A few questions

[Dlesang]

I've only recently come into modding Oblivion [the last month or so.] I have a decent understanding of how to use Blender, and know Photoshop 7 [which I use to make and edit textures] and the Construction Set very well, I think. Yet, there are some things that escape me.

 

First, semi-transparent or partially-transparent textures. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make this work. The best I've ever been able to do is use Nifskope to make the mess of the object itself transparent. This isn't bad for, say, a pair of spectacles. But what about hair and other such things? I've searched for tutorials and answers, most of which finish with whoever posted the thread saying, "Thanks, that worked!" but none of it worked for me.

 

I'm tried creating the alpha channel in photoshop and exporting as various DDS file types with no success. There may be a way to set the setting in blender, but I don't know how. I DID manage to make it work INSIDE blender, but outside Blender, it all falls apart.

 

Second, custom head meshes. I have a lot of projects I'd like to do, some of which require new heads. I've made a head for my custom catfolk race, but I can never get the morphs to work correctly. The closest I've come to making it morph is when you change any of the head shape sliders in the menu, half the vertices move up, and the other half move down. This is by using the Conformulator, which I still don't quite understand how to use, and trying various combinations of options for exporting. I've tried using the .tri files from Imperial humans, vanilla Khajiit and Desu-chan's Kawa Khajiit. I later wish to make a mod of my real self, just for my own amusement, and I want to make the eyes blink and mouth speak.

 

Here's some pics:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22554025/oblivion/pics/pentra%20brown.jpg NSFW

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22554025/oblivion/pics/pentra%20head%20pics.jpg

 

Also, I made the master sword and hylian shield, but they look like they're made of foam. Any suggestions?

 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22554025/oblivion/pics/pentra%20with%20link%27s%20stuff.jpg also NSFW, and I know why she's so shiny. I messed with the normal map.

 

I do hope I can find answers this time. I don't have Skyrim yet, but a coworker should be buying it for me for christmas, and I'll happily use whatever I learn to mod that game too!

 

Also, I have a list of things to make in the future. If anyone has any suggestions for things you'd like to see, leave them here, and I may add them to my list. Thank you!

[DrakeTheDragon]

For locally restricted transparency on faces just add a NiAlphaProperty to the NiTriShapes/Strips of your mesh and it will use the alpha channel of your texture. Just in case, this one has to be stored in DXT3, DXT5 or any of the uncompressed formats "with" alpha channel, of course. DXT1 for example, the default for diffuse maps, won't do.

 

As for shine, that's somehow determined by the alpha channel of the normalmap ("..._n.dds"), namely it controls the specular property. The more solid the normalmap image appears the more insanely it will shine. Only if you almost can't see it at all anymore, the shine will be acceptable. This however is only one part of it. There's also the NiTextureProperty's apply mode setting, with options like "highlight" (makes it look incredibly shiny like plastic) and other such effects. The "amount" of this then is controlled by the alpha channel of the normalmap.

A NiMaterial property with a hardcoded name, like "EnvMap" or "EnvMap2" will do exactly that, apply an environment mapping to the mesh's surface (pretty cheap, but meh). Again the "amount" of this is determined by the alpha channel of the normalmap.

 

That's why it's paramount to store normalmaps in formats with alpha channels. For formats without alpha channels it will likely be treated as completely opaque, which equals an armageddon of shinyness... sorry for the colourful metaphors.

 

There's also the Gloss setting of the material which also plays into it somehow, but this one's exact use, I must admit, escaped me up to now. I usually leave it at 10 and don't look back. :sweat:

Edited December 14, 2011 by DrakeTheDragon