If so, any tips for newcomers? Maybe some useful forum threads and such?
EDIT: This is my 66th post at exactly 17:17.
Someone probably does, but I’ve never seen those folks here.
There is a good wiki page on the subject from Valve https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Blender_SMD_Tools_Help
I guess no one really wants to share info when theres money involved. Well, its ok, there are guys droping some knowledge on YouTube ond elsewhere too. With the power of Google I will conquer DOTA 2 workshop!
Thank you for the wiki page.
You could just join one of the community hubs on Steam, related to DOTA2 modding. I am sure they have more active users on the topic.
Its not just money really, but the fact that its really not in the best interest of the artist and workshop to encourage something that may result a ton of subpar submissions. Valve and co still have to filter through those submissions. So while steam workshop is still in its infancy, its better for fewer people to participate at this point. Additionally, Valve isnt making as simple and well documented as they can because of that very reason. You also have to consider where you are asking this. BA is not the best place as opposed to say Polycount which has game artist who make use an assortment of professional apps.
Hi I am currently making sword for one character…but I never did it before and because of that I am not sure if it will be accepted.
From what I know, you need to send them 2 models (LoD0 and LoD1) where LoD0 is used fore profile and LoD1 is for game.
Polycount and texure size for heroes is individual and you need to look at requirements here:
http://www.dota2.com/workshop/requirements
Also you can use up to 4 texture maps - diffuse, normal, mask1 and mask2
In mask maps you use every channel of texture (RGBA) = 8 detail maps…you can look at them here:
http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/workshop/Dota2ShaderMaskGuide.pdf
But as I said didnt do it before and also I am not pro, but here is my 2 cents 
@@SaintHaven:
Valve makes money on items sold via Workshop (or through whatever they are being sold currently), so they are very much interested in having good content that sells. They are also very much interested in people putting stuff up there and using it for free - it keep community from stagnating. If you have ever visited Workshop, you’d be surprised how much crap is on it. There is no filter for free stuff, unless it’s obscene/copyright infringing/derogatory materials. Valve has it as simple as they can possibly has for users to get the tools (which are - surprise - kept up to date with every release of Blender) and get the job done.
I also don’t get your remark about Polycount. It’s natural for someone who uses/wants to use Blender to come to a place called “BlenderArtists” and ask for advice/help. Polycount indeed has tons of artists who use professional tools (waiting on abc123 to step in here) and Blender. But I think it’s just where one would expect to find help on Blender from Blender users is here.
I will not put anything worthless in there as Im a perfectionist by nature. If its not at the level of workshop material that they sell in store I wont even bother putting it up for voting.
That said Valve does not really care about a ton of baddies putting up stuff because community is what filters the crap out. Valve just picks up the most popular submissions upvoted by community.
And I know exactly where Im asking this. Polycount is not exactly fond of Blender but I personally consider Blender to be up for the job, DOTA 2 workshop is not rocket science but there are some quirks to be learned. One of the main reasons I posted in this forums what that I didnt find any threads about DOTA 2 workshop. I personally want to see Blender support for gamedevs.
@Braffe:
Thanks, I`ll check those links out.
Motorsep, Valve doesnt put money making ahead of making a something stable and in a manner that is seen as manageable. Dota 2 for example was by invite only for awhile, they could have released it for all to play and generated income but they didnt. Data gathering and testing came first leading up to a gradual release. Its still invite based but now I think anyone can get one. The point is that they are more interested in gradually building and planning their user generated content system. Gabe Newell gave a speech recently in which he talked about time and process required to get this content on steam.
Official process involves the following:
“1. You create an item that meets the submission requirements.
2. You publish your item to the Steam Workshop.
3. We review your item and potentially select it to be added to the game.
4. If selected we contact you then integrate the item into Dota 2.
5. We test your item.
6. We add it to the game and split the money your item generates in the Dota 2 store with you.”
They are also currently working on a Dota SDK, which isnt even out yet. Additionally, content for Dota is often rejected. Yes there is a rejection process which weeds out many of the submissions.
Being interested in encouraging content creation is one thing, wanting it to lead to submissions beyond their control is another. Again this is still in its infancy and they are more interested in it being a gradual process with quality control involved at every step.
As for the polycount comment, its a general forum for game art made up of an assortment of artist, both in and outside of the industry. It is the top recommended forum from Valve themselves on their Dota2 workshop page, and sadly its followed by a list of programs they recommend artist use. Blender is not on that list, though wings3d is.
The reason I posed the polycount comment the way I did was because the OP acted somewhat offended that a rush of people didnt pop out of the woodwork to help him.
See: “I guess no one really wants to share info when theres money involved. Well, its ok, there are guys droping some knowledge on YouTube ond elsewhere too.”
Here is the official faqs for Dota2 workshop. http://www.dota2.com/workshop/
I am a long time polycounter, and I dont think you can say they are not fond of Blender. There is fact is quite a bit of pro-blender content on polycount, though there are some individuals who think Blender is crap and you will find that anywhere…why? because blender hasnt done the best job on selling its self as being an industry standard tool for industry minded folk. That is in part due to the nature of the community as well. This has been changing though, lots of progress has been made in the last year alone.
Just to clarify things:
Q: What software tool should I use to make my item?
A: It varies depending upon the project, but this is generally what we use:
Which means that’s what they use at Valve. Doesn’t mean Blender is not suited for DOTA2 production. They just don’t use it internally (what AAA company does anyway?!)
Remember: Except in specific no-go areas (obscenity or copyright infringement, for example), these are not hard and fast rules. They are guidelines. We may select an item that breaks one or several of these guidelines, simply because it’s too awesome not to include.
So unless items are totally crappy, it’s really hard not to get your item into Workshop. And obviously to get items sold, they need to be exceptional 
Well to be fair there is one issue that is not very compatible with game asset creation, and thats the smooth and hardening of edge normals as well as the means to export then. Then again this is on the table to be added, so having that will certainly increase the desirability of Blender for game art as well.
the smooth and hardening of edge normals as well as the means to export then.
true
blender is unusable for game developing 
Iam by no means offended in any way as I didnt expect anything from this thread. It was just a statement that comes from previous observations of similiar topics. Really Im just trying my luck out here and pushing some gamedev activity in this forum. If anything useful comes out of it, great! If not, its fine either way.
Could you please clarify why Blender is unusable for game development besides OBJ and FBX edge export problem?
I am, I worked through the process with the youtube tutorials. The SMD exporter is complete crap though, you import the model rig the object to the bones, and once you export it, the model apears ten feet away from the character model and floating in the air. It seems the exporter has a big problem with the X,Y, and Z axis.
The only thing that somewhat worked for me was was to export the model as an fbx though you have to rig the model to the bone and then jump into vertex mode and move the model to the exact middle of the scene. Don’t ask me why, it makes no logical sense. The models origin is still on the bone of the character when the model is in the middle of the scene. I’ve had way too much trouble with it and may just stop making models for dota all together. It doesn’t seem worth the trouble.
Ignore him, he is just trolling 
Blender is fully capable of creating game models 
I’m currently working on some DOTA stuff, and decided to use Blender exclusively. Im also looking at substance designer which looks pretty interesting for texture calibration and map extractions. It’s available via steam.
Make sure to get the blender SMD tools. You no longer have to get the base models by decompiling the vpk’s. You can get them straight off the DOTA2 technical requirements site. However they provide .MA, .FBX and .SMD. You can use the autodesk fbx conversion tool to convert from fbx to OBJ, but you wont have the rig. Import the SMD using valve’s plugin instead. I haven’t looked at the maya file, maybe it’s in there as well.
Make sure to follow the technical requirements closely. Make sure to read and follow the art guides;
Character Art Guide
Texture Guide
Shader Mask Guide
Normal editing will be greatly welcomed in blender, but in the meantime you can vertex rip (V). Ideally as a last step. This duplicates vertices but when you break normals or put a UV seam in a game model, the vertex usually gets duplicated on the game engine side anyways.