The Heroscape Tabletop Simulator Mod needs YOUR help.

[General J]

I and others have been making Heroscape mods for Tabletop Simulator.

Here is the main mod by Dissonance and jawa64
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=372979678

And here is mine which is composed of HD versions of the unit card images.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=504528454

I saw a lot of untapped potential in the Autodesk 123D Libraries, so I worked with some models, cleaned them up, and made them game-ready for Tabletop.

So far I have done:
Fyorlag Spiders
Sonlen
Brave Arrow
Major Q9
Greenscale Warriors
10th Reg. of Foot
Marro Stingers
& Zetacron.

This is where I've hit a wall, and I'll explain.

Tabletop Simulator needs two things to import models. It needs to be in .obj format, and it needs one texture image file.

This is the problem. Most texture files on the 123D models have multi-layer textures that overlap one another. I can resolve this most of the time, but if the texture is really complicated, and most of the time it is, I'm out of luck.

Where you come in.

I need help gathering as many 3D Heroscape models as possible. Everything Wave 4 and up. However, what would be the most useful is if someone could help me squash these texture layers into a single image so they can properly be imported into TTS.

What I can contribute:

I can consolidate the entire Autodesk 123D library of Heroscape figures. I can go in and clean them up, remove background geometry, scale them down, reduce the polycount, and overall just make them ready to ship for TTS and increase the workflow of anyone who wants .objs of those figures without clutter.

I can also release the models I have edited to those that need them, such as people who work on Hexscape and the like, for as far as I know I'm the only one with those specific models (besides the teased Wave 4 image in the HexScape thread.)

If you want to help, have any ideas, or just want to talk, post here or email me @ twolfe110@gmail.com

[DanieLoche]

Hello,

Just a little question... about the models you found on 123D Catch, are they linked to the project HexScape ? Because if it's the case, all these models was already fixed to get the 3D models for HexScape, so no need to make the job twice.

Indeed, in fact it's the team HexScape that made these models, and we fix them with blender. So don't hesitate to join the process !

[Lyrgard]

The work we do on the 3d models is free to use. If you want to use the 3d models we did for your project, please do. I see on your project page that you used lot of @White Knight model on 123 Catch, white knight is in fact one of the two main contributor for 3d model in the HexScape project

I also saw you have loading time problem. The model we use in HexScape had their number of face reduced to prevent, at least limit this problem. We also clean the model (repair hole, cut out excess parts, remove the base and put a clean one, lot of work indead)

You seems to have multiple texture problem. what you need to do is to make a new UV Map in blender, and then bake the textures into a new unique texture for the whole model. We do that in order to have an unique texture, and to reduce the size because 123 Catch textures tends to have lot of part not used, and can be big !

For the models, we now have all wave 4, wave 5, a big part of MS2, Wave 9, MS3, Wave 10 and Wave 11

We then package the model into a HexScape Asset file, but it is a simple .zip file, the model can be used easilly.

Perhaps you could join the process to speed it for both of our projects !

Your project looks interesting ! Is there way on TTS to emulate hidden order marker (that the opponent cannot see) ? How do you import the map ? I didn't see image of map on your project site. It should be super cool to be able to really roll the dice in 3D. It is something I will want to do on HexScape !

[White Knight]

Originally Posted by General J

Tabletop Simulator needs two things to import models. It needs to be in .obj format, and it needs one texture image file.

This is the problem. Most texture files on the 123D models have multi-layer textures that overlap one another. I can resolve this most of the time, but if the texture is really complicated, and most of the time it is, I'm out of luck.

Lyrgard has a good tutorial on how to combine the textures into one texture. We do all our work in Blender. It's a fairly easy process once you understand how it works. It should take 5 minutes maximum once you are proficient in it.

The part that takes the longest is cleaning up the model to remove holes (if any) and add holes where 123D catch has added extra material. We also add a clean base to all the figures to make them look consistent.

Our files are .obj files with a single material file and a single image file. Three files total per figure. You should be able to use them too.

I hope you can join the process!
And I'm glad you like my 3D captures on 123D Catch.

[SlipperySlope]

To elaborate on what Lyrgard said, just download the asset files, rename them from .hsd into .zip, then look in the "3DModels" folder. You'll find the figures there.

[General J]

Originally Posted by Lyrgard

The work we do on the 3d models is free to use. If you want to use the 3d models we did for your project, please do. I see on your project page that you used lot of @White Knight model on 123 Catch, white knight is in fact one of the two main contributor for 3d model in the HexScape project

I also saw you have loading time problem. The model we use in HexScape had their number of face reduced to prevent, at least limit this problem. We also clean the model (repair hole, cut out excess parts, remove the base and put a clean one, lot of work indead)

You seems to have multiple texture problem. what you need to do is to make a new UV Map in blender, and then bake the textures into a new unique texture for the whole model. We do that in order to have an unique texture, and to reduce the size because 123 Catch textures tends to have lot of part not used, and can be big !

For the models, we now have all wave 4, wave 5, a big part of MS2, Wave 9, MS3, Wave 10 and Wave 11

We then package the model into a HexScape Asset file, but it is a simple .zip file, the model can be used easilly.

Perhaps you could join the process to speed it for both of our projects !

Your project looks interesting ! Is there way on TTS to emulate hidden order marker (that the opponent cannot see) ? How do you import the map ? I didn't see image of map on your project site. It should be super cool to be able to really roll the dice in 3D. It is something I will want to do on HexScape !

Thanks for replying so soon! I'll reply in order of your posts:

The massive load time is not due to the polycount of the models, rather the mod I made specifically loads up all the models + all the card images at the same time. In fact, all Tabletop Simulator .obj's have to be <512kb which usually equals around 4.5k Polys. There are ways around this, such as putting the cards and figures into physical "bags", and then each custom object is quickly loaded every time it's pulled out for the first time, which is the ideal route, but I personally like having a big ol' drafting table where I can see everything. Even if it means a longer load time.

Yeah see that's the wall that I've come to. I know that that's what needs to be done but I can't find a good workflow to do it efficiently or effectively. I just don't know how to do this step right.

Wow! And I only thought you guys had Wave 4 done. That's really a good thing to hear and I'm really glad you all are helping support Heroscape in this way. I just got my friends into Heroscape and they love the historical-based units. They'll be stoked to hear that you got those ones covered!

Yes! I would love to help! Tomorrow I will prepare a .zip of all of the models I've touched on. They are not to the HexScape standard of uniform bases, but I can promise you that the models work texture wise and they'll be an easier pass than what you probably deal with straight from 123D Capture. I also have amassed a library of HD Unit cards from manually remaking them in Magic Set Editor, if you're interested in that as well.

On the topic of Tabletop Simulator:
Yes, there is a "hidden" system in TTS. You can draw a foggy box on the board where everything dragged into it is hidden to everyone else except the player's color that matches that box. The turn marker tokens are flat, like cards. Typically you would drag your turn markers into the hidden box, flip them over, then drag them back onto your army cards. The only downside to this is that you have to remember what your order was since you can't see it either.

There is no way to import maps into TTS. I, and anyone else who's uploaded maps, have taken the single 1 hex tiles (no awesome giant grass blocks), and individually reconstructed the maps piece by piece using the normal physical build maps as guides. Here is the Workshop link for the map I remade in TTS: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=505043539

Tabletop Simulator is awesome and I love it, but at the end of the day there are honest downsides under the surface-level coolness to physical dice rolling and the custom content library. I think there are many benefits to both HexScape, and Tabletop Simulator as a medium for Heroscape. So the more the merrier right?

[General J]

Originally Posted by White Knight

Lyrgard has a good tutorial on how to combine the textures into one texture. We do all our work in Blender. It's a fairly easy process once you understand how it works. It should take 5 minutes maximum once you are proficient in it.

The part that takes the longest is cleaning up the model to remove holes (if any) and add holes where 123D catch has added extra material. We also add a clean base to all the figures to make them look consistent.

Our files are .obj files with a single material file and a single image file. Three files total per figure. You should be able to use them too.

I hope you can join the process!
And I'm glad you like my 3D captures on 123D Catch.

Could you link me said tutorial? I've been on the hunt for it but couldn't find it.

Thanks again! It's really cool to end up talking directly to the person who's scans I've been working off of for the last 2-3 days haha

[Lyrgard]

The tutorial is on the private forum we use to coordinate the work, so wouldn't be able to see it for now. Here is a copy of it :

I made a quick tuto, I don't have time to make it better for now, tell me if it is enough for you :

Step 1 : import the model
Open a new project
delete the base cube
import the source model. (model 1)
make sure the model 1 is only one object. If it is made of many object, select them all (click the first, then shift click the next) and "join" them into a single object


Step 2 : Make the model to scale, with a clean base
import the corresponding base model (model 2)
move/rotate/scale the model 1 so that its base takes the exact same place as the model 2.
Make the perspective orthodox (numpad 5) and the look at the front of the figure or the side (numpad 1 or 3)
Select the model 1 only.
go to Edit Mode
use the bissect tool to trace a line between the model 1 and its own base, then choose either "clear inner" or "clean outer" to cut off the base of model 1. We now have model 1 without a base, and model 2, which is a clean base.
go to Object Mode
select model 2 (right click) then select also model 1 (shift right click) and join the two of them. We now have a single model, with a clean base, and to scale. We should probably save the progress so far (in .blend format).

Step 3 : Decimate the model
Models from 123Catch has too many triangles and would be too heavy to use directly in HexScape (or you'll need a very powerfull computer), so we need to reduce the number of triangle. That's what decimate is all about.
Select the model.
Click on the "Modifiers" menu, then "Add Modifier" and choose decimate.
You'll see the face count at the bottom, and a ratio (1.0 for now). The goal will be to change the ratio to reduce the face count while keeping the model good looking.
When you found the best ratio, click on apply

Step 4 : Bake the new texture.
The current model has at least two texture (the source texture, and the texture of the clean base). The source texture is too big usually from 123 catch, and also we just changed the mesh with decimate, so we will create a new texture.
Open a second view
In one of the view, in the dropdown at the left of the menus "View, Select, Add, Object", select U/V Image editor
Click the "+ new" button, name it by the figure name, make it 1024 by 1024 (perhaps 512 by 512 for small models) and click OK
Go on the Object data menu. In the UV Maps sub menu, click on the "+" the create a new UV Map. Make sure the newly created UV map is the one selected, and the old one has the little camera on (the camera should be grayed on the new UV Map)
On the view showing the model, select Edit Mode
On the view showing texture, make sure the newly created texture is selected. Switching to Edit Mode on the other view probably changed that, so select the new texture again
On the view showing the model, select the whole object (key "A") go to the "Shading/UV" menu on the left. In UV Mappings, select Unwrap => Smart UV Project. I will calculate a new UV maping and show it on the texture.
Go to the "Render" menu, at the bottom is the "Bake" submenu. Select bake mode "Textures", then Click on "Bake". (it will render the UV Map that has the little camera on (the old UV map) and bake it on the selected UV Map, the one we created). The new texture should now contains the colors of the model.
Save the new texture (Image => Save as Image) !!


Step 5 : finishing touch
We will now delete the old textures and UV Map, apply the new texture, make sure all is ok and export the model to .obj.
Go to the "Object data" menu, where we created a new UV Map. Select the old UV Map and delete it
Go to the "Material" menu, and delete all the materials. (you need to go to Object Mode before), Then create a new material.
Go to the "Texture" menu, create a new texture. Change its type to Image or Movie. In the Image submenu, in the drop down, select the image we just baked. Go to the Mapping submenu and select "UV" for Coordinates, then select the UV Map we created in the Map input.
In the "File" menu, click on "export" => ".obj". Before exporting, in the "Export OBJ" submenu, make sure that "Write Normals", "Include UVs", "Write Material" are checked. Leave the others as they are, name the .obj and click on Export OBJ

You're done !

It can be done in 5 minutes with some training.

[General J]

Originally Posted by Lyrgard

The tutorial is on the private forum we use to coordinate the work, so wouldn't be able to see it for now. Here is a copy of it :

Thanks!

I have an issue though. One I'm sure that either you, or someone you've worked with has come across in the past:

I got everything done right until the texture bake. It's just not appropriating the textures correctly or something because it ends up looking like this:

[Dissonance]

For those who are interested a link to the original Tabletop Heroscape mod (which was made by me) is in my signature.

[White Knight]

@General J ,
Did you delete the old UV map after you baked it?

Before you did Smart UV mapping, did you A) make sure the entire model was selected in Edit mode, and B) make sure that you selected the new texture you created in the UV map mode?

The steps can get a little confusing, but I've tested them and they work. It just takes a little time in the beginning to understand where everything is located.

[Dissonance]

To avoid future misunderstandings, I'll stop lurking and post a thread about my tabletop simulator mod for Heroscape which is available in the Steam workshop, it has been under active development since January 2015. The mod currently includes:

2D Figurines for all master sets and expansions (over 350 pieces)
3D Figurines for Rise of the Valkyrie Master set (30 pieces).
3D Figurines for Swarm of the Marro Master set (10 unique pieces).
3D Figurines for Battle for the Underdark Master set (8 unique pieces).
3D Figurines for Mallidon's Prophecy wave 1 booster pack (25 pieces).
3D Figurines for Utgar's Rage wave 2 booster pack (20 unique pieces).
3D Figurines for Orm's Return, Road to Forgotten Forest and Volcarren Wasteland wave 2.5 booster packs (7 unique pieces).
3D Figurines for Jandar's Oath wave 3 booster pack (17 unique pieces).
3D Figurines for Zanofar's Discovery wave 4 booster pack (15 unique pieces).
3D Figurines for Raknar's Vision and Thaelenk Tundra wave 4.5 booster packs (6 unique pieces).
3D Figurines for Thora's Vengeance wave 5 booster pack (10 unique pieces).
Prop models (walls, trees etc).
Character cards from all official master sets and expansions (216 total) master and basic sides.
Custom army tokens for all 3D figurines (master side only).

Terrain pieces for all terrain types (grass, swamp, two water types, road, sand, snow, ice, rock, lava field, lava, shadow, dungeon, asphalt, concrete and swamp water). Thanks to jawa64 for the model for the 1-hex tile.
The 3D models were sourced from HexScape (thanks to all Hexscape team members!) and VirtualScape (with permission of the author).

Quests of Heroscape community expansion added with permission of Teamski and Malechi.
Heroscape Automated Battle System community Solo/Coop expansion by Scott Campbell

Here's a few gratuitous screenshots:

Spoiler Alert!

FAQ:

Why are these models lower detail compared to Virtualscape or Hexscape?
The detail of the models have been reduced for performance reasons, Tabletop simulator is a physics sandbox that allows literally hundreds of models to be spawned, to maintain frame rate common squad models have been decimated to ~2.5k triangles, while heroes are given a budget of ~4k. Each model has an ultra low poly (<255 tri) non-convex custom collision mesh so that it properly interacts with the (convex) terrain and props.

Why is everything in little bags?
Putting models in bags means that their resources are only loaded when pulled out of the bag. Thus speeding initial loading time.


Can't the cards be made more readable?
This is a trade off between load time, image hosts and card quality. The deck jpgs are currently as large as they can be for hosting on cubeupload, users have reported issues with decks hosted on sites that allow larger file sizes. High-res custom tile army cards (master side only) are available for all units with 3D figures.

So if you have any feedback regarding this mod or would like to contribute then feel free to comment in this thread.