Some blender-related questions

[Pursinta]

I'm certainly a blender-noob, so this question may not even indicate my thinking in the right direction. However, I will take a shot in the dark here, because I do need help.

 

I've somewhat been training myself while editing another mesh to attempt to make something akin to a "dog collar" -- a simple collar with a tag, attached by a metal chain. (It's for personal use, not for release, of course.) I got the original mesh for reference out of a file from the Exnem Goddess pack, or something to that effect. Granted, that is a much more complicated collar. Anyway, when making minor adjustments, things don't go too wrong. I sometimes struggle with separating linked files to apply different textures (textures that were previously linked -- i.e. a gold metal attached to a gold collar.) I have a rough time adjusting the collar's texture path so that the collar can be a different color without changing the gold metal in Nifskope. I do eventually manage, but only after tweaking a number of other things that don't actually accomplish the purpose and may be ruining other things. So that's one thing I'd like to be set straight on. (I am still obviously getting used to the interface.)

 

The other issue, and probably the main one, is that I run into issues with the skeleton. Often the collar never seems to export with the correct data to attach itself to the skeleton, thus the mesh does not show up when equipping in game. All my normal texture files are in place, and that is evident because I can "drop" the item and it shows up perfectly fine while floating. (I don't have a ground mesh yet and am substituting the main one in for now.) Needless to say, if I don't mess with much, I can get it to basically look the way I want. But I'm not satisfied with the coin-shaped "dog tag" that I'm trying to use on the tip. I try to flatten the gemstone on the original mesh I use, but the mesh is oddly flawed in one part. My preference is to create a new mesh from a simple cylinder, but when I do, I can't seem to get it to recognise the skeleton correctly and the result is an invisible mesh in the game.

 

When I analyse and compare the meshes in NifScope, I realise that whatever I am doing in blender, despite adding "bip01 neck1" and "bip01 head" in the object's vertex groups and adding UV mapping where necessary, is not generating the node for "niskininstance" in nifskope, which seems to contain the crucial data for linking the mesh to the skeleton so that it can show up in the game. This is, of course, an observation. I don't precisely KNOW what I am doing wrong.

 

As a minor aside, I want my cylinder "coin" to have a single flat face so that I can wrap a UV map and have a name show up. But all I can seem to manage is several side-by-side faces or a pie effect, so the UV map never works quite like I want it to. I'm not sure where I need to go to find this.

 

I know that a tutorial is probably the most ideal thing, and I have used tutorials as guides, but somehow it never quite suffices and I end up with a number of issues. Again, I am a total blender noob. I've been scratching my head over this for awhile, but I don't want to give up. If I can master this, I know that I'll gain the confidence to gradually generate my own meshes from scratch. That is a very much desirable goal, because I do enjoy this if I could just get it to work right. :)

 

If it is necessary, I can upload my mesh and allow someone else to look at it for themselves. It might be easier to analyse my failed work and tell me everywhere I'm going wrong. I hope I don't sound lost beyond hope for blender! Thanks for any help folks can give. :)

[Pursinta]

I've managed to get the collar working (I have some clipping I hope I'll be able to solve) ... I still haven't figured out the trick behind getting the NISkinInstance to appear with newly created meshes, though. This is my main concern, so if anyone knows what I need to do in blender to ensure this, let me know. Thanks :)

[Megatarius]

I've managed to get the collar working (I have some clipping I hope I'll be able to solve) ... I still haven't figured out the trick behind getting the NISkinInstance to appear with newly created meshes, though. This is my main concern, so if anyone knows what I need to do in blender to ensure this, let me know. Thanks :)

 

Your NISkinInstance problem is probably the same problem I'm having. Read my "Why do I get a missing mesh?" thread. Talion's answer helped me with some of my meshes, but not all. Reading about your problem made me wonder if I too have no NISkinInstance in some of my problematic meshes.

 

I'm even more of a Blender n00b, though, so I can't help you there. If you were having problems with Maya, on the other hand.... :closedeyes:

[Pursinta]

Yeah, I saw your post and wondered if you might have had the same issue. Check for that portion in Nifskope though and see if it's appearing correctly under all of the meshes in the .nif file. If not, it's most likely the source of the trouble.

 

Thus far, my only successes in blender are only with editing other already-working meshes. I can only work with the meshes I start with; anything I create from scratch doesn't work.

 

But you seem to be working only with information already in the mesh, also. Could it be that the NISkinInstance data was lost for the cuirass when you added in the arms from RF? Possibly when you redirected them to the new skeleton? *shrug* I'd say to compare it side by side in nifskope with the vanilla armor to see what doesn't follow the pattern. The other thing (however tedious it is) would be to try to retrace your steps per what you did, maybe simply by making a new file and swapping in the RF arms real quick, to see if it suddenly works. Blender has been a bit unforgiving toward me at times and making a simple mistake and neglecting to undo it can sometimes goof up everything else subsequently for that mesh. Could just be my luck, though. lol