LE Help with the creation of NPC's with imported faces

[rfountain]

HI Everyone,

I have searched and cannot find any solid tutorials on the importing of custom faces and the importing and creation of NPC's with these custome faces in Skyrim.

I am trying to add/import my fience's likeness, who also plays Skyrim, into the game as a follower/marriable NPC.

I have seen NPCs of famous folks so I see that it is possible but just need assistance in understanding the process or getting the face imported into CK.

What applicaitons/tools are needed? Are there mods to assist in this type of creation?, etc.

I can take photos of the various sides of her head and face for the purpose of creating a 3d model, I just need some guidence or assistance in getting it to a format that can get imported into CK for NPC creation.

I know there are modding Gods out there, your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks a bunch

Edited November 19, 2013 by rfountain

[rfountain]

i forgot to add images of my fiance :yes:

 

I hope someone out there is willing to assist in pointing me in the right direction or working with me to get her into Skyrim.

 

She loves the game as well, actually finished is before I did.

 

 

Thanks again,

 

Robert

[mrpdean]

I'm not sure that seeing photos of your fiance is strictly required for someone to answer this question... but thanks for sharing I guess :blink:

 

What you are wanting to do can be quite difficult depending on how far you want to go with it and what skills you have.

 

I'd honestly suggest just using the many NPC customization mods and the various NPC texture mods which are out there already to try to find a combination that looks a bit like your fiance.

 

However, if you are determined to use actual photos of her, the first step would be to turn those reference photos of her into a flatten 2d texture map which aligns perfectly with the UV's of whichever female mesh you plan on using. You would also want to make a normal map, and possibly specular and sub surface maps as well.

 

Then you would create a new texture set in the CK, using those maps and then create a new NPC and set it to use that texture set.

 

That's the very short version of the steps that would be required.

Edited November 20, 2013 by mrpdean

[rfountain]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

Thats what I was afraid of. Thanks for the overview though. I have blender, photoshop 3dmax and facegen but limited knowledge in them and was hoping on using Facegen to at least get a 3d model created and utilize a combination of the other applications to get a mesh and texture of her head/face imported onto CK.

 

As for the pictures, I am a photographer and have meny differing pictures and can take some studio head shots that would be needed to make this possible. Plus I would be willing to have the finished companion available on the Nexus for others to download, like many of the other female companion/followers currently available.

 

If anyone else has any further input or would like to assist in this project it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Robert

[mrpdean]

Whilst it would certainly be possible using the tools you have, it would be much easier to create the mesh and textures using one of the 3D sculpting/painting applications such as Mudbox or ZBrush so that you can paint directly onto the mesh and also sculpt the mesh with the texture applied.

 

Here is an example of transferring reference photos onto a 3D mesh using Mudbox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgjjHYpgZhc

[rfountain]

Hi,

 

Thanks again for the info. I will check out Mudbox and ZBrush. So with those applications I would be able to import the head mesh from 3DS Max into say Mudbox and then use the images to paint the texture onto the mesh?

 

Thanks,

 

Robert

[mrpdean]

Yes that's right. Those apps do a lot more as well but that is one of the things they are useful for.