Creating a new 3D scene wallpaper

This guide will show you how to get started with 3D wallpapers. You will be taught how to import your own models and animate the wallpaper camera.

NEW DOCUMENTATION WEBSITE OUT

Please check out our new documentation website, the guides on Steam are old and deprecated!

https://docs.wallpaperengine.io

Preparing a new 3D scene wallpaper

Prerequisites

• Modelling knowledge: this tutorial will not explain you how to create a model in e.g. Maya, 3DS Max, Modo.

Supported Formats
Models:

• .obj
  
• .fbx
  
• .3ds
  
• .blend
  
• .x
  
• .lxo

Textures:

• .png
  
• .tga
  
• .jpg
  
• .bmp
  
• .psd
  
• .ico
  
• .gif
  
• .dds

Open the editor by right clicking the tray icon of Wallpaper Engine and choosing Create Wallpaper. Choose New Scene Wallpaper in the modal dialog and click the 3D button.



Now choose a name for your wallpaper and optionally the Dome template. This will provide you with a few assets that will be added to your project by default, but you can also choose the Empty template if you intend to import everything yourself. For the rest of this tutorial we will presume that the Dome template was used.



Press Ok to create your new wallpaper and get started. If you chose a template, the template wizard will show up and allow you to do some preliminary configuration. You can open the template wizard later at any time from the menu too.

Importing your models

Click on Edit -> Import model to begin importing your first model.



Select the model file that you have already exported or export your model now. Make sure that all required textures are located next to the model in the same directory.

A few requirements have to be met for your model to be imported properly, a few important ones are:

• If you want to use normal maps, they need to have the same name as the diffuse texture with '_normal' as a suffix. (e.g. sword.tga and sword_normal.tga).
  
• Textures cannot be larger than 8192 * 8192.

If any requirement is not met or files are missing, an error message will pop up in the bottom right corner during import.



After selecting your model file, you can choose a shader for each of your materials. For now go either with Generic or Generic normal mapped (depending on whether you are using a normal map or not).



Click Ok to import and compile your files. This may take a moment depending on your model and texture sizes.

Placing your models

A new instance of your model should be added to your scene automatically right after import, you can also add further instances by dragging your model from Assets into the Scene graph.

Warning: If your model doesn't show up it may be too large or small. Fit it into a cube of 1x1x1 size in your modeling tool for good measure or scale it in the editor as explained below.

For now, select the new instance by clicking on it once.



You will now be able to configure the shaders used by your model on the right by adjusting the sliders.



And you can choose a gizmo at the top to translate, rotate and scale your model.

Creating camera paths

Click on the Camera tab to switch to camera mode.



If you used the Dome template, there will be several default paths existing already. To try them out, select one and click on play.



Remove the camera paths you don't like by clicking the red X next to them. Create more paths as you see fit by repeating the following:

1. Click Add Path to create a new empty path.
2. Select the new path and choose a duration on the right.
3. Drag the yellow tick on the timeline to a time where you want to add a keyframe.
4. Move the camera of the preview window to a position you are content with.
5. Click Add Key to add a new keyframe, a red tick will appear in the timeline.
6. Add at least a second keyframe to finish the camera animation.

Hint: Move the camera around by clicking and holding the left mouse button in the preview window and using WASD. You can also roll the camera with the right mouse button. Roll will be reset when moving the camera, use it only when recording keyframes.

Publishing the wallpaper

With everything set up, open the prepare to publish menu:



Adjust the settings as you need. To apply tags, start typing in the tags window and the auto complete feature should show up to show you possible tags.

You are also required to create a preview image, click on Take Snapshot to record an image in the editor or import an image you created by hand by clicking Import Image.



To take an image in the editor, use the left mouse button to drag a square to define the image bounds and hit enter when you're satisfied to save the image.

When everything is done, hit Publish to Steam in the bottom right corner and wait for all data to be uploaded. You can continue editing your workshop item on Steam afterwards to add additional screenshots or videos.

Attachments

Test model and textures used in the tutorial (NOTE: Unfortunately the new model loader does not support this FBX version currently!!!): http://www.mediafire .com/download/46scc4c39xaqj6a/finns_sword.7z (REMOVE THE SPACE.)