Creating Custom assets (monsters, objects and items)

[ratman]

How do you create custom assets? From what I've read here on the forums is that for a custom monster you have to have a model file, which you can create in blender? Also an animation file, which I know nothing about, and a material, which I also know nothing about. For sounds I can just use the ones already in game, and I can script a monster once I have all of those. And for items, you have to have a model, and an icon? And finally, I believe that for custom objects all you need is a model file, and an animation file if you want.
So basically I need clarification on how to make a model file, the material, and animations. Thanks!

[THOM]

Have a look here:
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=7055

It's a how-to for all basic things to know about Grimrock modding.

[ratman]

Thanks! One thing though: none of the videos that I watched talked about how to make a material.
Also in blender I try to open a model file, but it does not show up. Is it possible just to make a model in blender, or do I need some other program?

[ratman]

Okay, I see in the videos that he uses a program called grim FBX to convert the file, so what I'm wondering is do I need to download this, or can I make my model usable for grimrock just within blender?

[Mal85]

Make your model in Blender first, then use FBX converter to get it into the right format for LoG2. I believe you need the animation files as well if your making monsters or whatever created using outside program as well and then import it in. You will need something like Gimp or Photoshop to make your materials and textures. There are tutorials on Google, Youtube and these forums to do all of these things but expect a ton of work on your part. Best of luck!

[Isaac]

Thanks! One thing though: none of the videos that I watched talked about how to make a material.

When you say 'make a material', how exactly do you mean it?

• If you mean to make a Grimrock material, then it's defined in the initial mod scripts, and there are (as examples) all of the materials in the asset pack. There is an up to date wiki for Grimrock 2 scripting, and asset creation: https://github.com/JKos/log2doc/wiki/As ... terialdesc
• If you mean how to design a model texture from scratch—that depends on the model, and is quite involved. The exact process varies depending on needs, and the tools used. You should start on Youtube with Blender tutorials for "UV Unwrapping".

Also in blender I try to open a model file, but it does not show up

The model file format is not natively supported in Blender. The way to import a Grimrock model is with Bitcopy's blender plugin; it does not work in Blender versions above 2.72, so that is the version you must have installed in order to edit them with it. The plugin allows for exporting LoG1 and 2 models, and animations.

Additional resources including Bitcopy's Blender plugin.

Asset Pack for Grimrock 2

Is it possible just to make a model in blender, or do I need some other program?

A person could make Shrek 2 in Blender.

____

[ratman]

Thanks, and sorry for the slow reply. I have started to make a monster, but the textures are very confusing to me. All the videos on UV unwrapping basically say that you unwrap it, save the picture, open it in a painting program, and colour it however you want. So how do you give it detail?
Take the snail, for example (sorry, I don't know how to put pictures on here). Is it actually possible to draw something that detailed on a computer? Or is there some other way to make textures? Thanks again.

[Isaac]

The short answer is 'yes', and 'yes'.

The long answerShow

It's complicated.

• You will be wanting a good image editor; or editors. (Like Photoshop, GIMP, Krita, Paint.Net, etc.)
• You will probably be wanting a graphics tablet, but it is very possible to train one's self to draw with a mouse.
• Blender can export the UV-mapped image texture, of just the boundaries, and you can paint over that the image in your editor of choice.
• Blender has limited painting tools built in; these work in 2D, and 3D.
  IIRC Photoshop includes a similar 3D model painting feature.

Blender can 'bake' displacement, occlusion, reflection, and other lighting effects into the material; useful, but should not be over-done.

Blender can 'bake' vertex painted tinting into the texture.

Blender can generate a normal-map for the model; this image is used by the game to influence the realtime lighting effects.
(This is often used to FAKE additional detail on the model)


Nvidia has plugins for Photoshop and GIMP that create fake normal maps from regular images; a useful feature.


Here are some resources:
Nvidia DDS plugin: https://developer.nvidia.com/gameworksd ... oshop-8-55
GIMP: https://www.gimp.org/
Krita: https://krita.org/en/
Paint.Net: https://www.getpaint.net/index.html
Crazybump texture tool: https://www.crazybump.com/

Create a corridor in 20-minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb6rSMAooDs
Character Creation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiIoWrO ... sVGhmM9Pse
Time-lapse of modeling a more complex creature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1j4iSyMrGE

[maneus]

For creating easily specular and normal maps of your texture, you can use Materialize. It´s free and easy to handle.

[ratman]

I've gotten gimp, but for now I'm just modifying the already in-game textures, and have taken a break from modeling for a bit. This is a bit off topic, but is it possible to make a script that replaces an item in the player's inventory with something else? For now if I call destroy() on the item when its in an inventory it just crashes and gives an error message that the item doesn't exist. If you need more details, then I'm looking for a way to make an item that uses some of the script from the recharge crystal, where the power attack checks for a certain item in the characters hand, and if it finds it instead of charging it it replaces it with a new item. (example: a torch turns an unlit bomb into a lit bomb.)