tutorials Youtube Channel
My Basic Moddeling Tutorials Youtube Channel
My assets here