Pre-apologies if this has been asked a trillion times!
I want to create new characters from scratch, and use them in SFM.
My question is, "What is the best program to do this with?" Or, rather, what is YOUR preference?
It seems everybody uses a different program -- some use 3DS Max, some use Blender, others use XSI Mod Tool...
Ultimately, I want models with really expressive faces. My hunch is that reverse-engineering one of the SFM characters would be easiest, as they come with phonemes and such built-in... at this point, that somehow seems harder than just making a new one from scratch.
Thoughts?
Many thanks.
-n00b
got any previous modeling experience? if yes, then good.
if not, then i'm afraid you don't know much about what you're talking about
Regardless, a guy's lotta learn somewhere.
I messed around with POV-RAY and MORAY back in the day, for those of you who were sentient in the early 90's... always been super excited and passionate about 3D but never really applied myself seriously.
When I first saw SFM I was so excited I could sh*t bricks. I'd like to explore it beyond just TF2/Garry's mod characters.
[QUOTE=xd00d;38474825]always been super excited and passionate about 3D but never really applied myself seriously.[/QUOTE]oh i know that feel...
anyway, i'd recommend getting started with 3DS Max. which version, that i sadly do not know. find someone who uses 3DS and ask them
then you just have to learn, learn, learn, learn, learn and learn. commit several hours every day to learning the program through tutorials and by yourself and you should get somewhere; it will take a long time, however, before you're capable of modeling, rigging, unwrapping, texturing and finally porting a proper character model to Source
The last part of your reply by itself was educational -- I didn't know what the process was.
I've been looking for an all-inclusive explanation/tutorial. So far I've found
[url]https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Category:Modeling[/url]
and
[url]http://www.moddb.com/mods/steam-tracks-trouble-riddles/tutorials/advanced-rigging-tutorial-for-custom-rigs[/url]
Have you personally made a character from scratch? Know anybody who has?
Or modified an existing character (so much that you don't recognize the original) and kept all the phonemes/etc intact?
Still wondering what's the best way: start new or extensive re-skin?
well i've modeled a rather crappy mech myself, got it textured and ported to Source as a ragdoll, if that counts as a character; took me a bloody long time though and i had to get a friend to unwrap the mesh for texturing
i don't really make anything from scratch myself (except that mech) because the software i use (milkshape 3d) is rather primitive: the texturing tools are from the last century, it cannot be used to create face flexes, rigging is a slow game of trial and error and so on
despite this i do reskin and mix and match models to create new ones; you can see some of the classic Doom character remakes that i made out of Doom 3 and Duke Nukem Forever models here
[t]http://1337upload.net/files/poster-12-11-08_20-50-32.jpg[/t]
[t]http://1337upload.net/files/poster-12-11-02_17-50-59.jpg[/t][t]http://1337upload.net/files/OMNOMNOMNOM.jpg[/t]
[t]http://1337upload.net/files/poster-12-11-01_22-55-37.jpg[/t][t]http://1337upload.net/files/poster-12-11-01_22-13-23.jpg[/t]
this guy called Plasmid constantly makes character models all by himself, his latest release was a remake of Regina from Dino Crisis
reskinning works sometimes, hacking the model more often, and making a new model is the best way; it all depends on what you want to make. a HL2 male citizen can be given a new jacket with reskinning, but a trenchcoat ain't happening unless you take a trenchcoat mesh from some other model or make it yourself and then rig it onto the HL2 guy
Cool beans! Nicely done!
My characters will be more cartoony -- simple designs, their skin might even be a single color...
I was excited to see MilkShape's "template" rig, but wasn't able to do anything with it. XSI's "Rig Guide" (or whatever) also seems to give me the basics. Now I just gotta figure out how to attach simple spheres to the various bones, get 'em textured, and bring it into SFM as a "first shitty draft" test.
cartoony models are always a good start
i haven't used XSI like ever so i can't help too much, but good luck
I see you've been around here a while - do you recall seeing anyone use XSI to make theirs?
If not, I think my next step might be a forum where people use it all the time...
a master-class mapper called Oskutin uses it, IIRC
Heres my take on the programs
XSI-leather jacket wearing fellows such as myself
3Dsmax-for the cool kids
Blender- stop it(I know some use it but I still can not fathom why)
milkshape- not a option.( I know some use it but its options are to limited)
Maya- never used it.(heard its really good, UI is what keeps me away)
Personally I use XSI to model and 3ds max for everything else
I like XSI's UI for modeling way more then 3ds max, its simple, and quick
But its all preference and all of them have steep learning curves... especially max
it will take you 2 years at least. to get some quality things out of those programs,
For xsi since your interested, mod tool as some starter videos with its program, but if you look at general navigation for XSI get all the hot keys learned ect you could easily use a 3ds max modeling tutorial to model in XSI
First start by making smaller props, household items, then when you got the hang of it, learn unwraping, texturing, and start making complex stuff, Creating organics is a very hard thing to master, it will take practice.
Yeah what he said.
Thank you. :)
My only question: aren't leather jackets what all the really-cool-kids wear?!
[QUOTE=plasmid;38485343]Heres my take on the programs
XSI-leather jacket wearing fellows such as myself
3Dsmax-for the cool kids
Blender- stop it(I know some use it but I still can not fathom why)
milkshape- not a option.( I know some use it but its options are to limited)
Maya- never used it.(heard its really good, UI is what keeps me away)
Personally I use XSI to model and 3ds max for everything else
I like XSI's UI for modeling way more then 3ds max, its simple, and quick
But its all preference and all of them have steep learning curves... especially max
it will take you 2 years at least. to get some quality things out of those programs,
For xsi since your interested, mod tool as some starter videos with its program, but if you look at general navigation for XSI get all the hot keys learned ect you could easily use a 3ds max modeling tutorial to model in XSI
First start by making smaller props, household items, then when you got the hang of it, learn unwraping, texturing, and start making complex stuff, Creating organics is a very hard thing to master, it will take practice.[/QUOTE]
What's wrong with Blender?
[QUOTE=Ericson666;38488930]What's wrong with Blender?[/QUOTE]
the UI in general is so hellishly designed that you have to be a master of dark arts to use it
they improved it some time ago but it's still quite a horrible mess
I started out using Blender having never had any experience with other modelling programs and haven't really had that many problems with the UI. Once you know the keyboard shortcuts it's probably not that different from anything else.
I find it horribly non-intuitive. I've uninstalled it twice. When I discovered XSI, I said "oh thank God I don't have to learn Blender." :D
but. i R n00b.
[QUOTE=Joazzz;38489390]the UI in general is so hellishly designed that you have to be a master of dark arts to use it
they improved it some time ago but it's still quite a horrible mess[/QUOTE]
Agreed. That damn UI looks like the cockpit of a Harrier jet. Yep, the ones that are notoriously difficult to pilot even for the most experienced.
[QUOTE=Ericson666;38488930]What's wrong with Blender?[/QUOTE]
Haven't really used it but if it's free it's free for a reason..
[QUOTE=mootybog;38493254]Haven't really used it but if it's free it's free for a reason..[/QUOTE]
You know price and quality aren't necessarily correlated, right? Take a look at Macs for example.
Apparently at least 2 people here like Mac.
[QUOTE=NotExactly;38493402]You know price and quality aren't necessarily correlated, right? Take a look at Macs for example.[/QUOTE]
This may be true... but not with 3D programs, when it comes to the price of
zbrush and autodesk programs you pay for the features you get, which are worth it, except they have a student membership which makes them free so...
as for Macs those things arent computers, but they are good for music I suppose.
WELL, I DID IT.
[url]http://youtu.be/j_Y-9-VJPME[/url]
And it's sooooo awesome.
Well, actually, it sucks balls... but it works. It has bones and everything! Hooray!
I decided tonight's quest would be to get the biped skeleton to work properly on a goofy custom rig.
With that, I present TUBE MAN!
[url]http://youtu.be/HrgIa06KIL0[/url]
Before I spent ANY EFFORT on making a custom mesh that looked remotely human, I wanted to make sure that I could actually envelope something first!
Next task: make a custom rig that allows me to use all the preset animations in SFM (running, walking, etc).
You're learning much faster than I did heh, source compiling can be a horrid process. Ive only made about 3 playermodels from scratch, and the rest were all enveloping tests, goldsrc-ports, and model hacks.
Well, it ain't a custom rig, but I got all the animations to work using the urban_ragdoll model.
[url]http://youtu.be/HWPVMqICkOg[/url]
Next thing I gotta do is figure out how to make working eyes (from scratch). Here, I cheated by cut/pasting the eyeballs from the Male_05_reference SMD. :D
DID IT, FOCKERS!
Tonight, I present to you: DOGDUCKMAN.
[url]http://youtu.be/87zmiLV0zuk[/url]
Custom model, from scratch, rigged to the same reference model as last time, with working "humans" sequences.
Stole the eyeballs from the TF2 Scout this time.... hehe, you can see them flying all over the place.
So much to learn. ;)
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