Maya Tutorial: Creating Custom Models for CoD4

[Arnold 1029]

Maya Tutorial: Creating Custom Models for CoD4

 

In this tutorial ya nubs will learn how to make and texture a simple 3D model in Maya. I'll also show how to export it from Maya and convert it into a working CoD4 xmodel  :dave:

 

Requirements for this tutorial:

 

• 
  

  1x working, legit copy of Maya 8.5 (32-bit) or Maya 2009

  
  
  
• 
  

  1x CoD Tools for Maya, installed and working (CoD4 tools for Maya 8.5 or CoD BO tools for Maya 2009)

  
  
  
• 
  

  1x Photoshop CS2 or newer

  
  
  
• 
  

  1x NVIDIA Texture Tools for Photoshop, installed and working

  
  
  
• 
  

  1x CoD4 Mod Tools, installed and working

  
  
  

 

If you do not meet the requirements, shut down your computer, go to the nearest forest and get eaten by a bear!  :angryarnold: ARGH!

 

To keep things simple, we'll be modeling a gold bar. To create a gold bar model, we will need some information about gold bar dimensions: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=gold+bar+dimensions&l=1

Our gold bar is going to be a 400 oz bar  :sir: and because we are using inches as units, divide the dimensions by 24 like the website says.

 

 

Maya 2009

 

1. Open Maya and make sure your settings are like in the picture below:

 

2. Create a cube model and insert the gold bar dimensions to its properties:

 

3. Move the pivot point to the bottom of the model:

 

4. Move the model to the center of the grid:

 

5. Scale the top face to make the cube look like a gold bar:

 

6. Create UVs for the model (since the model is just a cube, we can use Automatic Mapping):

 

7. Edit the UV layout to something like this (try to use as much texture space as you can):

 

8. Clear transformation history and reset the model origin:

 

9. Duplicate the model and bevel the edges of the duplicate. This will be our 'highpoly' model.

 

10. Bake highpoly model into a normal map:

 

11. Assign a phong material to the model. The material you create in Asset Manager MUST have the same name.

 

12. This is not required, but I usually do this when I know I will no longer need the transformation history (I don't need to modify the bevel settings etc. This is basically the same as ALT+D but clears the history of the whole scene. 

DON'T DO THIS WITH A RIGGED MODEL OR THE SKIN WILL BE UNBOUND FROM THE SKELETON! (you can CTRL+Z to undo it but still don't do it  :ph34r:)

 

13. Open Outliner and rename the high and lowpoly meshes... to keep things organized  :sir:

 

14. Export the model as a .XMODEL_EXPORT file  :horror:

 

 

PHOTOSHOP

 

1. Open Photoshop and create a gray-scale logo/text to be imprinted to the model. Convert it into a normal map with NVIDIA tools.

 

2. Copy paste & resize the logo/text normal map on the gold bar normal map. Use 'Overlay' as the layer type and duplicate the logo twice. Apply 1 pixel gaussian blur to the duplicates. Merge the 3 layers and remove the excess crap to avoid weird seams ingame.

 

3. Create a 256x256 color texture:

 

4. Create a 256x256 specular color texture. Also make a 256x256 white cosine power texture (don't worry about filesize, the _spc and _cos images will be combined):

 

 

ASSET MANAGER

 

1. Create a new model phong material with the name you used in Maya. I use mtl_ prefix for model materials. Press F10 to convert the material.

 

2. Create a new xmodel. NAME IT PROPERLY OR I WILL EAT YOU!  :angryarnold: ARGH!

 

3. ???

 

4. Done.

 

 

WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE IN COD4

 

okay they not really gold :ph34r:

 

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, ASK!!  :angryarnold: AND DO NOT QUOTE THE WHOLE POST OR THIS THREAD WILL BECOME A MESS!! ARGH!

 

DOWNLOAD LINK

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ucjnz5ocjed4evc/prop_gold_bar.zip

[Zack 100]

Oh, this actually gives me a bit better understanding now :D Thanks Bear

 

tfw still no link for maya 8.5

[Sentrex 785]

I LOVE YOU BEAR

 

I don't think you can buy 8.5 since it is so damn old but you're able to crack it, please no hate for sharing cracked software. I genuinely don't know any other way to get it :/

 

Anyways, here - https://www.dropbox.com/s/kvxi0h385eo0iyo/MAYA%208.5%20crack%20installer%20made%20by%20elfenlied-SetupFiles.rar

[atrX 426]

You can use Maya 2012 and newer too: http://ugx-mods.com/forum/index.php?topic=1295.0 ;)

Good tutorial nevertheless Bear!

[Beatthat 423]

Nice tutorial, definitely helpful for people that never did such stuff.

[BosnianArmy 517]

This will need alot of training to understand the basics I guess...

 

Anyways good tutorial!

[jwofles 1009]

That model is amazing, I need it in my map.

[Bumba 70]

You can use Maya 2012 and newer too: http://ugx-mods.com/forum/index.php?topic=1295.0 ;)

Good tutorial nevertheless Bear!

ty lol I was almost going to uninstall my 2014.

[Arnold 1029]

download link for the files added. tell me if something is missing.

[Robin 11]

Sorry, what did you say? No quoting?

 

 

Maya Tutorial: Creating Custom Models for CoD4

 

In this tutorial ya nubs will learn how to make and texture a simple 3D model in Maya. I'll also show how to export it from Maya and convert it into a working CoD4 xmodel  :dave:

 

Requirements for this tutorial:

 

• 1x working, legit copy of Maya 8.5 (32-bit) or Maya 2009

• 1x CoD Tools for Maya, installed and working (CoD4 tools for Maya 8.5 or CoD BO tools for Maya 2009)

• 1x Photoshop CS2 or newer

• 1x NVIDIA Texture Tools for Photoshop, installed and working

• 1x CoD4 Mod Tools, installed and working

 

If you do not meet the requirements, shut down your computer, go to the nearest forest and get eaten by a bear!  :angryarnold: ARGH!

 

To keep things simple, we'll be modeling a gold bar. To create a gold bar model, we will need some information about gold bar dimensions: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=gold+bar+dimensions&l=1

Our gold bar is going to be a 400 oz bar  :sir: and because we are using inches as units, divide the dimensions by 24 like the website says.

 

 

Maya 2009

 

1. Open Maya and make sure your settings are like in the picture below:

 

2. Create a cube model and insert the gold bar dimensions to its properties:

 

3. Move the pivot point to the bottom of the model:

 

4. Move the model to the center of the grid:

 

5. Scale the top face to make the cube look like a gold bar:

 

6. Create UVs for the model (since the model is just a cube, we can use Automatic Mapping):

 

7. Edit the UV layout to something like this (try to use as much texture space as you can):

 

8. Clear transformation history and reset the model origin:

 

9. Duplicate the model and bevel the edges of the duplicate. This will be our 'highpoly' model.

 

10. Bake highpoly model into a normal map:

 

11. Assign a phong material to the model. The material you create in Asset Manager MUST have the same name.

 

12. This is not required, but I usually do this when I know I will no longer need the transformation history (I don't need to modify the bevel settings etc. This is basically the same as ALT+D but clears the history of the whole scene. 

DON'T DO THIS WITH A RIGGED MODEL OR THE SKIN WILL BE UNBOUND FROM THE SKELETON! (you can CTRL+Z to undo it but still don't do it  :ph34r:)

 

13. Open Outliner and rename the high and lowpoly meshes... to keep things organized  :sir:

 

14. Export the model as a .XMODEL_EXPORT file  :horror:

 

 

PHOTOSHOP

 

1. Open Photoshop and create a gray-scale logo/text to be imprinted to the model. Convert it into a normal map with NVIDIA tools.

 

2. Copy paste & resize the logo/text normal map on the gold bar normal map. Use 'Overlay' as the layer type and duplicate the logo twice. Apply 1 pixel gaussian blur to the duplicates. Merge the 3 layers and remove the excess crap to avoid weird seams ingame.

 

3. Create a 256x256 color texture:

 

4. Create a 256x256 specular color texture. Also make a 256x256 white cosine power texture (don't worry about filesize, the _spc and _cos images will be combined):

 

 

ASSET MANAGER

 

1. Create a new model phong material with the name you used in Maya. I use mtl_ prefix for model materials. Press F10 to convert the material.

 

2. Create a new xmodel. NAME IT PROPERLY OR I WILL EAT YOU!  :angryarnold: ARGH!

 

3. ???

 

4. Done.

 

 

WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE IN COD4

 

okay they not really gold :ph34r:

 

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, ASK!!  :angryarnold: AND DO NOT QUOTE THE WHOLE POST OR THIS THREAD WILL BECOME A MESS!! ARGH!

 

DOWNLOAD LINK

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ucjnz5ocjed4evc/prop_gold_bar.zip

 

 

 

[Arnold 1029]

Sorry, what did you say? 

 

YOU ARE DEAD

[Scillman 40]

Nice tutorial! Definitly makes it seem easy, like most others, till you get with high tris models  ^_^

 

P.s. I see you're using custom CoD plugins for Maya otherwise you missed a step  :rolleyes:

 

@others

I still use Maya 8.5 and the original tools, way easier then going over all that other trouble  :P

[Arnold 1029]

 

P.s. I see you're using custom CoD plugins for Maya otherwise you missed a step  :rolleyes:

 

actually im using the official plugin that came with CoD Black Ops mod tools :sir: also, the blops maya plugin can be setup with one click :sponge:

[Scillman 40]

actually im using the official plugin that came with CoD Black Ops mod tools :sir: also, the blops maya plugin can be setup with one click :sponge:

 

I'm suprised to hear that those work :/

 

BTW don't you have to change the version number to 6 because I have to with Maya 8.5

[Beatthat 423]

I'm suprised to hear that those work :/

 

BTW don't you have to change the version number to 6 because I have to with Maya 8.5

 

I use world at war maya plugins, less buggy, and you don't have to change the version number. Works completely fine with cod4.

[Arnold 1029]

I use world at war maya plugins, less buggy, and you don't have to change the version number. Works completely fine with cod4.

i did not have to edit the .xmodel_export version. check the file in zip and you can see it was last edited by the time i exported it :dumb:

[Beatthat 423]

i did not have to edit the .xmodel_export version. check the file in zip and you can see it was last edited by the time i exported it :dumb:

 

I always had to change the version number when i used cod4 maya plugins.

[Arnold 1029]

I always had to change the version number when i used cod4 maya plugins.

just for clarification, I am using Maya 2009 32-bit with Call of Duty: Black Ops Maya plugin. the plugin was made for Maya 2009 and it exports xmodel v6  :sir:

[Kratos 326]

Great tutorial Bear!