Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2

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Making Survivor Hud Images
Da Splinks
A resource page and guide on how to make L4D2 Survivor hud images in my fashion.

Now I use Photoshop so the tutorial part of this guide won't really help much if you're not using photoshop, but I do supply raw PNGS of the backgrounds and borders for you to use in your program of choice located in the RAW IMAGES tab
   
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Photoshop Files
First we'll kick off by getting the PSDs and having them ready to go.



Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ ᴅᴏᴡɴʟᴏᴀᴅ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ᴀᴛ ᴏɴᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇsᴇ ᴛᴡᴏ ʟɪɴᴋs
Download Link #1
Click Here [1drv.ms]

Download Link #2
Click Here [cdn.discordapp.com]
Portraits
So lets start off with what is the easiest.

Open your custom survivor in the Model Viewer from the L4D2 Authoring Tools

From here it's best to go to your sequence tab and put the character in it's default or ragdoll pose and adjust the face flexes to your liking.

Then when you're done admiring your work hit Print Screen.

For L4D1 Survivors all you'll need to do is just rotate the camera to where the character is looking to the left.


PROTIP: If you want to get the best results, adjust the lighting in model viewer to match the original reference images.

Hold CTRL+Left Mouse
to alter the lighting.

If done right you should see improvements like what is shown on the right


After you have your character cutout place it in the proper location.
L4D2 Render Location
L4D1 Render Location


Now go to your background layer and make visible the background of your character
Look at all those beautiful backdrops.


From here I find it best to tweak your render with the exposure filter
With a bit of tweaking of lowering the exposure and gamma you're render's shadows and highlights should come off a lot better. Playing around with the contrast and curve layers in the portrait folder layer can give you even more light boosts


With simply adjusting the Exposure that should get you there for a desired result. And thus you knocked out your ingame portrait.
Incap
Up next let's tackle the "help me i've fallen and can't get up" flair.

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In Model viewer you'll go back to the Sequence tab and choose the animation
Idle_Incap_Elites

From here just rotate the camera to have your character positioned like seen on the right.
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Load in any gun you like, but for the sake of being accurate to the originals you'll need to choose the dual pistols found through the steps on the right.
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Perform the sacred steps
- Screenshot the render
- Bring it into Photoshop
- Remove the background
- Do a horizontal flip
- Have a cookie
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Each backdrop is designated for 2 of the 8 survivors.
Be sure at this time to choose the survivor you're currently modding for
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Place the render in Survivors Layer under the Brightness and Contrast.

At this point I'd suggest going to the Exposure Adjustment Filter and getting a better light and shadows. And then if you need more pop simply adjust the Brightness and contrast layer
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Now you could Export it as a PNG and make a VTF and be on your merry way.

BUT!!!
What if I told you, you could make this better by making a TGA and eliminating those god awful white compression halo edges you see on VTFs.
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Now Edit>Copy Merge(Ctrl+Shift+C) the image

Open the Alpha Maker Layer and Paste In Place(Ctrl+Shift+V) into the IMAGE HERE folder

You should now have a Alpha Mask Image
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~ Now once again Copy Merge(Ctrl+Shift+C) the image

~ Click the Channel Tab next to the Layer Tab to open it

~ Hit the + button to make an alpha channel

~ Paste In Place(Ctrl+Shift+V) your alpha mask
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~ Go back to the Layer Tab

~ Hide the Alpha Maker Layer

~ And enable the Background layer

~ Export that sexy mofo as a TGA and smug in delight of your superior incap image
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Lobby

So I'm just going to be blunt with you. This tutorial won't be showing how to do the paint brush effect (mostly because I use a paid plugin for it)


Luckily Photoshop filters and some light adjustments will get us close enough to where we need to be. With that said time to get rollin!


You know the drill by now
  • open up that model viewer
  • choose an animation with a nice pose
  • load in a weapon
  • adjust the lighting
  • make a glamour shot
  • remove the background in photoshop





L4D1 Lobby Textures

At this time let's open the LOBBY.psd.
You'll see 2 layer folders titled L4D2 and L4D1.
Since L4D1 is the oldest we'll start with it.


You'll have 3 folders
  • REFERENCE
    photo of bill's lobby photo
  • PORTRAITS
    this is where you'll paste in your custom survivor screenshot
  • BACKGROUNDS
    unique backgrounds for each l4d1 survivor
(Pretty much all self explanatory)


Now just put in your transparent glamour shot in the PORTRAITS folder under the Light Tuning


From here all you'll need to really do is

- Run an Exposure filter
- Add a bit of brightness and contrast
- Then slightly raise the saturation





L4D2 Lobby Textures

First we need to hide the L4D1 layer and make the L4D2 visible by click those glaring eye icons.


You'll have 4 folders this time around
  • REFERENCE
    photos of Ellis' and Nick's beauty head shots
  • BORDERS
    collection of black borders for each survivor's backdrop
  • PORTRAITS
    this is where you'll paste in your custom survivor screenshot
  • BACKGROUNDS
    unique backgrounds for each l4d2 survivor
(Can't get any more dummy proof than that)


Just like the L4D1 Lobby Section, paste your custom survivor photo in the PORTRAITS folder under the Light Tuning



Once again we get to visit the ol Exposure and contrast tool to make the this easier on the eyes.

But for the the hell of it all, here's the settings I went with.


Okay outlines can honestly be be done simply painting them on if you have a steadier hand or just a drawing tablet. I however only have a mouse and a hand that shakes like a ferret on top of a dryer.

So what I do instead is..
  1. Create a solid black layer
  2. Make a layer mask
  3. Click the Layer Mask and turn it black
  4. Select the Poly Lasso Tool
  5. Change the background to white
  6. Make a Selection and hit delete



For the sake of comparison. Here's what those few steps changed.

Ain't it beautiful? Take this time to bask in your greatness of now knowing the ways of above average hub texture making.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤ








SpeedRun Strat
  1. Make a render of your character without a background
  2. Place it in the Portrait/Survivor layer folder with the other renders in either the l4d1 or l4d2 section
  3. Change background to the appropriate survivor.
  4. Adjust your character render with an exposure filter
  5. Save that bad boy and call it a day
Raw Images
If you just want the whole collection of images you can download them from one of the two links below.

Download Link #1
Click Here [1drv.ms]
Download Link #2
Click Here [cdn.discordapp.com]


But if you're just here for for one image or on the weird chance that these downloads fall into obscurity then we have some backups.

Lobby


COACH
NICK
ELLIS
ROCHELLE
ZOEY
BILL
FRANCIS
LOUIS

Portraits


L4D2 SURVIVORS
BILL
FRANCIS
LOUIS
ZOEY

Incapped


COACH & FRANCIS
NICK & BILL
ELLIS & LOUIS
ROCHELLE & ZOEY
16 commenti
Funtime Freddy 60 28 gen, ore 1:17 
How do you screenshot the render?
Splinks  [autore] 10 set 2024, ore 17:07 
@Alya you would need to decompile it and apply the files to your game's content folder. But as long as you have any image that works for the template then you really don't need to the models to make screen shots from.
Umby :3 10 set 2024, ore 16:19 
How can I make one for a custom survivor if it isn't mine? Do I have to decompile it first or something?
Y0urFav0r1t3Gambl3r 27 feb 2024, ore 20:18 
sorry my brain dont work, where do i find lobby.psd?
eles vive entre nois games 7 set 2023, ore 23:17 
thanks
Sports Maxx 29 mag 2023, ore 16:35 
the model viewer says the "w_models" don't exist, what do i do
[Mysterious-Francis] 5 gen 2023, ore 7:00 
Bc i'm using gimp to make custom l4d2 icons :skull:
[Mysterious-Francis] 5 gen 2023, ore 6:56 
It gets me confused, maybe video of this will be more helpful
DemonicDevilDiran 6 apr 2022, ore 16:14 
Where are the lobby icons for the L4D1 survivors?
Frice Lister 26 mar 2022, ore 4:10 
amazing!