Creating a Dota 2 Ward

This guide will go over the pipeline process of creating a ward for the Dota 2 Workshop.

Introduction

This guide will go over the pipeline process of creating a ward for the Dota 2 Workshop.

• Dota 2 Workshop

Requirements

Before you begin creating a ward it’s advised to read the official NPC submission guidelines. The submission guidelines provide you with vital information on hitboxes, skeletons, attachments points, animations and more.

As we are creating a ward the only other unspoken requirement is the incorporation of the iconic ward eye. You’re free to deviate from the default look of the eye but it’s recommended to keep it familiar looking enough that players recognize it at first glance.

• Budget: 1500 Triangles
  
• Material (Textures): 512H x 512W in size.
  
• Bones: 52 bones
  
• Wards must have appropriate effects and selection hitboxes
  
• Wards need specified "attachment" points
  
• Wards must have animations.

Concepting

Before your idea can come to life it’s always a good idea to concept it first. The idea behind concepting is so you have a reference point. It’s especially helpful if you have multiple people working on a single project. Concepts are also a great way to gather community feedback before long hours of work are put into a design.

The ward used as an example in this guide, “Omij”, went through two concept phases. The initial phase focused on the overall shape and silhouette of the item. In regards to “Omij” specifically, the goal was to figure out how to present an Owl themed ward that would read well from an isometric perspective. This involved figuring out a way to exaggerate the top half of the owl, which is the part that would be most visible to the player.

After playing around with a few ideas and researching different owl breeds, it was decided to exaggerate the eyebrows of “Omij” into an upward crescent shape, and make them wrap around the sentry eye as a framing device.



As is the process with concepting an item for someone else, a few variants were created to show to Jimo to see which base he preferred the most for the ward itself. We had an idea of adding books to the base to give a nod to Jimo's role as a guide creator, among others. The concept was then ready to be passed around for feedback.



Once we all found a design we were happy with, a refinement pass was done to provide the modeler with a version of the ward with color and all the necessary details. As there were no major issues or concerns with the refined version it was then given to the modeler so the sculpting could begin.

For a more in-depth guide on concepting a Dota 2 set check out the guide from Oroboros below.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=186809308

Modeling

Once the concept was completed the sculpting could begin. Sculpting a model goes through multiple phases of refinement before a usable version is complete. In the example of “Omij”, a piece of software called zBrush was used to create the sculpture.



Once a high polygon model is complete it needs to be scaled down to fit within the triangle budget, in our example Maya was used to create the low polygon mesh. Typically the high polygon version is called LOD0 and the lower polygon version is called LOD1. These stand for “Level of Detail”. Each level of detail is used in different areas of the game, for example LOD0 is used for upclose shots in the portrait, and LOD1 will be used for the in-game view where the item is further away from the screen.



In the example of “Omij” the LOD0 was 1980 triangles and LOD1 is 1497, making it fit within the 1500 triangle budget required for wards.

Once the modelling is complete it can be unwrapped. The best way to describe unwrapping is if you take a cube and unfold each edge of it laying it flat on the ground. This is done to create something called a UV map. The UV map will distinguish each area of the model for when a 2D texture is placed on it. The UV map must be the same size as the texture file which for wards must be 512W by 512H.



Once the UV map is done the model is ready for texturing and rigging.

Texturing

Texturing can begin once the model has been unwrapped. Texturing is similar to painting a real life model. You apply your base colors and then build detail upon it. In most cases Photoshop is used to create the texture file. In the example of “Omij” both Photoshop and a piece of software called 3DCoat were used. Because “Omij” is a ward, two texture files were created, one for the Observer ward and another for the Sentry ward.






Once the colors have been built sub textures are created. Each sub texture has a different function such as lighting effects, self illumination, glossiness and more. For a better understand of each type of texture it’s advised to read Valve’s official texturing guide.



“Omij"’s textures have a range of different lighting effects to encompass the various materials. It was important to make sure the lighting affected the books and the owl itself differently as one is more organic than the other.

Rigging

Once the model is complete it can be rigged. Rigging a model involves creating a skeleton which can be used during the animation phase. It also involves building a control rig and painting skin weights.

The bones dictate the influence they have over a specific section of the mesh, so placement of the bones is important as they are the main driving force behind the animation. You're also limited to 52 bones for any NPC, ward or courier in Dota 2, and in our example, "Omij", used all 52 bones allowing for lots of deformation.

Skinning the mesh to the bones follows, it involves painting the mesh with different levels of influence to determine how much pull a bone has on a given section. This is the most time consuming process of the rigging phase making sure each bone is pulling the correct section properly.



On the gradient ramp, white equals 100% influence, black equals 0% influence. The warmer the color the more influence the bone has on the mesh. Bones are attached to the controls using several different constraints. Point Constraints only influence the translate channel. Orient Constraints only influence the rotation channel. Parent constraints influence every channel of the bone.

For example, the head control only uses a orient constraint, whereas the eyeball uses a parent constraint, each one has a specific purpose.

Once the bones are laid out, control rigs assigned and weights have been painted, animation can begin.



















For a more in-depth guide on rigging check out the guide from Andrew Helenek below.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=187943419

Animation

After the rigging has been complete everything is ready for animation. Animating involves moving the bone structure of the rig around frame by frame to create a sequence. Each sequence takes a long time to create as it's important to make sure everything transitions smoothly and blends with your other animations. In the example of "Omij" Maya was used for the animating.

Your ward must contain an animation for the following animation events:

• ACT_DOTA_SPAWN
  Spawn animations are played when an ward is first dropped.
  
  
• ACT_DOTA_IDLE
  Idle animations play in between other animations.
  
  
• ACT_DOTA_DIE
  This animation is used when the ward is killed.
  
  It can also contain:
  
  
• ACT_DOTA_IDLE_RARE
  Idle rare animations are rare occurring animations that play during the idle sequence.
  
  
• ACT_DOTA_CAPTURE
  This is the animation that will play in the portrait frame.

Below is an example of our example piece, "Omij", with its death and spawn animation.



"Omij" also utilizes an idle rare animation.

Workshop

After the model is textured, rigged and animated the last step in the process is preparing the item for the workshop. This includes testing the item in-game and preparing promotional art.





In the case of “Omij” the item was handed back to the concept artist to create a branding illustration. This was done by creating a Source Filmmaker scene of the owls posed next to eachother. Once the Source Filmmaker scene was rendered a painting was created using the render as a template in Photoshop. The results were a painting that we felt good enough to include in our submission as a loading screen bundled with the item.




If you'd like to see "Omij" added to the Dota 2 store please vote for him on the Steam Workshop.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=239845208

Closing Notes

If you have any questions or comments regarding this guide please feel free to leave a comment below.



You can also check out all of my other Steam Guides here.





You can follow Redmoon Workshop on Facebook[www.facebook.com], Twitter and through their workshop collection.

[tochkenss]

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[0401#ekoo_]

show

[kidjoy]

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[DR.3SUN]

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[DeathHated]

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[Sph]

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[hell-no]

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[76561198086549087]

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[FearMaker]

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