From Maya to Source Engine: Creating a Game Ready Team Fortress 2 Hat

From Maya to Source Engine: Creating a Game Ready Team Fortress 2 Hat

on Jan 10th 2013 with 11 comments
Tutorial Details
Download Source Files

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Today we’ve got an exciting new tutorial for all you Team Fortress 2 fans and Mod enthusiasts where you’ll learn how to Model, Sculpt, Retopo, UVMap, Texture and Bake your very own ‘Americana’ inspired hat for use in TF2 using Maya, ZBrush, Nex, xNormal and Photoshop.

Shaun Keenan will take you through each stage of the process in detail and show you just what it takes to create a hilarious looking in game asset worthy of TF2′s unique style. You’ll also learn how to correctly compile the hat for use in the Source Engine and how to upload and publish it to Valve’s Steam Workshop.

Note: To complete this tutorial you must own a copy of Team Fortress 2 for PC!

Additional Files/ Plugins:

Introduction

Video 1: Blocking the Base Mesh in Maya

Video 2: Sculpting in ZBrush

Video 3: Hat Re-topology in Maya using Nex

Video 4: UVMapping

Video 5: Texturing

Video 6: Compiling for the Steam Workshop & TF2

Use the links below to download this tutorial for offline viewing.

Download Video

We’ve published a few related tutorials you might also be interested in:

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Shaun Keenan is Fusedgore on 3docean
 
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My name is Shaun Keenan (Fusedgore) and I'm a self taught CG artist. My specialty is Modeling, Product Visualizations and Architectural Renderings. I have been using Fryrender for around 2 years. You can check out more of my work at MZPStudios. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me Here  

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  • Ben_Tate

    Hey Everyone,

    We’re currently experiencing a small technical issue and as a result the videos and project files for this tutorial are not yet available for download. We’re working on the problem and will get them posted asap.

    Thanks for your patience while we sort this out, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause!

    Ben Tate
    Cgtuts+ Co-Editor

  • RubberNinja125

    The requirements for a TF2 hat is under 1000 Poly’s, how many does this hat have? and how did you combat the issue of only having 1000 to work with?

    • RubberNinja125

      Also, How to did you manage to export and import from Maya to Zbrush and Back again?

  • Guest

    Robert the requirements that valve sets are basically a general guideline .Not all their hats,misc’s and most other things have a higher polycount .For instance the No’h Mercy is somewhere around 1800-2000 polygons .The key is you want to stay as low as you can with any game mesh .Just use the GoZ tool to transfer meshes quick and fast.

  • http://www.facebook.com/shaun.keenan.1460 Shaun Keenan
    Author

    RubberNinja the requirements that valve sets are basically a general
    guideline .Not all their hats,misc’s and most other things have a higher
    polycount .For instance the No’h Mercy is somewhere around 1800-2000
    polygons .The key is you want to stay as low as you can with any game
    mesh .Just use the GoZ tool to transfer meshes quick and fast.

  • RubberNinja125

    I’m having some serious trouble baking my hat after UV Mapping it, Mainly because you didn’t really cover it, and it’s an important part by the looks of it, so I can’t texture my hat with out baking it?

  • Chris_Tate

    Hey Guys,

    Just a quick heads up. We’ve fixed the issue regarding the videos, so they’re now available for download via this page (links under the last video.)

    Still working on the getting the project files up, but it should be sorted out soon.

    Thanks again for your patience!
    Cheers,
    Chris

  • Shaun Keenan
    Author

    Really .Lesson 5 shows you how to bake the hat .

  • PavanRzx

    Hey Man….. Can’t you use pen tool instead of lasso tool? ‘Cos its more faster and also accurate….. I use pen tool a lot instead of lasso tool. Just a suggestion to fasten your texturing workflow…..

  • anotherGuest

    I just watched part 1 and this is not really a tutorial, is it now. It’s more of a modelling showcase, a “see me make a hat” if you will, since the author never explains the how, let alone the why of his actions, but merely narrates them, sort of as a sports commentator would. Please live up to the site’s name and purpose in the future, because this, however interesting it may be as an inspiration, is not a tutorial. Well at least part 1 isn’t, as I gave the others a miss after watching it.

  • Ben_Tate

    The Project Files for this tut are now available for download from the “Additional Files/Plugins” section at the top of this post.

    Sorry for the delay!
    Cheers,
    Ben