Undertow Games Forum

Hello everyone!

I've been playing SCP:CB for about a year now, and I'm still a big fan of the game now. Every time I play, I'm amazed as to how much this game has grown over that one year I have been playing, and how awesome it would be if little ol' me was able to become part of the creation. I've read many great ideas in the Collaboration forum and I have come up with a couple of my own, and have wanted to create some models to correspond with the idea. The only thing that's stopping me?

I have no idea where to start.

I absolutely have no idea how to even begin when making a model or creating textures for the game. So where does one begin to learn how to model and texture? Once I learn, I promise I will not disappoint!

Optimal wrote:Hello everyone!

I've been playing SCP:CB for about a year now, and I'm still a big fan of the game now. Every time I play, I'm amazed as to how much this game has grown over that one year I have been playing, and how awesome it would be if little ol' me was able to become part of the creation. I've read many great ideas in the Collaboration forum and I have come up with a couple of my own, and have wanted to create some models to correspond with the idea. The only thing that's stopping me?

I have no idea where to start.

I absolutely have no idea how to even begin when making a model or creating textures for the game. So where does one begin to learn how to model and texture? Once I learn, I promise I will not disappoint!

We have about three of these threads, one which was not as useful, another which turned into how to make rooms, and the third... forgot. You'll need Blitz or Blender, whichever, to make models and such. That's all I can say, have fun.

It A LOT of free time!
You want:
3ds MAX
A copy of photoshop
And plenty of texture resources
A single piece when done properly can take months!
I would post some torrent links.
But thats how I got banned from nexusmods.

Thanks, but I was actually looking for some tips or links to helpful instructions or lessons on how to do such things. I actually have Blender, but all I know is how to stretch out the sides of the boxes (and I think I might have forgotten how to do that already). Does anyone know a helpful site or article on how to get started?

You will need to choose a modelling program, blender is a great place to start. I use both blender and Autodesk 3DS Max. Before you ask, I have it legitimately - my school has provided student liscenses for all Autodesk software. I live in the UK, I don't know about you but it is worth looking in to.
When you have decided on a modelling program, watch some online tutorials and learn from the beginning. Learn what each and every button and slider does. You need to know all this before you can model. You should also read up on keyboard shortcuts as very become very invaluable.
When you have done all this, you can start to experiment and learn how everything works. Start small by learning all the features and then you can move up onto grander designs. All this is part of a learning process - you need to develop your skills before you are able to deploy them.

As for texturing, you only need a graphical design program. I recommend Photoshop if you can 'acquire' it, but if you are looking for a free option, Gimp works fine. You can even use MS Paint, but it's features don't stretch to advanced things such as normal mapping etc. For texturing, you will need to learn how to UV Map and find out which part of the image is which body part or object. Again, you should probably go on youtube and look for some tutorials.

Blender cookie is a good website for learning stuff to do with blender. All Autodesk programs should come with a beginners reference guide teaching you almost EVERYTHING there is to know about the program. I have no idea about Blitz, but it wouldn't be my preferred starting modelling program, as there are probably much more up to date and more efficient modelling programs (sorry Regalis).

Good luck.

Helpful sites:
Blender Cookie
Autodesk Student Download Center

Thanks Capy. I'll go look it up.

Capy wrote:Blender Cookie

Omaigawd I love you Capy.

hopefully school won't be too much a burden. Thanks, Capy.

Wow, such a great question!

Like everyone has said above, Blender is a fantastic choice. If you want to learn lessons, start with Youtube. Everything I know is practically 90% self-taught from just thinking of questions and googling or youtubing them. I have to warn you though that modelling takes a lot of patience and commitment to learn and I guarantee your first few months will have you crying or pulling your hair out at times wondering why this or that went wrong. It's been 1 year since I've been modelling for SCP:CB and I'm extremely pleased how far I've come skill wise (Although I'm still just amateur). Now with this skill I could even work on other game titles that actually could make profit.

The other 10% I highly reccomend CG Cookie's Blender training tutorials, especially this tutorial series if you want to seriously make a breakthrough in creating monsters/creatures/humans/organic entities:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR0hu9cnIPs

However I only recommend it after you get a good grip with Blender and the controls start looking less like a complex and confusing plane cockpit and more like a set of tools of which you can name each by hand.

Speaking of Blender, best thing to start out with is a video on how to make a pistol. I know that seems quite strange, but the average pistol's dimension are made up of the same width throughout. It's very simple, but it requires a shit-ton of patience.

As for keyboard shortcuts, use this Blender Cheatsheet. You can paste it to your wall for reference.

Wow, thanks guys. This really helps. And trust me, I've mastered anger and frustration with other difficult to learn apps and programs on my computer. I've also just started taking a Computer Tech class, where I'll eventually learn the Java and C++ languages. I really feel like I'm heading in the right direction guys, thanks!