Attention Blender Modelers and Animators

[LHammonds]

I am looking for help to create two bow-making tutorials for Blender.

 

Tutorial #1 - How to modify an existing bow.

 

Tutorial #2 - How to create a new bow from scratch.

 

The latest version of Blender NIF Scripts can now import and export working Bows and their morphs. I'd like to put together these tutorials on how to create bows with proper-working morphs that bend the bows back when the drawstring is pulled.

 

As it stands right now, you can take a vanilla steel bow, import it into Blender and immediately export to NIF and have the same working bow that you started with.

 

EDIT: I'm asking for help because I have yet to figure out how to modify a bow or create one from scratch using only Blender and NIF Scripts to create a working bow NIF file.

 

Thanks,

LHammonds

 

Same topic @ Bethsoft

[UK47]

I am looking for help to create two bow-making tutorials for Blender.

I would be happy to help you, but what kind of help do you need exactly?

[LHammonds]

I don't know the steps necessary to modify or create bows....not successfully yet.

 

LHammonds

[alonsomartinez]

Well i think you saw I made 2 bows and they all shot arrows but I never got them to morph I can probably make a tutorial on how to make new bows

[robertkor]

has anyone gt in contact with nico? he might be able to assist since he has made several

[alonsomartinez]

Lhammonds said that latest Blender scripts export the morph

 

Thats why I didnt release my bows Robert

 

BTW do I have to do anything special to make the bow morph work ? DO any settings have to be changed ? I want to try it out

[UK47]

has anyone gt in contact with nico? he might be able to assist since he has made several

...

Nico has retired from Oblivion modding. His method was strictly in the use OBJ files being imported directly into an old version NIFSkope.

[LHammonds]

do I have to do anything special to make the bow morph work ? DO any settings have to be changed ? I want to try it out

If you are talking about importing a steel bow into blender and then immediately export the bow, there is nothing you need to do to the model / animation. You just need to export it correctly.

 

Ive made bows before using Nico's/Windy's method of importing into an old version of Nifskope, but its been a long while since ive made something for Oblivion.

This is specifically in regards to making bows using Blender and exporting it via the NIF scripts...not the ancient way of OBJ imports into NifSkope. Even though two tutorials exist on how to do the OBJ method, it is prone to problems and locked into old versions of software which don't work on newer versions.

 

The goal of this project is to document how to create and modify bows in Blender and export them into working NIF files without the need for NifSkope manipulations afterwords.

 

To my knowledge, nobody has exported a custom and working bow straight from Blender yet. It has been proven that we can import and export vanilla bows be we need to figure out and document what steps must be done in order to make modifications to an existing bow which will export correctly....and then figure out what needs to be done to create a bow from scratch and have it export correctly.

 

It is quite possible that the current NIF scripts cannot handle custom morph animations or that I just do not know what to do correctly in Blender to make it work.

 

The 1st step is to import an existing bow and simply export it to see if the bow works for the most basic process.

The 2nd step would be to import an existing bow and add some geometry somewhere such as a simple cube on the end of the bow and figure out how to make it "flex" with the bow during the animation and have it export to a working NIF file. Once this can be figured out, that proves that NIF scripts does not need to be updated to handle this and that a 100% custom bow from scratch may be possible.

 

LHammonds

[LHammonds]

Praise you Conan_Lon for the info!

 

I gave it a try and to me any modifications to current bow shapes are easy, and making bows with completely new shapes aren't that hard either. Now while the scripts can handle everything perfectly the most important thing is that we finally can focus on the look and design of the bow itself than to spend a lot of time instead to figure how it all exactly works.

 

This is my first quickly modified daedric bow - that's a POC so forgive that crappy design ;]

All modifications of the bows in Blender relay on Shape Keys. There are two of such keys respectively named Base and BowMorph. Former is the basic shape of the bow in its resting position, and the latter is the shape of the bow with its bowstring drawn to maximum.

The switching between the Shape Keys is done through the Shapes Tab. It's the tab in the same section as Modifiers tab - all accessible from panel in edit mode (F9).

To make this story short - you just need to import one of existing bows, chose Base Shape Key and modify this bow or replace its shape with the new one, texture it, etc. and then switch Shape Key to BowMorph and in edit mode reposition all necessary vertexes and edges to final morphed position. And there you go its all ready to export.

 

So altering existing bows shapes is possible quite easily, and replacing existing models with completely new ones is not that much harder.

But if you want to make a tutorial how to make bows completely from scratch in Blender I think that would be a waste of the time and it will be like reinventing the wheel for the second time. Utterly unnecessary.

 

My way of making new bows will be importing existing ones, and using their shapes as reference, then replacing the model with the new one. This way you already have all those bow and arrow morphs imported and present in your nif and you can focus on design solely which is the best thing under the sun for every bow maker ;]

 

trollf my friend, you are awesome!!!!

 

I never thought to look at the "Shapes" tab beside Modifiers.

 

I had been trying to find Keys and the like under the "1-Animation" scene view. The most that I found was the NLA Editor which showed the "ArrowBone" and "ArrowHelper01" keys which did not explain how the bow actually morphed!

 

As far as completely from scratch, I think you are right. It probably is best just to start off with a base working bow and build from that...such as you said, completely replacing the model in each pose.

 

That tid-bit of info is probably all I need in order to create the tutorials.

 

Again, much thanks!

 

EDIT: You guys don't know how relieved I am that the problems I was having in Blender was just me and nothing to do with NIF Scripts!

[alonsomartinez]

When you do make a tutorial let me know I have some bows that need morphing !