2ndFifer Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I apologize if this is not the correct place for this question. I'm not really looking for anyone to mod something for me, I've just got a question I was hoping someone could help me with. Others like myself might have noticed that your character in Skyrim will change their basic stance depending on the clothes/armor they're wearing. As an example, wearing some farm clothes - or robes such as the Mythic Dawn Robes, your character will stand there relaxed, arms hanging straight down from the shoulders looking natural. But as soon as you put on another outfit, say the standard "Novice Robes" or most armor sets - you'll notice that your character's shoulders magically get broader and you hold your arms away from your body (almost like you're trying to look tough, or something.) I always assumed this was to avoid clipping issues with those outfits or armors. But I'm incredibly annoyed at how it happens with robes such as the standard "mage" robes - at least on my relatively thin (third thinnest) male character. I'm sure it fits really well with beefier viking characters, but I think it kinda makes me look like a jerk. I'm wondering what causes this different body position? Is it something that can easily be swapped out? I looked through the construction kit and didn't find anything there which makes me think it's something I'm either missing or something built into the mesh. Is there a skeleton file for the "arms out" stance I can simply rename to match the other one? Is it an animation file? Or is it all unique bone placement in the clothing mesh files themselves? I did my own digging but unfortunately am not familiar with much beyond texturing. If anyone could help me out, that'd be great. Just looking for whatever governs that change in stance depending on outfit. Cheers and thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghosu Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 (edited) I could imagine this happens because the armor "deletes" your original body and just places the armor around the skeleton ... so it acts as it was attached to the bones, no matter how your body looked before. So if you want to change that you have to edit each single NIF, change position/size and reattach it to the skeleton - could take a a while :D Edited March 29, 2012 by ghosu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndFifer Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 I could imagine this happens because the armor "deletes" your original body and just places the armor around the skeleton ... so it acts as it was attached to the bones, no matter how your body looked before. So if you want to change that you have to edit each single NIF, change position/size and reattach it to the skeleton - could take a a while :D If this is accurate, does anyone know a way to simply copy the skeleton/bone positions from one mesh and put them into another? I'm only looking to edit the mesh for the standard mage robes (male), the one that comes in Novice/Apprentice variety (I think the "Journeyman" is a different robe). The ones you can find in the prison cell while you escape from helgen. I'd like to simply make my character's position while wearing that armor the same as while wearing...say, farm clothes, or the Mythic Dawn robes. I'm just looking to retexture that one robe, so really only need it done for one mesh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecksile Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 (edited) You would have to re rig the mesh to the skeleton is the only way. The mesh is weighted to the skeleton so that when the skeleton moves or is idle the mesh deforms. The way the mesh deforms is what you would have to redo. Which again is modifying the way each bone of the skeleton deforms a certain part of the mesh. I hope that wasn't to confusing. AFAIK you can only adjust the weights in something like blender or 3dsmax/maya (3d modeling software). Unless nifskope has become more advanced or there's something I don't know about that exists in it. Even if you were to use nifskope it would be a lot more challenging then using a program, I would think. Edited March 29, 2012 by ecksile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndFifer Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 (edited) Hmm, I guess I'm a little confused. I was sort of assuming that the bone positions for two of my opposing example meshes would at least appear a little different in NifSkope, but they don't. The shoulder/arm points all have the exact same positions. Well if it is something that has to be done in Blender or 3DS Max, then that's probably beyond my capabilities. I've fiddled a few verts around but that's about it. So I guess if you want to turn the question into a request (since it probably wouldn't take more than 10-20 minutes for someone with base knowledge of Blender), if anyone feels bored enough to take my problematic mesh (say...mageapprenticerobes_0.nif, found at meshes\clothes\mageapprentice) and give it the shoulder/arm positions more similar to mdrobe_0.nif (found in meshes\clothes\robemythicdawn), that'd be fricking super. I've been longing to retexture that set for a long time. Feel free to shoot me a PM and I'll give you my email for the file. A "how to import Skyrim meshes into Blender with their skeletons so you can change the silly shoulder/arm positions and then export it back out in one piece" tutorial would also be a great alternative, as I don't mind doing the work myself with some direction if at all possible. Edited March 29, 2012 by 2ndFifer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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