Need help with workflow: Importing model into Blender correctly

[Kresjah]

THE BASIC IDEA
I've been trying to find my way around creating some new furniture for Fallout 4's settlement workshop. In order to learn how to do this I'll be trying something that should be (relatively) simple but makes sure I go through all the important parts of the process. I am going to get the large toolbox model (\SetDressing\Toolbox\Toolbox_Large.nif) into Blender, add some new geometry to it, add connection points (for workshop snapping), and export it as a new model and get it back into the game. For the record, wihlst I do have some basic usage understanding of Blender, I have never really done anything advanced in it so may occasionally need pointers there too.

I've managed to figure out how to do some things, while others still elude me. Have searched for answers on various forums but I'm either using the wrong search terms or I'm just not understanding other guides correctly. Instead of creating a giant post with thousand of questions I'll start with just asking for help with step 1 today.

STEP 1: Getting it into Blender
I need to get the model into Blender correctly. A lot of guides use 3DSMax as a "middle-man", but that is not an option for me. Correct me if I am wrong here, but as far as I can see there are no NIF importers for Blender that work with Fallout 4 models, which leaves three options for importing into Blender; Use F2 to export to FBX from Creation Kit, use NifSkope to do an OBJ export, or use Outfit Studio to export to FBX. The first two does not support animation, and as such using Outfit Studio is the only option. I understand that it is meant primarily to work with outfits (and by extension, creature/human skeletons) and this may impact how things work.

Quick question before going on, should I use any particular options in the Blender FBX importer? Should the Blender scene be set up in a specific way before import (i.e. should units be set to centimeter)?

I tried a straight export from Outfit Studio and import into Blender. This is the result:

http://i.imgur.com/bzuL1Sz.png

The model is there, but I end up with it being attached to a complete humanoid skeleton plus bones named "Tracker_001" and "Tracker_002". These last two names are also seen when using NifSkope on the original toolchest NIF, so I assume these are the only relevant bones which control the drawer opening? The toolchest model itself is rotated and offset on several axes. What would be the correct way of fixing this? I tried just deleting the bones that Outfit Studio seemed to have added, but this still leaves the model at a strange angle.

[Nutulator]

Export the mesh as an OBJ in Outfit Studio and the scale will be the same, if you use NifSkope it'll export it with a 10 times larger scale than it actually is. You can then just select the object in Blender and type in S and then 0.10 to bring it down to it's original size. Both have their advantages--with NifSkope you can export a lot of objects from within a NIF as a single OBJ while Outfit Studio exports individual OBJ files for every object.

 

When importing meshes be sure the OBJ import settings are correct with Forward: Y Forward and Up: Z Up. Otherwise you'll have to rotate them by yourself and it's just another unnecessary step. Other than that you don't need to make any other setting changes.

 

Those bone weight that come with the object and are part of the animations I believe. Outfit Studio applies it's own bone weights if you export a NIF from it the first time around.

 

NIFs for some reason also cause a lot of double geometry, so when you've got the tool chest in Blender, go into edit mode, select all the vertices, press W and select Remove Doubles. It'll be easier to work with them gone.

 

When you want to bring the object back into a NIF you can do the following. (This has worked for just objects but I haven't tested it out with animations.)

 

1. Export it as a OBJ from Blender.
2. Open it in Outfit Studio, apply the material path, and export as NIF.
3. Go into NifSkope and delete all the body bone weights--right click on BSSkin::Instance, Block > Remove Branch. Save.
4. Open two windows of NifSkope now, one for your edited object and the other with the vanilla tool chest and all it's properties.
5. Copy BSXFlags, NiControllerManager, and NiNode which has bhkNPCollisionObject, over into your new object.
6. Now do some clean up under Block Details so everything is linked to the correct thing. Note how bhkNPCollisionObject's data has [15] bhkPhysicsSystem linked to it. The number is what's important, if one block is not under another editing values like these fixes the hierarchy.

Depending on how you're adding the geometry you might need to create new collisions. And you're going to need 3DS Max for that or at least it's trial version.

 

Good luck!

Edited March 13, 2017 by Nutulator

[Kresjah]

Thanks for your thorough reply, it is much appreciated!

 

I've looked into your suggestions, but I have to wonder if you meant FBX instead of OBJ perhaps. After all, OBJ doesn't support bones and rigs and whatnots, making it kind of a moot point, as part of what I wanted to do was retain the animation (that is the opening/closing of drawer when accessing inventory).

 

That said, I was not aware of the Y Forward, Z Up stuff, so I'll be sure to use those options with the FBX importer. In the end though, I'm still at the position where the import of the FBX into Blender (from Outfit Studio) gives me this strange angle on the toolchest that I showed in the picture.

 

As for getting it back to a NIF yet, I simply haven't gotten that far yet (what with the strange angles and such), although I'll look deeper into your instructions once I do. 3DSMax is unfortunately out of the question for me, so I guess I'll have to do my best to stick within the confines of borrowed collisions.

[Nutulator]

You're welcome.

 

Nah, I meant OBJ. There's no need to bring in the bones and rigs when you're just working on the meshes. You can just reuse the vanilla animations which is when you copy all the data from the vanilla tool chest file. But then again I don't know how extensively you're changing the tool chest.