(Help) Proportions of props as part of the playable area.

[resident91]

Hello everyone! First of all sorry for my bad English.

Now that I have more free time I will spend more hours at my map of CSGO.

In this post I'm going to ask you some help. I understand the workings of Source Engine, and seen but there are many people doing amazing things with their maps using props too large parts of the stage, eg stairs, railings, arches, facades.

I was done with small props in Blender, for example chairs, tables, decorative items and more. I do it with the help of a model character and do their level. (which does not appear disproportionate)

I wish I knew how to do my playable models so you can fit them perfectly on my map with fair measures.

Thanks for your help.

Map example using this technique:

 

The railing and stairs fit perfectly into the height of the room and just the right distance to the railings. How the measures are calculated to make it in blender?

 

 

Edited November 3, 2015 by aprats

[El_Exodus]

Afaik, there is a way to export brushes (or vmf files) as a model file which you can then load into a 3D modeling program so you have the correct scale to work with. But i haven't created any models myself yet, so i'm not sure how the workflow is.

[tomm]

yeah, just export the brushes to .DXF, then import into your 3d package and use it as a guideline.

[Pivac]

I had no idea it is possible to export and import brushes into a modeling program, thanks for the tip guys.

Also keep in mind that you can scale your model by adding a line of code in your .QC file before compiling a model with studiomdl; just add the following line among other lines in .QC file:

$scale 3

This will make the model three times bigger in-game that original (you can use any number that suits your needs).

[laminutederire]

Afaik, there is a way to export brushes (or vmf files) as a model file which you can then load into a 3D modeling program so you have the correct scale to work with. But i haven't created any models myself yet, so i'm not sure how the workflow is.

 the export to dxf tool as Tomm said.

Hello everyone! First of all sorry for my bad English.

Now that I have more free time I will spend more hours at my map of CSGO.

In this post I'm going to ask you some help. I understand the workings of Source Engine, and seen but there are many people doing amazing things with their maps using props too large parts of the stage, eg stairs, railings, arches, facades.

I was done with small props in Blender, for example chairs, tables, decorative items and more. I do it with the help of a model character and do their level. (which does not appear disproportionate)

I wish I knew how to do my playable models so you can fit them perfectly on my map with fair measures.

Thanks for your help.

Map example using this technique:

 

The railing and stairs fit perfectly into the height of the room and just the right distance to the railings. How the measures are calculated to make it in blender?

 

 

the guy who did that one  I think he used sketchup to do it, but you can import your dxf to blender then reexport it into whatever software you have

[resident91]

Thank you very much everyone for answering so quickly! 

Afaik, there is a way to export brushes (or vmf files) as a model file which you can then load into a 3D modeling program so you have the correct scale to work with. But i haven't created any models myself yet, so i'm not sure how the workflow is.

Luckily if you can.

yeah, just export the brushes to .DXF, then import into your 3d package and use it as a guideline.

fantastic, it makes clear many doubts at once. I had no idea you could do this. I see this much more feasible.

I had no idea it is possible to export and import brushes into a modeling program, thanks for the tip guys.

Also keep in mind that you can scale your model by adding a line of code in your .QC file before compiling a model with studiomdl; just add the following line among other lines in .QC file:

$scale 3

This will make the model three times bigger in-game that original (you can use any number that suits your needs).

I can know that scale, but this technique requires too much trial and error.

 the export to dxf tool as Tomm said.

the guy who did that one  I think he used sketchup to do it, but you can import your dxf to blender then reexport it into whatever software you have 

Can I use the free version for maps csgo without problems?

 

[laminutederire]

Thank you very much everyone for answering so quickly! 

Luckily if you can.

fantastic, it makes clear many doubts at once. I had no idea you could do this. I see this much more feasible.

I can know that scale, but this technique requires too much trial and error.

Can I use the free version for maps csgo without problems?

 

you can but I'd avise you to import particular scaling brushes too as well, because the import dxf part is only available for 30 days

what I did was to import a 64 units cube and a 1 unit cube, and after that you only have to multiply what it gives you in real units for scaling

[Scoots1m]

I've set up my Blender grid to be equal to 8 hammer units, there's also a perfectly scaled image of a 128x128 square, its helped me create accurately sized models for use in the source engine.

Here's the empty template i use for new models: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m1n93vjrdhn3wfg/AABbjTjRqNeGHoN09ADc6Wj9a?dl=0 Hope its of some use.

 

[resident91]

 

you can but I'd avise you to import particular scaling brushes too as well, because the import dxf part is only available for 30 days 

what I did was to import a 64 units cube and a 1 unit cube, and after that you only have to multiply what it gives you in real units for scaling 

Thank you! So I have enough I have to do with a character in scale, for models that have to be exact sizes is perfect with me export my map. (Although I did not and had no time to try anything)

 

 

I've set up my Blender grid to be equal to 8 hammer units, there's also a perfectly scaled image of a 128x128 square, its helped me create accurately sized models for use in the source engine.

Here's the empty template i use for new models: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m1n93vjrdhn3wfg/AABbjTjRqNeGHoN09ADc6Wj9a?dl=0 Hope its of some use.

Thank you very much for providing these files! But for now I will not use, first I want to prove to export my map. For small models compare to the size of a character.

Edited November 5, 2015 by aprats

[Praelium]

There's no need to export your map unless the model is extremely complex. If you set Blender to metric then 1 meter = 1 Hammer unit. Make sure your model's origin and vertices are attached to grid and you should be good to go.

EDIT: I'm going to shamelessly plug my tutorial because it explains a little bit more: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=436454108

Edited November 8, 2015 by Praelium

[WD]

I just measure the prop I want to place using a brush in hammer and block it out in my modeling program. Then snap one of the cornering vertices to the grid origin so It'll snap perfectly in grid once it's exported to hammer.

[blackdog]

I'm no modeler, but Source uses an abstract "unit" system, which is scaled on the Imperial system.

Sure if you manage to import a player game model into your 3D editor of choice, you can always use it as a reference, but I would use conversion tables, that are available on the developer wiki. The Dimensions are related to HL2, but as far as I know, CSGO doesn't change any scale (apart from altered minimum path sizes I believe) so the chart should be perfect to size objects(?)! You might find useful to know the sizing and proportion in CSGO.

Maybe the editor you are using is set on a different unit measurement scale, but you can set that before starting a project, I've found this video that shows where to find the settings in Blender, so what I would do would be switching to Imperial and at that point model to Source should be 1:1?

Can people expert on this confirm or correct me?

Edited November 8, 2015 by blackdog

[grapen]

I block out the prop inside hammer with one or more brushes, then copy and paste them in a separate VMF file and save that.

Open the VMF with Crafty (http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php?p=45) and explort it as OBJ.

Import the OBJ in blender and keep measurements the same, no need to $scale when exporting to MDL.

[resident91]

There's no need to export your map unless the model is extremely complex. If you set Blender to metric then 1 meter = 1 Hammer unit. Make sure your model's origin and vertices are attached to grid and you should be good to go.

EDIT: I'm going to shamelessly plug my tutorial because it explains a little bit more: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=436454108

Thank you very much, your tutorial is very useful for refreshing the memory going. Just put the scale blender Hammer. A hammer cube 1x1 = 1x1 meters.

 

I'm no modeler, but Source uses an abstract "unit" system, which is scaled on the Imperial system.

Sure if you manage to import a player game model into your 3D editor of choice, you can always use it as a reference, but I would use conversion tables, that are available on the developer wiki. The Dimensions are related to HL2, but as far as I know, CSGO doesn't change any scale (apart from altered minimum path sizes I believe) so the chart should be perfect to size objects(?)! You might find useful to know the sizing and proportion in CSGO.

Maybe the editor you are using is set on a different unit measurement scale, but you can set that before starting a project, I've found this video that shows where to find the settings in Blender, so what I would do would be switching to Imperial and at that point model to Source should be 1:1?

Can people expert on this confirm or correct me?

I just did this myself, but I do not think the scale is in line with imperial, I think fits better with the metric system. 1 cube of source = 1 meter cube.

 

I block out the prop inside hammer with one or more brushes, then copy and paste them in a separate VMF file and save that.

Open the VMF with Crafty (http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php?p=45) and explort it as OBJ.

Import the OBJ in blender and keep measurements the same, no need to $scale when exporting to MDL.

 

Just I import my map test but it is so great that in blender not just see the end unless approached me with the zoom. Is there any way so you can see better?

Blender besides me load the OBJ file rotated 90 degrees to the original. How I can fix this?

Give the rotation corrected manually, or is there any option that unknown to OBJ?

 

Thank you all for your great support.

Edited November 11, 2015 by aprats

[blackdog]

 I just did this myself, but I do not think the scale is in line with imperial, I think fits better with the metric system. 1 cube of source = 1 meter cube.

 

There's no need to export your map unless the model is extremely complex. If you set Blender to metric then 1 meter = 1 Hammer unit. Make sure your model's origin and vertices are attached to grid and you should be good to go.

EDIT: I'm going to shamelessly plug my tutorial because it explains a little bit more: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=436454108

Sorry, how can this be? I've reported what I found on the Valve Documentation... and as they are American it makes sense to my European mind.

"The Source Engine 'game unit' corresponds to the Grid Unit in Hammer and XSI editors. The Scale used for Source game maps and models is based on the Imperial Foot so Metric measurements do not translate easily"

If it really is Metric I'd be much happier of course no conversion needed. But means the wiki is wrong.

Edited November 11, 2015 by blackdog