UGLY's Steamroller
- Thread starter UGLYdumpling
- Start date
As I was going through and making texture notations today I was running into some issues with my original UV map (it's been a couple years since I was 'in the zone'). So I totally layed out a new set of UVs which are far better than my original layout. At any rate, back on track this evening into tomorrow.
@DaBeatz & EArk: okie doke, I'll try something different on the wheels.
@Shmitz : Uhm-yeah. That first AO pass was baked with hard edges. The AO pass is only a starting point. More of a notation - not much of that raw original AO will be visible in the final texture
@DaBeatz & EArk: okie doke, I'll try something different on the wheels.
@Shmitz : Uhm-yeah. That first AO pass was baked with hard edges. The AO pass is only a starting point. More of a notation - not much of that raw original AO will be visible in the final texture
It kind of looks like the look you get from taking a screenshot in the default viewport settings in 3ds max, where it does that funny smoothing thing, is that the case? And for the record, Ugly, 1024 is very reasonable for a large model like this. Even 2048 would be peachy. No one can blame you for wanting your work to look good. If shit hit the fan, the map author could easily rescale the texture him or herself, it really depends on the budget. A map with almost no custom content other than this model would not hurt from a 2048 map. However if the map had lots of custom content, then the budget would demand a 1024. If I had a choice, I'd release all my work at 2048, but not everyone knows how to rescale textures, and you can't expect everyone to.
Looking forward to seeing this finished!
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update: nothing radical yet I'm afraid. I've just finished blocking my texture out. I had mentioned that my first UV layout was giving me issues. Well, that was a diplomatic way of saying my first layout sucked.
I got kinda lazy and had maya choose how to lay out the small bits. It resulted in a lot of UVs being scattered here and there all over the map. Some of the UVs were flipped and inverted which was irritating me. I was getting whiplash from having to hunt and seek little bits ... so- yeah, I scrapped that layout and built a much better one.
I got kinda lazy and had maya choose how to lay out the small bits. It resulted in a lot of UVs being scattered here and there all over the map. Some of the UVs were flipped and inverted which was irritating me. I was getting whiplash from having to hunt and seek little bits ... so- yeah, I scrapped that layout and built a much better one.
Yeah sorry guys, rather than posting screenshots of viewport-lit lamberts I'll switch to posting straight-up surface shaders so that there's no cheap lighting effects to muddy the texture.
Yeah. It's for this reason I'll likely release this with 1K maps and keep the 2K's for myself and special requests.
- Jun 11, 2009
- 704
- 628
i think that beige doesn't fit too good.
also i like how the wheels are colored on your refpic. dark grey on the outside and a colored inner ring. may be worth a try. but that beige should be something to think about, imo
also the blue on the windshield and front lights is too blueish, imo too.
just a tad to colorful alltogether, i would say.
edit:: sry, just noticed that everyone else suggested just the same thing already
also i like how the wheels are colored on your refpic. dark grey on the outside and a colored inner ring. may be worth a try. but that beige should be something to think about, imo
also the blue on the windshield and front lights is too blueish, imo too.
just a tad to colorful alltogether, i would say.
edit:: sry, just noticed that everyone else suggested just the same thing already
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Acumen's tweak is on the mark. Though that rectangle at the bottom in front of the large wheel should be black or dark grey as well I think; that's supposed to be a brush on a steamroller, isn't it? So eventually it'd have a bristles as a texture.
Hrm, actually... looking at the ref picture, it doesn't look a brush, but it is closer to a bare metal guard of some sort.
Kep
Hrm, actually... looking at the ref picture, it doesn't look a brush, but it is closer to a bare metal guard of some sort.
Kep
- Apr 29, 2008
- 1,068
- 709
Threads like this make tf2maps.net great (once the squabbling stopped). So awesome to see something develop like this, and see advice being constructively given and taken. It actually really makes me want to try my hand at modelling. We need more of this. Keep up the exemplary work everyone.
Actually, I've been debating the idea of dumping that part of the model. Gonna try rotating it inwards and see how I like it.
If you study my reference image, you'll notice that it acts more like the blade on a woodplane. I presume that when steamrolling, sometimes a wet clump of asphalt will attach itself to the roller surface, the blade is supposed to shave it off the surface of the drum - it falls to the ground and is smooshed (technical term) back into the job. The reference photo indicates that all rollers have it. meh. might just kill it all together unless someone is in love with it.
My one suggestion here in your texture process is to go ahead and export to .smd and compile the model for source--what you make in the 3d software and how it looks in the hlmv and in the engine will change your opinion of how you've done your texture job. The shader parameters you're allowed to use in the hlmv will also change your mind on how you think the model should look.
@Rexy : yeah man, i hear yuh. I'm going through somewhat of a baptism by fire with this model. This is the missing piece in my workflow I've been putting off tbh. Might as well try to figure this out today. Thanks for reminding me dude.
omg. I just burned 4 hours trying to get my model into TF2. I surrender!
What a ri-goh-damn-diculous workflow! (ahem!) ok, that's my public vent.
<clears throat>
I get an error from studiomdl.exe:
"The program can't start because vstdlib.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem"
... except i looked in my orangebox/bin folder and vstdlib.dll is sitting beside studiomdl.exe
I believe my QC and VMT are set up correctly, I checked them a bazillion times, but I can't help but wonder if the problem is elsewhere.
What a ri-goh-damn-diculous workflow! (ahem!) ok, that's my public vent.
<clears throat>
I get an error from studiomdl.exe:
"The program can't start because vstdlib.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem"
... except i looked in my orangebox/bin folder and vstdlib.dll is sitting beside studiomdl.exe
I believe my QC and VMT are set up correctly, I checked them a bazillion times, but I can't help but wonder if the problem is elsewhere.
I should have mentioned, that tutorial points the compiler toward the hl2 version of the studiomdl.exe, you should tell it to go to your orange box directory instead if you haven't already. That might fix your issues. I'm looking on google for other answers.
Edit: when you start the sdk, make sure you've set the engine version and the current game correctly.
Edit: when you start the sdk, make sure you've set the engine version and the current game correctly.
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ok i think i discovered the issue.
I have to have HAMMER running.
Apparently when it's running - even empty of any maps, it loads vital services that StudioMDL uses during compile.
Man, i feel kinda stupid - but that vital information isn't found anywhere on the internets.
I have to have HAMMER running.
Apparently when it's running - even empty of any maps, it loads vital services that StudioMDL uses during compile.
Man, i feel kinda stupid - but that vital information isn't found anywhere on the internets.
Isn't GUIstudioMDL much easier? All you need is to load qc and compile. No % paramaters are needed in GUIstudioMDL
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1641307/misc/GUIStudioMDL.exe if you want to try it out.
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yeah, i installed GUIstudioMDL ... it's helpful in the same way ConTEXT is - but ConTEXT gives you the added bonus of being able to edit your QC and VMTs and execute a compile from the same window which is kinda nice.
Well the good news is that i was able to get my model loaded.
Bad news is the texture "can't be found".
I really wish the valve model viewer explicitly told you where it was looking for the missing VMT's ...
i'll go over Hawk's tutorial again and maybe I can find the issue myself before screaming for help again.
Well the good news is that i was able to get my model loaded.
Bad news is the texture "can't be found".
I really wish the valve model viewer explicitly told you where it was looking for the missing VMT's ...
i'll go over Hawk's tutorial again and maybe I can find the issue myself before screaming for help again.
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- Jun 11, 2009
- 704
- 628
you don't need hammer running, but the source sdk (like rexy said), works fine for me at least
get rid of the materials/ you don't need that. it starts with the first directory you're using/made. you did it right in the qc, but wrong in the vmt.
good thing is, you only have to go through this, once. then you know how the paths and stuff works and can just copy/paste all around
also there is a way to find out which textures the model is looking for. i just....forgot...and don't know what search terms to use in google. guess someone else remembers
get rid of the materials/ you don't need that. it starts with the first directory you're using/made. you did it right in the qc, but wrong in the vmt.
good thing is, you only have to go through this, once. then you know how the paths and stuff works and can just copy/paste all around
also there is a way to find out which textures the model is looking for. i just....forgot...and don't know what search terms to use in google. guess someone else remembers
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got it!
Hawk's tutorial linked to that app you were stumped on acumen - Source MDL Texture info.
It saved the day!
For some reason, VTFEdit preserves the original name of the imagefile that it's translating. Since the VTF photoshop plugin doesn't work on the 64-bit version i run, i'm left with having to use VTFEdit.
I imported a an image into VTFEdit called "SR_Quickout" and exported it as "steamroller.vtf" After the compile it was looking for "SR_Quickout.vmt" which threw off the whole texture seeking process. ugh.
Hawk's tutorial linked to that app you were stumped on acumen - Source MDL Texture info.
It saved the day!
For some reason, VTFEdit preserves the original name of the imagefile that it's translating. Since the VTF photoshop plugin doesn't work on the 64-bit version i run, i'm left with having to use VTFEdit.
I imported a an image into VTFEdit called "SR_Quickout" and exported it as "steamroller.vtf" After the compile it was looking for "SR_Quickout.vmt" which threw off the whole texture seeking process. ugh.
Stink Horse
L2: Junior Member
- Aug 1, 2009
- 73
- 23
It's not like that. The tutorial is for setting up context to compile. You only do that once. After that you open and qc you have and hit f9 and the model compiles. Context is a text editor on steroids, so you can compile with it. Sure, GUIstudioMDL will work too, but I like context because you can write your qc and compile it in the same application. By setting context as the default program for reading qcs, you're eliminating a step.
Having said that, you don't even need either. Food for thought.