SC2Mapster

I think it's about time I jumped on this boat myself. While I won't claim these as my models, I will claim the time and effort it took to convert them for use in Starcraft 2. I've been working these models on and off for the last few years and take breaks when I get burned out. I've been working on a horde vs alliance map for quite some time now and as my knowledge of 3DS Max increases the better my work is becoming. I'm currently working on finishing my Human models. With the character models being the top priority. After I finish the male and female models I will be working on the construction animations for most of the buildings, my first test run is complete on one. After that I will do wireframes, icons, and portraits.

I recently posted some screenshots of the progress I'm making on the Human Female model but decided a video would better demonstrate what's going on. This can be done with every playable character from WoW and could be extremely useful in RPG's. It is also about as efficient as you can get when it comes to file size. Running at 3mb for the model and 200kb for a set of armor you could do 100's of variations with any type of unit in mind.

How I do team colors: http://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/resources/tutorials/69058-textures-creating-team-color-textures/

For those of you who don't care to watch the video here are some screenshots of the female human model and the variations it can have.

If you're interested in the building models go ahead and check out my screenshots here: http://smotis.deviantart.com/gallery/41925163

Construction preview of Human farm:

Quick view at the map I'm working on. The Alliance side is nearly finished while the horde side is pretty barren...

Dear Daara, I realy like the overall result of your work, and your persistense and enthusiasm. But still the absence of specularity of the models makes me sad. It just drops the visual quality to the ground. No matter, how good you fix the textures, they still look dull, and can't look better.

Haven't we discussed in irc, tha adding a nice specularity will not take more than a few clicks, and will add absolutely zero of additional filezize bytes.

You won't need to create normal maps, just put white color as specular map, it will be enough. Or just copy your diffuse map to the specular map, and pick B channel. It will make the spec map more detailed.

Please, do this for any of those women, and post the image here, and tell me if it not look better?

Afaik more white = more shiny (metallic units), more dark = slippy skin (like zerg)
Nice job there, good map but isn't that like 50MB map or mod?

I actually did ask if there was some generic modern man model with sweet animations like this one, that can be equipped, though these are for WoW and medieval theme. If there is someone to make for futuristic generic man like the OP did for WoW and medieval theme, then do pls :)

YAY a new person! You've got some nice stuff going on there! If I were you I'd deinitely put a specular on like Zolden says, but other then that it looks pretty nice! Also If you dont intend the insides of the houses to be seen, I would delete all internal polys, as they would be completely unnessesary. :) :)

@Zolden: Go

She does have a white colored specular map in the video, it's why you can see the fucked up normal on the dress :P, I just have it set to be pretty low atm. You can see a bit of it if you watch the part where I show the cloaks. The helmet shoulders and weapons are lacking them because I just haven't gone back to add them yet. I'll probably turn up the multiplier seeing it is a little too low.

@phanalax128: Go

I did exactly that. The inside of buildings are completely stripped of anything. The only internal poly's that would remain would be those from the construction animations.

Hey if you explained the process a little and what you named the animations i would be more then willing to attempt a race or two.
Depending on how its set up i would love to see all the races from WoW converted

@Daara87: Go

"While I won't claim these as my models" - THIS SENTENCE!

@zaysite: Go

I haven't finalized the animations names but reading the tutorial on animation names on startools helps. The first word is required and anything after that can really be in any order, or at least that's how I understood it.

So my names are like this.

Attack Animations

• Attack - Unarmed
• Attack Small - 1H Animations
• Attack Large - 2H Animations
• Attack Penetrate - 2HL Animations
• Attack Medium - Bow Animations Combined
• Attack Medium Start, Looping, End - Bow Animations separated
• Attack Blast - Gun Animations Combined
• Attack Blast Start, Looping, End - Gun Animations separated
• Attack Thrown - Throwing Animations
• Attack Fire - Spell Directed Animations
• Attack Superior - 1H, Off-Hand, Mutilate, and Stomstrike Animations
• Attack Bash - 1H and Shield Attack Animations
• Attack Simple - Brewmaster Attack Animations
• Attack Equal - Mistweaver Attack Animations
• Attack Squish - Windwalker Attack Animations

The second word is group applied/removed in the events+ of the actors tab whenever the specific weapon you're using starts and stops attacking. So it will look like this.

Turn On

WeaponStart*1H*AttackStart

AnimGroupApply Small

Turn Off

WeaponStop*1H*AttackStop

AnimGroupRemove Small Instant

(The 1H is just the name of my example weapon)

You have to do this this for each weapon, depending on what type of animations you want it to use.

Ready Animations

• Stand Ready - Unarmed
• Stand Small Ready - 1H
• Stand Large Ready - 2H
• Stand Penetrate Ready - 2HL
• Stand Medium Ready - Bow
• Stand Blast Ready - Gun
• Stand Thrown Ready - Thrown
• Stand Fire Ready - Spell Direct
• Stand Superior Ready - Dual Wield
• Stand Bash Ready - 1H/Shield
• Stand Simple Ready - Brewmaster
• Stand Equal Ready - Mistweaver
• Stand Squish Ready - Windwalker
• Stand Fly Ready - Mounted

Ready is group applied/removed whenever any weapon starts/stops attacking. It looks like this.

Turn On

Abil.attack.ReadyStart

AnimGroupApply Ready

Turn Off

Abil.attack.ReadyStop

AnimationGroupRemove Ready Instant

This is already on most actors I've seen, so you probably won't have to add it yourself.

Walking Animations

• Walk - Run
• Walk Slow - Walk
• Walk Fast - Sprint
• Walk Cloak - Stealth
• Walk Back - Walk Backwards
• Walk Spin - Monk Roll Animation
• Walk Swim - Swimming
• Walk Swim Back - Swim Backwards
• Walk Swim Run - Swim Run (Vashj'ir)
• Walk Swim Slow - Swim Walk (Vashj'ir)

These can be group applied via a buff behavior, I'm not sure if the Vashj'ir or Backwards Swim work yet. It would look something like this.

Turn On

Behavior.Cloak.On

AnimGroupApply.Cloak

Turn Off

Behvaior.Cloak.Off

AnimGroupRemove.Cloak Instant

Stand Animations

• Stand, 01, 02 - Normal Stand Animations with as many Variations as you want.
• Stand B - Stunned
• Stand Cloak - Stealth Stand
• Stand D - Knockdown.
• Stand Dialogue, 01 - Carriage Stand and Attack
• Stand E - Strangulate
• Stand F - Fall
• Stand Fly, 01, 02 - Mounted Stand
• Stand G Start, Looping, End - Reading or Usemap can't remember exact name.
• Stand H Start, Looping, End - Sleep Down, Sleep, and Sleep Up
• Stand I Start, Looping, End - Sit Down, Sit, and Sit Up
• Stand J Start and Looping - Fishing Start and Fishing Loop
• Stand K Start, Looping, End - Kneel Start, Kneel, Kneel Up
• Stand Left - Shuffle Left
• Stand Right - Shuffle Right
• Stand Listen, 01, 02 - Sit Chair Low, Medium, and High
• Stand Scared - Cower
• Stand Swim - Swim Idle
• Stand Swim Dead - Drowned
• Stand Swim Left - Swim Left
• Stand Swim Right - Swim Right
• Stand Wounded - Stand Wound
• Stand Wounded Ready, 01 - Combat Wound and Critical Wound

By group applying these names or letters you override the normal stand animation. Usually done via behaviors like we did above. Once again like above I'm not sure with the few that use 3 words in the name, I haven't tested them yet. Those that use Start, Looping, and End can be used in an Animation Bracket to play them in sequence or they can be played as a single animations.

Other Animations (bunch of renames possible here as they have not all been tested yet to work properly)

Most of these will be done as 1-shot animations.

• Attack Angry - Dragon Stomp (likely getting renamed)
• Attack Channel - Channel Directed
• Attack Cover - Kick
• Attack Fly - Joust Attack
• Attack Medium Start, Looping, End - Bow Animations Separated, good for stuff like Aimed Shots
• Attack Blast Start, Looping, End - Gun Animations Separated
• Channel Equal - Monk Heal Channel
• Dance, 01, 02, 03 - Dance Animations
• Death - Obvious
• Eat - Eat Emote
• Gather Start, Looping, End - Use Animations, used on gathering professions and crafting.
• Hover, 01 - Hover and Meditate Animations
• Inferior Start, Looping - Worgen Running Wild Start and Stand Animation
• Jump Start, Looping, End - Jump
• Morph - ToAltered (Transform to Worgen animation)
• Pose, 01-17 - Various Emote Animations
• Slam - Slam Animation
• Spell Angry - Emote Roar
• Spell Block - Shield Block
• Spell Channel, 01 - Channel Omni and Monk Heal Channel Omni
• Spell Detect Start, Looping, End - Monk Flying Kick
• Spell Disintigrate - Breath of Fire
• Spell Dominant - Whirlwind (likely to add another that is a stand animation)
• Spell Equal, 01 - Monk Heal Direct and Omni
• Spell Fire - Spell Omni
• Spell Fly - Hold Joust
• Spell K - Dodge
• Spell L - Unarmed Parry
• Spell Large - 2H Parry
• Spell Penetrate - 2HL Parry
• Spell Pickup - Loot
• Spell Severe - Thousand Fists
• Spell Simple - Brewmaster Parry
• Spell Small - 1H Parry
• Spell Spiked - Spinning Kick
• Spell Spin - Torpedo
• Spell Squish - Windwalker Parry
• Spin Start, End, Looping - Monk Rolling Animations
• Swim Death - Drowning Death Animation
• Talk, 01, 02, 03, 04 - Emote Talk, Exclaim, No, Yes, Question
• Work - Work

I'm getting really tired and have to be up early so I'll fix this up and finish it later ^^

Setting up a WoW model to have every variation possible.

Turning on EVERY mesh

1. Go to Show
2. View Model Control
3. Check every single mesh

It should look something like this

Exporting Animations IMPORTANT PLZ READ!!

1. Go to Options
2. Export Options...
3. Click on the M3 Tab
4. Select every animation Except for the bugged ones!! They will cause problems in 3DS Max!!! Bugged ones are generally the NoSheathe ones, be sure to check out every animation. Bugged ones look like the picture below, there are generally 5 bugged ones.
5. Then Export the model from File Export as .m3

Importing to 3DS Max

1. Use NIN/Lerusters .m3 import script
2. Turn off Import Vertex Normals (some normals are messed up I may go back and try with this on again)
3. Import Model

I believe these are the versions I use. You can follow the installation instructions in the link below as well. Just click on Overview and scroll down.

• sc2_objects.ms - Starcraft 2 Objects Definition File Version 0.06
• m3_import_v0.32.ms - M3 Importer Version 0.32
• m3_export_v0.23.ms - M3 Exporter Version 0.23

http://www.sc2mapster.com/assets/m3-export-plugin-3ds-max/files/26-m3-plugins-v1-9/

Fixing Animations

• Generally it's the last key frame of the animation that is bugged.

1. Select an animation.
2. Select every bone or just the ones that are messed up in the last key frame.
3. Delete the last key frame.
4. Shift+Drag the first key frame to where the last frame of the animation is.

• This should cause the animation to look proper again.

• For animations where the model spins around (whirlwind, kicks, dances, etc.) doing the previous method will not work 100%
• It will reverse spin between the last 2 key frames.

1. Find out which bone is doing this. Some culprits are Bone 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4.
2. Go to the last key frame
3. Turn on Auto Key
4. Physically rotate it 360 degrees in the opposite direction it reversed to.

• Just typing it in never works for me. If there is a way around this let me know, I'm still new to 3DS Max.

Add the Animations to Star Tools and Rename for SC2

1. Start with animation 0 and do every single animation in order
2. To help speed this up have the .m3 sequences open and just copy paste the frame ranges into the Star Tools animation prop window
3. Name them what you want but follow something similar to my naming style

Combining Animations or Duplicating Animations

Duplicating will allow you to use attacks from one set and put them on another, I do this with my 1H, Shield, and Dual attack animations.

Combining will allow you to have a single attack animation for Bows and Guns

Duplicating

1. Select the animation you which to duplicate
2. Subtract 1 from the start frame, (100 becomes 99). You should see another key frame.
3. Add 1 to the End Frame, (100 becomes 101). You should see another key frame.
4. These key frames cause it to go back into a default pose before and after the animation.
5. Duplicate the animation by hitting the Duplicate Button.
6. Set your original back to the normal Start and End frames.
7. Find your new duplicated animation, repeat the previous step.
8. Rename the animation to whatever you want it to be used as.

Alternatively you can extend your timeline to see the end of start of another animation. These "default" pose key frames are there. You can just shift+drag them to 1 frame before or after your new animation.

Combining

1. Select the first animation of the group (generally LoadBow/Gun etc.)
2. Reduce the Start by 1 Frame
3. Duplicate
4. Change the frame range back.
5. Select the second animation of the group (Hold Bow/Gun etc.) This one doesn't need to be done unless you want it to be long
6. Duplicate
7. Select the third animation (Attack Bow/Gun etc.)
8. Extend the End by 1 frame.
9. Duplicate
10. Change the frame range back.
11. Select the last animation and copy its End Time.
12. Remove animation 2 and 3
13. Select animation 1, paste animation 3's End Time into animation 1's End Time.
14. Select every key frame from animation 2 and drag it to be 33 frames away from animation 1.
15. Repeat for 3rd animation.
16. Make sure you have a "default pose" key frame at the beginning and end of the new animation.
17. Rename the animation to whatever you want it to be.

Showing and Hiding the Mesh

1. Create a new SC2 Standard Material
2. Set it to Mask Opaque
3. Check 2-Sided, Hit Test, and Receive Shadows
4. Set the Alpha Test Threshold to 255
5. Set the Diffuse Texture to what you want it to be, I use a separate one for the Body Texture, Cloak, and Hair

Go to Photoshop or an Equivalent software that can do .dds or .tga textures with alpha channels.

1. Create a new 4x4 pixel image.

• I made the background black for mine.

1. Save one that has no alpha channel or an alpha channel with nothing in it.

• I named these ones like Show Cloak 1, 2, 3 or Show Cloth Armor etc.

1. Save a second one that has a 100% alpha over it.

• I named these ones Hide Cloak 1, 2, 3 or Hide Cloth Armor etc.

1. Set Alpha Mask 1 to Hide Cloak 1, 2, 3 etc. or whatever your trying to hide. Make sure you set the color operations to USE A.

Apply this material to any given mesh you want hidden. I did them in groups myself because we have to use Texture declarations and we only know of 18 at this time.

Do this for every group of mesh you want to show or hide. Here is my list.

• Hair Style 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (5 of my favorite hair styles)
• Ponytail Hairband
• Cloak Style 1, 2, 3 (3 of the long cloak styles)
• Cloth Armor (long sleeves and robe)
• Light Armor (smallest of the armor types )
• Medium Armor (2nd largest gloves and boots, the boots require the lower legs to be hidden)
• Heavy Armor (heavy boots, gloves, and the larger belt)
• Tabard
• Back (the one that pokes through cloaks)
• Pants (Thighs)
• Legs (Lower Leg)
• Body (upper body)

I have 18 different materials for this. The hair ones all share the same diffuse as do the cloaks. Everything else uses the main armor texture. Each material has it's own set of Hide and Show textures. So a total of 34 4x4 textures, because we will never hide the Body.

Texture Select by ID

You don't have to do it this way, but this is how I matched names to be used in SC2

Mesh Types

• 0. Body
• 1. Tabard
• 2. Cloth Gloves and Glove Pants
• 3. Light Gloves, Light Boots
• 4. Medium Gloves, Medium Boots
• 5. Heavy Gloves, Heavy Boots, Belt
• 6. Cloak 1
• 7. Cloak 2
• 8. Cloak 3
• 9. Back
• 10. Hair 1
• 11. Hair 2
• 12. Hair 3
• 13. Hair 3 Band
• 14. Hair 4
• 15. Hair 5
• 16. Pants
• 17. Legs

Texture Declaration Names

• 0. Body
• 1. Decal
• 2. Zerg
• 3. Merc
• 4. Protoss
• 5. Terran
• 6. Reflection
• 7. Video
• 8. Campaign
• 9. Head
• 10. Generic 01
• 11. Generic 02
• 12. Generic 03
• 13. Hair
• 14. Generic 04
• 15. Generic 05
• 16. Main
• 17. Video01

Daara is very smelly and annoying, but he worked hard for this, and it's not trivial. Props.

<Otixa seal of approval>

Quote from Otixa: Go

Daara is very smelly and annoying, but he worked hard for this, and it's not trivial. Props.

<Otixa seal of approval>

Pssh, I smell like Fiji...or at least that's what Old Spice says Fiji smells like.

Im gonna try and do the Dwarf Male i just had one question
do you have Startools and nin/leruster script working together?
i keep getting a position error its weird

@zaysite: Go

I think these are the versions I use.

• sc2_objects.ms - Starcraft 2 Objects Definition File Version 0.06
• m3_import_v0.32.ms - M3 Importer Version 0.32
• m3_export_v0.23.ms - M3 Exporter Version 0.23

http://www.sc2mapster.com/assets/m3-export-plugin-3ds-max/files/26-m3-plugins-v1-9/

I get one "warning" when committing to a mod and that's it, though it doesn't seem to do anything. Just says something about the bind pose and then finishes anyway. Don't see anything wrong in game either.

Hey Daara hows it going.
I have created a list of animations from what you gave me there are a few i was unsure of so ill post it here.
I made a Java Robot that clicks the checkboxes and renames all the animations
so now it only takes about 1 or 2 minutes to change all the animations
Needless to say i thought it would be useful in the long run for creating all the races
Ive Uploaded a Comma Seperated List Can you look at it and see if im missing anything?
The Values on the Left are the Static Animation Names and the Values on the Right are the Renames

@zaysite: Go

I, and I'm sure many others, would so appreciate if you released that java bot of yours. (sounds like a blender)

I export every animation (excluding the bugged ones) and every mesh with the model from WMV. I also add every animation to the Star Tools Animation Prop Window as well. In case I ever need to change the name or use one that I hadn't previously been using. It'll save you time if you ever decide to change something. I also just hide any mesh that I'm not going to use.

I gave a quick glance at your list and this is saw. I also didn't see any of the monk animations on yours, so I assume you don't have Mists of Pandaria.

• ReadyAbility - I don't use this one
• ReadyFist1H, AttackFist, Parry etc - I don't use these ones as they are the same as ReadyUnarmed Attack Parry etc.

• AttackOff - Attack Superior and duplicated to be used in Attack Shield
• AttackOffPierce - Attack Superior
• Attack1HPierce - Attack Superior
• Special1H - Attack Small
• SpecialUnarmed - Attack
• Special2H - Attack Large
• AttackJoust - Attack Fly
• LoadJoust / HoldJoust- I currently have them unused, you could take Load Joust and Hold Joust to combine into one animation though.

• Loot - Spell Pickup or Stand Pickup whatever you want to use.
• SpellKneel, Start, and End - I do not use these, redundant cause of other Kneel animations.
• ShieldBash - Attack Shield
• HandsClosed - Unused
• Sheath - Unused
• Stop - Unused
• HipSheath - Unused
• EmoteUseStanding - BUGGED DO NOT EVEN EXPORT WITH MODEL
• EmoteUseStandingNoSheathe - BUGGED DO NOT EVEN EXPORT WITH MODEL
• EmoteWorkNoSheathe - BUGGED DO NOT EVEN EXPORT WITH MODEL
• EmoteSaluteNoSheathe - BUGGED DO NOT EVEN EXPORT WITH MODEL
• EmoteEatNoSheathe - BUGGED DO NOT EVEN EXPORT WITH MODEL
• EmoteStunNoSheathe - Unused, may be bugged on some models.

Make sure you have the correct order :P

• Sleep - Stand H Looping
• SleepDown - Stand H Start
• SleepUp - Stand H End

• Whirlwind - Spell Dominant
• JumpLandRun - Unused
• DragonStomp - Attack Angry
• Mutilate - Attack Superior
• ReclinedMount - Unused
• ReclinedMountPassenger - Unused
• Stormstrike - Attack Superior
• DeathStrike - Attack Large

Hey perfect ive made sure to make those changes and added a few more animations
Im trying to figure out the Hiding and Showing Meshes i have the Textures made and materials set up in 3ds Max
I was just wondering do you individually select the items in the 3ds max view and apply the texture
or is there some list you are able to use?
right now im working on the Male Dwarf
Also are the changes visible in 3ds max?
perhaps ive done something wrong the textures dont show up. just white appears when i apply the material

@zaysite: Go

I'm at class until 11pm central time so I'll do the best I can to give you an idea of what 1 material looks like. Each hair material looks like this. The only difference is the use of a different mask 1 texture for each different hair style. ex. Hair 2 is Hide Hair 2, Hair 3 is Hide Hair 3...

This is just an example of what one of the materials for my Shown/Hide meshes looks like in 3ds max.

Hair 1 == (Applied to the mesh that I named "Hair 1" there was no process to determine what number it was, it was just randomly named in the order I selected them)

• Mask
• Opaque
• Alpha Threshold: 255
• Checked - 2-Sided, Hit test, and the show shadows one.

Diffuse: Female Human Black Hair Texture.dds

• RGBA

Make sure to hit the "show standard in map viewport" button after applying the diffuse (i think that's the name of the button)

Alpha Mask

Mask 1: Hide Hair 1.dds

• A Only

(Hide Hair 1 is a dds texture that is 4x4 pixels and has a 100% alpha channel over it) (Create a Show Hair 1 as well that is 4x4 pixels but has no alpha channel or a 0% alpha)

Mask 2: Female Human Black Hair.dds

• A Only

This is the normal mask for the hair that cuts out parts of the mesh to make it look correct, not all hair meshes need this but I put it on there regardless as I'm too lazy to find out which ones need it and which ones don't. Harmless even if it doesn't need it.

Okay awesome this really helped i think i got the textures right and they show up and all
now for the Show Hair Texture
do i add it to the same mesh assuming that its another SC2Standard Material
or is it just another alpha channel im supposed to add?