[LE] Armor creation workflow - State of the art (Skyrim LE)

[Supermichou]

Hi everybody !

 

After all of those years playing around in Skyrim, I finally decide to create my own armors ! ( Yes I know I am a bit late :tongue: )

 

For this purpose, I began this hellish work after some research following the tutorials of Hanaisse on TESA :

http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/topic/5639-creating-skyrim-armor-in-blender-tutorial-series/

 

It took me around 3-4 attempts to finally edit correctly a vanilla armor mesh of the dwarven armor, still need some training I think :teehee:

The edited armor was the female _0 model, so I decided to create the _1 to get the weight slider in game. And here the sh** started !

 

Like I said I still needed some training so I created the _1 model from the start, like the _0 ...

As you can imagine, everything goes wrong in game with the weight slider (infinite stretching meshes). The problem was due to a different number of vertices between the 2 models.

 

I tried to find out where I f*** up and it was from the beginning ...

Both vanilla nif of the female dwarven armor have the same vertex number but when I import them in Blender, each version displayed a different number of vertices :wacko:

 

After some research, I found that I have to work with the _0 model to create the _1 one (this was also explained in the tutorials of Hanaisse so yeah, I'm a bad student :whistling: ). I just find a bit stupid to not proper work both model for simple edit. Now I'm working on a "simple" armor but I also plan to work with multiple object model for the future. And I think that I will face other problems with those ...

 

I also found another way around : Import the model as OBJ to maintain the vertices number. But this method is more about "new" process workflow (no need of the nif import script anymore) and I know absolutelly nothing about that.

 

So here we are ! I have 2 solutions right in front of me :

1. Continue to work with the old methods, playing around with the _0 model to create the _1 one

2. Start from the beginning and learning another workflow process, using up to date softwares (Last version of Blender, Outfit Studio and Nifskope if I'm right)

 

I think the best way is 2. But I need some advices and informations for that. I only find scratchs from others sites explaining the workflow but nothing with the in depth process (or I maybe missed THE tutorial, sometimes I can't see what's in front of me :down: )

 

So, could you please help a stupid noob (advices, redirect ...) ? And sorry for the long talk, but I have to write down all the stuff. It has been 1 week I'm searching and testing again and again my sh**. Oh and big up to Hanaisse for the tutorials, really enjoyable for a noob like me :dance:

 

Already thank you for your returns !

- Supermichou

[Hanaisse]

Thank you. :) Always a surprise when somebody finds my tutorials.

 

But like you said, it's old. And it was the only choice back in 2012 when I wrote it. You can now use a more modern approach, with updated Blender (2.8.x, not 2.9) and the latest Blender nif plugin. No more clunky conversion of meshes before importing, you can directly import/export Skyrim LE (NOT SE) meshes. There are lots of youtube tutorials using this process flow.

 

If you're like me, and prefer the old way, the one thing I mention in my "creating the _1 nif" process is to use what's called a Lattice. A lattice will do the automagic conversion for you. I have vanilla body lattice files over here if you're interested.

 

I also like doing most of my armour work in Outfit Studio depending on how much work needs to be done. It's pretty powerful in what functions it can do. Pretty much the only thing it can't do that Blender can is subdivide meshes (for higher poly) or add verts. For any other editing it's great.

[Supermichou]

Hi Hanaisse,

 

Thanks for the fast reply ! I will try out to use the new version of Blender with the latest nif plugin :happy:

To be sure I'm not missing something, could you please tell me if the followng process is kind of right ? I'm basically trying to adapt your tutorial with the new tools:

 

1. Blender

- Import the .nif (_0 or _1) into Blender using the new tools => Blender 2.8.x, nif script and maybe other soft ? (new Python, PyFFI ?)

- Add material and texture to the model

- Editing the model => In my case, it is simply removing some meshes or adding new ones from other vanilla armors

- Exporting the model into .nif

 

2. Outfit Studio

- Import the newly created .nif

- Create the skin partition according to the right slots (body, calves, forearms ...)

- Weight paint the armor by copying bones from another armor or body

- Export the model into .nif

 

3. Nifskope

- Import the model

- Check if everything is ok with the bones and the skin partition (all the settings you mention in your tutorial)

- Add the texture by copying the BSLightingShaderProperty and the NiAlphaTextureSet from vanilla armor

- Save the .nif

 

4. TES5Edit/Creation Kit

- That's the only thing I can properly manage :laugh: !

 

For the process of creating the "reverse" model (_1 or _0 according to what has been done), I can either:

- Go throught all of this process and hang myself if I still have vertices problem

- Stop being so stubborn and finally follow the advices of an experimented modder (use the lattice tool)

 

Voila ! What do you think ? I know it's kind of raw right now but I think all the big steps are there.

 

In advance, I have to thank you. I can't imagine all the time you have already spent to explain that to a newby !

- Supermichou

Edited July 22, 2020 by Supermichou

[Hanaisse]

Yep, yep, that sounds like a perfect plan. :thumbsup:

 

(Don't forget to test your _1 nif in game, you might find it needs tweaks)

[Supermichou]

Hi everybody,

 

I'm coming back to you because I'm encountering a problem with Outfit Studio. When I want to copy bones from an armor to another, it seems the copy does not happen at all.

When I try to export my model to a nif file, I receive this message:

 

"Unweighted Vertices

The following shapes have unweighted vertices, which can cause issues. The affected vertices have been put under a mask."

 

To help you out, here is my complete uptodate workflow:

 

1. Blender 2.8.x

- Import the vanilla armor I want to edit

- Remove the skeleton

- Clear the parent

- Remove the armature

- Remove all the vertex groups

- Leave the material and texture (new versions of Blender seems to import it from the original nif :happy: )

- Edit the armor (remove some metal parts to get it lighter)

- Export the model to .OBJ type file

 

2. Nifskope

- Open the original vanilla armor (1)

- Import the .OBJ I've created (2)

- Select the BSLightingShaderProperty and NiAlphaProperty nodes from (1) and copy them to (2)

- Export (2) as a .NIF file (3)

 

3. Outfit Studio

- Create a new project with (1) as the reference and (3) as the outfit

- Copy the bones from (1) to (3)

 

=> And I get the error just after this step when I try to export the outfit as a nif to test if the bones are ok. I know I still need to create the skin partitions in Outfit Studio, it was just to test if everything was ok up until know ... seems not :ohmy:

 

Could you please check if that workflow is ok ?

 

Thanks for your returns !

- Supermichou