How do I rig a Sigil Stone to a piece of armor?

[Dimensionlord1]

I would like to make a cuirass with a Sigil Stone sticking out of the cuirass. I know it can be done in Nif Scope, but Im not sure how.

If anyone could tell me how to do this I would appreciate it.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Dimensionlord1

[IkeCoast]

Hello, DimensionLord!

 

"Rig" and "Attach" are two completely different things. If you attach a Sigil Stone to a piece of armor, since it's not rigged, it will not move in synch with the armor.

 

"Rigging" is the process of weight-painting the vertices of a mesh and parent them to a bone of a skeleton. It can't be done with NifSkope, just with Blender or another 3D software. But provided you have already Blender, Blender's NifScripts and know more or less your way thorough it, it's relatively easy for what you want.

 

So, as soon as you've told which 3D software have, we'll roll our sleeves and go ahead with it.

 

Cheers!

[Dimensionlord1]

I have Blender though Im not very good with it.

[IkeCoast]

Additionally to Blender, you need the Blender NifScripts Importer/Exporter to be able to import and export nif meshes into/out of Blender.

 

For Blender 2.49b the latest version is CLICK HERE (official download page, remember to download things always from their official page).

 

Once you have the NifScripts installed, test it by importing any nif file into Blender. Use Blender's default import settings, don't change things.

 

If the mesh appears ok in Blender (it may appear as a multifaceted, ugly thing, but it's normal, don't panic), hooray. Now let's work on your Sigil Stone:

 

Open the Sigil Stone nif file in NifSkope and click on the mesh in the render view, to select it. Then, go to File - Export - Export .OBJ. A warning telling you "NiTriShape selected. Selected mesh will be exported" pops-up. Click OK. In the file manager navigation window, select where to save the exported obj and give it a descriptive name, like, "SigilStone01".

 

Exit NifSkope and launch Blender. As soon as the workspace is ready, SELECT ALL ON IT, the Cube, the camera and the lamp, and delete it. The Workspace must contain NOTHING except the mesh you're going to work in or NifSkope will go apeshit crazy when you export your work into it. Right?

 

Well, you have now a clean Blender Workspace. Go to File - Import - WaveFront (.obj) and import the SigilStone obj we created some minutes ago. WARNING: in the default import settings, DESELECT THE ROTATE -90 button and set the Clamp Scale Value to 0 (default is 10). To clarify, the only optios highlighted must be NGons as FGons, Lines as Edges, Keep Vertex Order and Image Search, and the Clamp Scale Value must be 0.

 

Click Import.

 

As soon as the Sigil Stone appears in the Workspace, select it, enter Edit Mode, select all Vertices and hit W - Remove Doubles. Return to Object Mode and hit Ctrl + A - Apply Scale and Rotation to ObData. Now leave the poor thing alone for a bit and go to File - Import -NetImmerse/GameBryo file (.nif) and import the mesh of the cuirass you want to, later, attach the Sigil Stone to. Use the Default Import settings. Once the Cuirass is in the Workspace, DO NOT TOUCH IT! Seriously, DO NOT TOUCH IT!

 

Select the Sigil Stone mesh, and (grabbing and rotating it if needed) place it in the exact spot you want it to appear in your final cuirass mesh. You can scale it in or out if you need it. You can edit it adding or subtracting vertices, edges or faces, but bear in mind that doing so will f*ck up badly its UV mapping. I advise you to not do so (removing doubles does not damage UV mapping).

 

When the Sigil Stone is placed where you want it to be and no further edition is needed, HIT CTRL + A - APPLY SCALE AND ROTATION TO OBJ DATA and VISUAL TRANSFORM TO OBJECTS LOC/SCALE/ROT. If you forget to do it just once before exporting, the mesh will not work.

 

Still here with me? Great. Now that we have the Sigil Stone placed, let's Rig it.

 

In Object Mode, Select first the Cuirass mesh and then, holding Shift, select too the Sigil Stone mesh. Go to Object-Scripts-Bone Weight Copy. Select Quality 1 or 2 in the popup dialogue (I usually select 2). Leave "No X Crossing" and "Update Selected" unselected. Hit OK and wait until the Bone Weight Copy finishes.

 

As soon as the script has finished, DESELECT ALL.

 

Now, select the Cuirass mesh and DELETE IT. But leave its skeleton in place, do not even move it.

 

Right now you must have only two objects in the Workspace: the Sigil Stone and the skeleton we left from the Cuirass. Select the Sigil Stone and then, holding Shift, select too the skeleton. Hit CTRL P - PARENT TO ARMATURE - DON'T CREATE GROUPS.

 

Hit CTRL + A - APPLY SCALE AND ROTATION TO OBJ DATA and VISUAL TRANSFORM TO OBJECTS LOC/SCALE/ROT.

 

If you haven't done it yet, SAVE YOUR WORK AS A NEW BLEND FILE.

 

Now deselect both objects.

 

Now select ONLY the skeleton and drag it around (be careful to not actually move the skeleton from where it is, click right mouse button to cancel the dragging, do not hit left mouse button to apply the dragging). The Sigil Stone, albeit unselected, should move in synch with it. If it does not, then the parenting to skeleton has failed, and you need to start over again.

 

Are the skeleton and the Sigil Stone still in their original places? Yes? Then let's proceed with the next step. If you accidentally moved them out of their places, hit CTRL Z until they return there.

 

Now, select only the Sigil Stone. In the Object Properties Panel, Mesh tab, DESELECT "Double Sided" if it's selected. In the Link and Materials tab, select "Set Smooth" if the Sigil Stone mesh looks faceted. Now it looks smooth and beautiful.

 

HIT CTRL A - APPLY SCALE AND ROTATION TO OBJ DATA and VISUAL TRANSFORM TO OBJECTS LOC/SCALE/ROT.

 

SAVE YOUR BLEND FILE.

 

Done? Then let's export it. Select ALL (the Sigil Stone and the skeleton) and go to File - Export - NetImmerse/GameBryo. Select where you want the final fine to be saved and the filename for it. Click Export NIF/KF.

 

Careful now with the default export settings. First of all, be sure that the "Oblivion" button is the only in the Games Buttons panel selected. Then, just in case, click "Restore Default Settings for Selected Game". DESELECT THE "STRIPIFY GEOMETRIES" BUTTON!

 

The rest of default options are OK in this case.

 

Click OK and wait until the export is done. DO NOT CLOSE BLENDER YET!

 

Go to where you saved the new nif file and open it in NifSkope. Most likely you have TWO NiTriShapes instead just one. One of them has the whole set of properties, including Material and Texture. The other one has just one or two properties and no Material nor Texture. Delete it (select the mesh in the Render window, be sure it's the "bad one", and right-click-Block-Remove Branch).

 

Now select the remaining NiTriShape, be sure it has the Material and Texture properties, go to Spells - Batch - Update all Tangent Spaces.

 

SAVE THE FILE, OVERWRITING THE EXISTING.

 

Now, return to Blender, SAVE THE BLEND FILE just in case, and quit Blender.

 

Have you still the new Sigil Stone nif file opened? Yes? Good. Leave it alone and find and open the Cuirass nif file you want the Sigil Stone attached to.

 

If you want the Sigil Stone to have the same Material Properties as the Cuirass, select the cuirass chestplate, right-click on its NiMaterialProperty - Block - Copy. JUST "COPY", DO NOT SELECT "COPY BRANCH".

 

Now go to the Sigil Stone nif file, right click in its NiMaterialProperty and BLock - Paste Over.

 

If you want the Sigil Stone to retain its original Material Property, leave it as is or, even better, open the original Sigil Stone nif file and use the procedure to copy the original Stone Material to the new one (the new one has the same material properties, but the name of the material has changed and although it usually means nothing, sometimes the game doesn't like it).

 

Let's have a cup of coffee now, we deserve it.

 

Done with the coffee? Great.

 

Go to your Sigil Stone nif, click the mesh in the Render Window, right-click again on it, Block - COPY BRANCH.

 

Now go to the Cuirass nif, click the NiNode (Scene Root), right click again on it, BLOCK - PASTE BRANCH.

 

The Sigil Stone should appear right where you placed it over the Cuirass in Blender. If a warning message appears and the Sigil Stone is not pasted over the Cuirass, take note of the error message and tell me what it says. But let's assume everything went fine.

 

Adjust the Texture Sources for the meshes, then go to Spells - Batch - Update all tangent spaces.

 

Save your new Cuirass.

 

Test the new Cuirass in-game, paying attention to if the attached Sigil Stone looks right and if it moves right in synch with the rest of the cuirass. Any odd behaviour, report it to me.

 

That's all.

 

Cheers!