BlueCrimpson Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 Blender question.Could someone please provide me with a tutorial on how to load the body parts of a creature or person and connect them properly so that i can animate? i can load, but they dont automatically position (or i dont know how to tell blender to do that) so i have to position the parts myself. so i snap the meshes together right? but im having a hard time positioning the parts seamlessly... any tips? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex2avs Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 well, import the skeleton of that creature. then select the skeleton and start importing the other parts (actual meshes). Don't forget to have "Import Geometry Only + Parent TO Selected Armature" option selected else the meshes won't go in their places Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueCrimpson Posted February 21, 2010 Author Share Posted February 21, 2010 Ok well that doesn't seem to work. Im trying to load an entire horse. so first i load the horse body, select the armature and try to load the horse head like you say to do. blender keeps saying error "nif has no armature 'scene root' ". so the head has no armature to line up with that of the body i think... I've tried different loading options, i cant figure it out : / Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorpony Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Ok I just spent a few minutes looking at it and here's how I got it to work. When you import the head and it's on the ground, press N to bring up the coordinates window. Use the arrows in this window to rotate the head so that it's upright and facing the right direction, this will allow you to rotate it making sure it's on a perfect 90 degree plane, and not slightly off one way or the other. Then use the blue, green, and red arrows to drag the head close to where you want it, but leave some room between the head and body. Next, make sure you're in Object mode, (not edit mode) select the head, then while holding left shift select the horse body. With both of these selected press CTRL-J to join the two meshes together. Now that they are one mesh, go into edit mode, select all the vertices in the head either with CTRL-L or drag a box around it with the B key (Make sure you get the vertices around the eyes and nostrils also). OK, now the head should be all yellow, press the little horshoe icon below the viewing window, this will enable 'snapping'. Press the G key, and you should be able to drag the head around the screen, HOLD DOWN the left CTRL key and when you drag the head near the neck, it should 'snap' in place. Once it does, keep holding the left CTRL and then left click to drop the head in place. This last part is easiest if you're looking at the head from the side. If I explained this in a confusing way try looking up a blender wiki on vertex snapping. -Razorpony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueCrimpson Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 YOU ARE AWESOME!! thank you very much!! I was just thinking of trying it a similar way but i'm still learning blender and there are a few things you explained that i didn't know before. thank you so much! now i can rebuild the skeleton and start animating : )it's funny, im learning how to rig and pose before i really learn how to model : p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueCrimpson Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 ok that worked well... it took me a while to snap it, for some reason it wanted to snap in different places other than how i wanted it to. but i got it. I think it's because im using Sloff's Horses, and i also had to clear the shape keys from the head before i could join the meshes. i had another question but i figured it all out. thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LHammonds Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 I actually work in the reverse (works either way but razorpony's might be best). I import all the objects first, delete any imported skeletons (Scene Root). But with Blender, you have to save and close Blender before you import the skeleton or it might import the skeleton as "Scene Root.001" which will never export correctly. Areas that MUST occur for it to work are as follows: 1. Skeleton must be called "Scene Root"2. Object to Skeleton must be parented correctly (e.g. move the skeleton and it moves the object)3. The object must have an armature modifier and the "Ob" name must be called "Scene Root"4. Each vertice must be weight-painted (rigged) to the skeleton LHammonds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueCrimpson Posted February 24, 2010 Author Share Posted February 24, 2010 wow, sounds like a major pain. the skeleton that's in the horse nif really sucks to work with, maybe just because i cant figure out how to align the bones like an actual skeleton. if i altered the skeleton anyway, it probably would mess it up in oblivion. so anyway... i just decided to get rid of the skeleton all together and rebuild it to make animating easier. i know it wont work in oblivion, but maybe i can figure out how to use the default skeleton later, after i get some animations i like. or maybe i can replace the skeleton all together... i have no idea as i haven't looked into it yet. I did get the horse put together and built a new skeleton and i'm about ready to start animating... im really new to all this but im picking it up quickly : )i'm still figuring how to properly rig the mouth and eyes. (Slof's horses have open mouth, teeth, tongue, and eyelids... not sure but i don't think bethsad's do) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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