Matths Modelling Tutorial

8/10/2019 Matths Modelling Tutorial

1/34

Hello, my name is Matth and I am here to share my knowledge, and experience,

within TES modding and game art in general. I have answered modding, and 3d,

qestion nmeros people over the last months. They are mostly the same

qestions over and over, and some are qestions to otdated ttorial !rom "#$".

I also want to show people my work%ow, in case people wonder how I do what I

do, and how yo can do the same& I will rn throgh di'erent topics. (romgeneral 3d modelling tips, to pro)lems I see today, to export and import with

*i!skope and how to work with concept art. +re yo ready I sre am& -ets go&

About me

+s said, I call mysel! /Matth0, or /Matth1#0 or /Matth120. This is )ecase o!

orld o! arcra!t, where my main character, !rom "##4 to "#$3, was called

/Matth0. It grew on me. My real name is 5an67ne, and I live in *orway In a city

called Stavanger. I am "# years old, 8st came home !rom serving a year in thearmy and am taking some exams to 9x p some High School la:iness. I! thing

goes as planned, I am going to stdy Economy and Management )y next school

start ; which I am looking !orward to&

model, while I made a sword. I still remem)er him telling me /eapons >ool..

I shold try that&0. Gt I digress. It was a lot on and o'. I le!t TES+lliance in a

years time, de to some disagreement over there. I qit modelling, and didnt

resr!ace )e!ore sometime arond "#$$. This time I 8oined The*exs(orms, and

did some hal!6arsed models. Example$ and Example" are examples. I did

mostly reqests.


2/34

newer 3ds max, se a >ivili:ation exporter JIt ses the game)ryo engine as wellK

and 9ddle a lot in *i!skope. I learned a lot o! this !rom the extremely skilled

SaidenStorm Saidens ot)e >hannel. I then disappeared again, losing

interest once again. I hit, what is called, the /Dalley o! Sck0. The point where yo

canmake models, )t they never looked good. I did show p again when Skyrim

hit, )t never did any speci9c models. I went nder ; again.I resr!aced onceagain, a !ew months )ack. This time arond more dedicated, as I 8st le!t o

and Aia)lo III. I had $ goal, and that was to merge L)rsh into my work%ow,

which I originally hadnt managed to do. To my srprise, it was like a /click0, and I

was com!orta)le working in L)rsh& Thi leads me to now= I make good models, I

do good sclpt and it is all sel!6taght. I got good experience with game art, the

game indstry and ni!skope.

General modelling

I am a little srprised when I see how some people make game art arond the

Skyrim !orms. They dont do it ecient, nor do they spend enogh time on the

right things. I see some people almost wriggling their arms o' trying to get a

seam away, whereas that time wold )e )etter spent working on the silhoette o!

the model, or optimi:ing the 9nal model. I also see a trend o! people not

9nishing what they do 66 they make a base meshand they textre it. *o high

poly )ake. *o sclpting. The qality o! these models is low, and doesnt 9t into

any game made a!ter "##3. There is also the s)8ect o! time. I see people who

reqest models, )t have no idea how long it will take. Then I see people who

make model, and give otrageos time limits. It takes months to make a tileset+ sword takes an hor hat& Either way, I will try to point ot points I 9nd

annoying, or wrong. Some are o)8ective, some are s)8ective.

1) Low quality models.


3/34

yo get re!erenced regarding whatever material it contains. o make a

dragonN o gra) as many reptile re!erences yo can 9nd, and get as

many dragon re!erences yo can 9nd. I know it sonds silly, )t i! yo

google dragon anatomy, there is actally plenty o! it. Its 9ctional, )t

docmented 8st as good as anything real. eird, I know&

") #ime spent on a model.hile not very straight !orward, there are things

to know here& The di'erences )etween a small, and a )ig, model does not

correspond to time needed. + tower does necessarily take longer than a

small dagger. +lso, a tileset does not take a month to make. I! we speak

qality, we speak a)ot $6" models a day. Thats a sword, or a hose, or an

interior tileset. However, i! we speak o! an important, o!ten called /Hero

o)8ect0 in the indstry, qality model, it is sally given a week to

complete. This is also calclated in concentrated work )y a pro!essional

artist. So time will o!ten )e somewhat more than this. However, i! a model

takes over a month to make, the artist is either doing something he is notvery good at, or he hasnt learned to )e ecient yet. This is also important

!or reqestors to know. hen some)ody asks me /Hey& >an yo make me

name 2 di'erent armor sets and 2 tilesets I wold love yo i! yo did&0 I

wold look him in the eyes, and say /Ade. -ove does not )y me

anything, and this wold take me a cople o! months to do.0 ; remem)er,

time spent on one thing, removes time spent learning something. I! I do a

repetive task !or yo, I se time I cold spend learning something di'erent.

$) %om!ort &one.+n important concept to )e aware o!. It ties in directly inhow !ast yo learn. or com!ort :one is where yo are, o)viosly,

com!orta)le. (or me, that is swords and weapons. It is semi6hard sr!ace.

-earning is, )y de9nition, expanding yo com!ort :one. o dont learn )y

doing what yo know, yo learn )y going /


4/34

nothing )t a waste o! time. There!ore I want to make sre yo do this right, and

get yor !eet in the water&

(irst o', yo need yor tools. There are plenty o! di'erent 3d packages to se,

and a lot o! di'erent skills to cover. o will need to learn to= ?oly model, sclpt,

retopologi:e, )ake normalsF+


5/34

"ds max basics


6/34

+our ,rst moments in "ds max-

(or the ma8ority o! yor modelling yo will se= ?lane, Gox, >ylinder and Sphere.

That said there is no reason to se anything over anything else. It is all a matter

o! getting the shape yo want. hen yo 9rst get to this point, I want yo to 8st

play arond with shapes. *o need to try and make anything complex, or se any

modi9er. Simply right click on theodi,er list

window, and clickEditable /oly.

This is what yo are going to )e in all the time. @et sed to how polygons, verts

and trianglesF*gonFOad work. +ctally, let me explain that a little )etter& +

?olygon is the sr!ace )etween points, which makes p a model. + qad is the

optimal polygon, )eing a sqare. + triangle is less optimal, )t most game engine

work only in triangles and an *gon is a )ig *o6*o.


7/34

The reason !or this is smoothing, and s)dividing. I will get to that in a second,

)t as a rle o! thm)= (or a )ase6mesh +ll qads. (or a optimi:ed non6

animated o)8ect Triangles are 9ne. (or an animated character Oads as

mch as possi)le, de to de!ormation. *gons*ever, ever, ever.

*ow, lets actally do something with the primitives we got& (irst click the o)8ect

yo want to edit, so gra) a )ox !rom the primitive men. >lick the )tton to the

right, the one looking like a )le raind)ow thing& This is the modi!ymen, and is

where yo will do all yor modelling magic. (irst thing yo notice are theselection tools yo got. They are=

$K 0ertexo can click individal points at the edges o! each polygon."K Edgeo can select the edges )etween vertex.3K orderSelects all edges which are )orders. Imagine a mesh that got a

hole in it ; the )order wold get all the edges arond the hole.BK /olygon= Selects the polygons, which are the !aces that make p the

model.2K ElementSelects the whole o)8ectFmesh. I! a model got di'erent part, yo

can select each part individally, instead o! trying to gra) each polygon.


8/34

*ow yo can move arond and all, )t that isnt very exciting, now is it How are

yo going to make anything complex, i! yo are limited to a c)e (irst o', notice

that the modi!y men changed depending on what selection yo are sing. ell,

there are a !ew tools yo shold get sed to sing= >ham!er, Inset, Extrde and

eld. eld collapses " vertexes into each other. " )ecomes $. Mainly sed inside

o! ertex selection mode. >ham!er is the act o! splitting an edge, or a vertex.

+n edge will rond o', or a vertex split p. Qsed )oth in 0ertex( and edge

selection mode. Extrde is the act o! getting more polygons )y pshing ot a

new row o! polygons !rom a selected area. Qsed inside o! polygon selection

mode. Inset will, o)viosly enogh, inset yor polygon selection.


9/34

This is enogh to make any low poly model& +nother qestion might hit yo= /Gt

Matth& How do I make something look like something else I cant eye)all it&0

ell said, my !riend& o need to set p a re!erence. This is especially important

i! yo are new, and not sed to working in 3d. I will show yo how I set p my

re!erence, and how I work with it& Gy sing the tools already otlined a)ove.

(irst o' yo will need a plane. @o into the !ront view and drag ot a plane with $

width and $ height segments. o dont need any extra polygons on it& I also

center it, )y setting the CL o! it to #, which is done all the way at the )ottom o!

the screen. Then I psh it o' to the )ack, to the edge o! the grid. This is too

avoiding the primitives clipping throgh it while I drag them ot. J/G3 is a

shortcut to turn on and o4 the grid.3 53 is the shortcut to toggle on and

o4 the outline o! the model6 which can get in the way.)

Then click /3to get the aterial Editorp. >lick on one o! the or)s and drag

it to the plane. >lick on the gray )tton near the /Ai'se0 and click /Gitmap0.

*avigate to yor image. (inally click the 7how 7tandard ap in 0iewport3. It

is the checker)oard with the light)l) to it, nder the spheres.


10/34

*ow yo can see the image& It might look distorted, thogh, which can )e 9xed

)y going to the plane, click on the /odi,er List0, hit /Q0 and 9nd /QD

map0. Scrolls down and click on 8itmap ,t3. (ind yor image again, and scrollp and copy the nm)er nder /idth0. *ow click )ack to yor 8/lane3in the

modi9er list, and change the width to match the one yo 8st copied. (inally,

7ight click the plane


11/34

y ,rst sword-

*ow its time to actally make something& I chose the sword all the way to the

le!t. (irst thing 9rst= e need to analy:e the shapes, and make a mental image o!

what we are making. I yo cant 9gre ot the shapes, yo really cant 9gre ot

how to make it& So, lets analy:e this one. Its all symmetrical, so we can se the

symmetrymodi9er to save orselves hal! the work. (irst o', the )lade.


12/34

This is a )ase mesh I am making, so my goal is not to get all the details, )t

rather get the overall !eel o! it. Here is how it looked a!ter I was done. *othing )t

the tools already mentioned were sed. #ip %lic9 AL# : ; to see(through

your mesh6 so you can !ollow the re!erence- ( olding

shi!t and dragging while being in edge select mode6 and the edge is not

connected to anything6 will allow you to drag out an extrusion.

This is the reslt o! $# mintes6ish. +s yo can see to the le!t, not a lot were

actally modelled. I sed the plan I otlined, and it trned ot nicely. *ow, i! yo

read the General modellingpart, this is what I am talking a)ot. ?eople wold

take this, and textre it.


13/34

>ontrol lines can )e added )y clicking rows o! edges and hitting the connect

)tton. There is a platea o! ttorials o! this on yot)e, 8st search !or /"ds

max ard 7ur!ace modelling basic0& +nyways, here is the sword a!ter I added

control lines and gave everything a tr)osmooth. *ote the polycont& Ge aware

o! it. To see it, click />0. I! it gets too high, things will rn slow and eventally

crash. I! yo got too many o)8ects, and the high poly is too high, start isolating

individal o)8ects and trn o' the tr)osmooth on the other. I try never to go

a)ove "##k polygons inside o! max ; lckily I rarely get that !ar on single6piece

models. Thogh a set o! architectre can easily get to "##kR, which can casepro)lems. ?se groups !or that& @oogle it i! yo are nsre ; I rarely se them

anyways.


14/34

(rom here on there are " di'erent ways to go. $K o model in the details yo

want inside o! 3ds max. This is slow, )t !or certain asset it is the )est way.

Mechs, or gns, are examples o! this. (or this piece, however, I know I can do a

lot more, a lot !aster, inside o! L)rsh. So I will cover that then&

?0@

*ow that the model is done. I assme yo have detailed it, and )aked down maps

and everything is optimi:ed. This is not covered in this part, since it is a step at a

later stage. However, QD nwrapping is a part o! this& QD is the act o!

nwrapping a CL 3d model into a QD "d space. It can )oth )e pain!l, and

relatively !ast. It can take a !ew mintes, or a !ew hores. There are a !ew key

things to know when nwrapping= 7eamsand 7tretching

7eamsare impossi)le to get rid o!, )t with newer shaders they are well hidden.This is simply )ecase when yo nwrap something there will always )e a seam.

hat is important to know, however, is that seams are not a )ig pro)lem. I! yo

QD smart, and textre smart, they wont show p, and when they do, no)ody

really notice.

7trechingare when the QD is plled ot too mch, making any textre

distorted. Aoid at all cost-

(irst o', open the ?nwrap ?0@ modi9er !rom the modi9er men. o shold

know how to work that men )y now. >lick yor mesh, and click /?0. o are

greeted with this new window that is pro)a)ly going to con!se yo. (irst thing Ido is to click o' the /Ignore Gack!acing0. It is the )le c)e yo see as soon as

yo open the men. I also click on ?olygon Select, which is similar to how polygon

modelling works. Then click on the =pen ?0 Editor, which )rings p another

window. This is yor QD space. The )ox yo are looking at is where yo need to

place all yor QD shells, which yo can then textre on later. (or now yo want

to planonce again. o will want to see where yor seams are going to )e. +

rle o! thm) is to )reak a seam where there is a # degree angle.

The )lade is very easy to work with. o can split it via its sharp edge. The hilt is

a little di'erent. The main part o! the hilt can )e split !airly easy thogh. The)ottom, near the handle, can )e )roken o', )ecase o! the # degree angle. The

top R the side towards the cylinders can also )e split o' nicely. The cylinder and

the handle are the same= (ind $ edge then split it all the way !rom there. (inally

there is the pommel, Take the )ottom o', and split it via $ edge as any other

rondFcylindrical o)8ect, thogh this is not done yet, so the pommel is still a )ox.

Here is my plan=


15/34

*ow that we got it planned, lets do this& >lick on the sword, and scroll downJStill

in the QD menK ntil yo get to /seams0. >lick on one o! them, and 8st click

on the edges yo want the seam to )e on& lick on the

?lane, while having all the QD selected, and then click it o' again. This is toreset any o! the seams Max atomatically added. o shold now see a )le

seam, instead o! all the green ones. The )le is the one yo added.


16/34

*ext select everything again, and then click on 8Cuic9 /eel3. Its the )tton

a)ove the seams. The one to the !ar le!t. >lick it a cople o! times.


17/34

(inally relax it, which is !ond in yor QD editor, nder /tools.0 +t the 9rst

dropdown men click on /elax by 'ace Angles0, and 8st hit /7tart elax

8and wait a !ew seconds. Hit /Apply0, and close it down.

*ow comes the !n part& Its time to play some Tetris in here& +s I said earlier, the

sqare to the )ottom le!t is the QD space yo need to pack yor QDs in. hiletrying to 9t everything in there, yo mst also consider resoltion& Try to keep all

pieces eqal, and i! that is not possi)le, keep the part that reqires most detail

)iggest.

#ip #o the top right corner o! the editor is a dropdown menu. D! you

clic9 on it6 and set it to %hec9pattern chec9er ) you can get a

chec9pattern on your model. #he goal is to 9eep them 1FF square and

straight.

3 things might hit yo now= $K whats p with the open space "K o keep the

shells together +nd 3K hy are there only $ )lade and only $ cylinder $K The

open space is !or the evental sca))ard "K yes, )y keeping them together it

makes it a lot easier to textre. 3K The sword is relatively )ig, so yo will never

see )oth sides at the same time. Hence I see no reason to make them niqe. I

cold QD )oth cylinders, )t I decided not to. It wold depend whether I wanted

the sword to have a lot o! niqe details, scratches and dirt.

(rom here on yo can export the QD wire!rame, )y going to the QD editor

Tools ; 7ender QD Template. However, then yo got a ?S$ model again. *o, this

model wold )e sed to get a high poly )ake on top o! it. +t which we wold

export ot 3 maps= *ormals, +< and cavity. This is what we want to textre on&


18/34

Hbrush

'irst time in Hbrush

L)rsh is diclt to get sed to. I dont think me speaking mch a)ot it will

help, as the QI is something yo get sed to, and actally sclpting is nothing )t

practice. Hence I will send yo over to this link= https=FFwww.yot)e.comFwatch

v$H(m)g7GaxwDntroduction to Hbrush by %?E?7.

7etting up our "ds max ,le

*ow that we got a high poly )ase model, as we did in the 3ds max part, we can

start thinking a)ot getting it into L)rsh. The 9rst thing I want to do is to

eqali:e the model. I want the model to have clean, good, even, qads !or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HFmbgRBaxwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HFmbgRBaxwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HFmbgRBaxwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HFmbgRBaxw


19/34

topology. This is especially important on the )lade, where I might not want to

dynameshis ; I will get )ack to that. Here is my sword, )e!ore and a!ter.

*ext I want to make sre everything lines p per!ectly, and is centered to #,#,#.That way I can work with symmetry inside o! L)rsh. To do this I make sre I got

every piece merged together, click on the )tton )eside modi!y Jremem)er the

rain)ow )leish thing +t the top rightK >lick on it, and click 8A4ect /iot

=nly3and then 8%enter to obBct3. *ow simply do as )e!ore, and center it sing

the CL to the )ottom o! the screen.


20/34

ith that done, we )reak p the mesh& I split mine into= Glade, Hilt, Handle and

?ommel. >enter the pivot once again. I! yo had tr)osmooth trned o', trn it

)ack on now, and pmp it p to " iterations. Thats it we are done in 3ds max,

and can start exporting the meshes& >lick on the +todesk 3dsmax sym)ol to

the top le!t. It is the )tton to the !rthest le!t. Make sre yo are on only $

o)8ect, sch as the )lade. >lick on /Export3and then on 8Export selected3.

>hoose the .o)8 9le type. (ind a nice place to save it. I! nothing else, throw it on

the desktop. I try to work very organi:ed, so this sword was added to= Geyond

SkyrimF>yrodiilFeaponsFIronF-ongswordFGase Mesh, and named each piece

/>yrodiilIron-ongswordU?ommelUGase.o)80. o will get a )ox with a lot o! options

here. Simply ignore them, and go to /preset0 and click on /L)rsh0. Ao this with

all pieces, and Ill see yo in L)rsh in a minte&


21/34

(irst o! the )at yo might see that my QI is di'erent !rom the normal one. es, I

made this QI as a cstom QI. Aont worry, the only di'erent is where things are

placed. The only cstom thing I se are 3 cstom matcapsJmaterialsK and "

cstom )rshes. *othing that is very important to know !or this ttorial. I will go

more in depth in those in the intermediate ttorial. I highlighted the Dmport

)tton !or yo. >lick it and import yor mesh. *ow, a!ter yo have imported $part, make sre yo click o' yor crrent s) tool, and click something else. (or

instance, on the image a)ove I wold click the cylinder a!ter I imported. Then

import $ more, and then repeat that !or all the pieces. In the end yo will have to

click nder the s)tool pallet and append all the pieces. I! yo watch the yot)e

video, yo shold know how& Its 8st a matter o! clicking on the s)tool )ox, and

then scrolling down to append. In the end yo shold have yor whole mesh

inside o! L)rsh&

*ow comes the part where we need to 9gre things ot. (or instance, the

?ommel is something I want to Aynamesh and work with. The )lade I might not, i!

I have enogh s)division !or it. So let me go throgh how yo dynameshsomething, and how yo work with it& The theory o! it is easily !ond on yot)e.

(irst, yo click yor s)tool. I click on my ?ommel. I click on the 8Geometry3

ta), which is nderneath /subtool0. There I can see the /Aynamesh0 ta). How

high resoltion yo want is )ased o' o! how mch o! the )ase mesh yo want to

keep. Since the ?ommel is in need o! a lot o! changes, I decided to give it a low

one ; B1, whereas i! I wanted to dynamesh the )lade, I wold pro)a)ly go p to

"24 or 2$". I also take the )lr to #. +gain, yot)e /L)rsh Aynamesh0 to 9nd

ot what all these things do&


22/34

(rom here on it is all a)ot sclpting. There is not a lot I can tell yo. Aont move

p a s)division level )e!ore yo are done in the one yo are. Shapes V details.

Grshes I se are= %layuildup6 oe6 #rimdynamic6 ard /olish6 'alo4sharpJcstom )rsh, google it.K and =rbs %rac9J>stom )rsh, google itK.

Then I 8st make sre I retain the sharp edges, and get the shapes I want. Move

arond a lot, and dont 9nish $ piece at a time ; work at it as a whole. There are

a lot o! tools to se, )t its all a)ot personal pre!erences in the end. o can

make more s)tools with polygrops, remove some. Take a look at this=

https=FFwww.yot)e.comFwatchvgEWqy5Q26

cXlist?-g$(sA?BAiHTpy3IQi"


23/34

I )elieve I managed to captre the concept pretty good. Thogh !rom here, i! the

concept artist allows it, I wold edit a !ew things against the concept. I wold

have some ornament on the hilt, and I wold give the handle some wraps. This

took me a)ot an hor where the only real moving was done at the pommel.


24/34

*ow comes the most important step ever. o gessed it& /lan. hat is )est

made in 3ds max +nd what is easiest to make sing new topology in 3d coat

(rom the get6go, the handle is the only thing I wold do in 3ds max, since I

havent changed its shape at all, whereas every other piece got some kind o!

change. I! I wold )e really ecient I wold also do the )lade and hilt in 3ds max,

since they are not changed that mch. However, I 9nd it easier to 8st throw itinto 3d coat and work !rom there. So this is what I am going to do.

(irst o', I take all pieces and export them. I place them nder my !older

strctre, in a new !older called /Aecimated0. Then I go )ack to my decimated

sword, and I >T7- R L once on all the s)tools, so they go )ack to their )eati!l

originality. I make sre I save. e are going to need this mesh in a minte. (or

now load p 3d >oat. I! yo want a crash corse in 3d coat, which is also covered

in the L)rsh weapon ttorial I linked earlier, 8st yot)e some /3d coat

retopology0 ttorials. It really isnt very hard to get sed to&


25/34

I! yo !ollowed any o! the ttorials, yo know what to do& I! not, well= ?ress S andadd symmetry in the C, i! it is a symmetrical o)8ect. Start )y making B points with

//ointsK!aces3and right click the center. Move them in place with the 8rush3

tool, then 8st se /quads3to make more polygons. 7emem)er= Oads are )est,

Tris are 9ne, *gons are a *ogo. Weep it clean, and as optimi:ed as yo can. Aont

worry too mch thogh, as yo can always clean it p a!terwards. +lso do not )e

too care!l with the polycont. o can easily hit p to 4k polygons !or a weapon

; and yo can always shave o' some a!ter the )ake is done&

Here is my )lade in 3d coat. It took me a)ot "# mintes. *ow I know my )ake

will )e almost %awless, since the sr!ace matches a $##P&


26/34

Here is my 9nished retopo. It clocked in at $."k polygons, which is 9ne& There are

some areas that I want to clean p, )t that is something I will do a!ter I am done

with the textring& *ow, i! yo went throgh the 3ds max part, yo will see how I

QD. It is the exact same process here& I! yo havent seen it, 8st go )ack and

check it ot& Its at the end& *ext part will )e the )aking o! or di'erent maps.

e will start )y )aking a normal test map, then we )ake a solid normal R +

Matths Modelling Tutorial

Documents

Transcript of Matths Modelling Tutorial