Dragon to Flying whale Conversion

[Kadrmas45]

So I am wondering what programs will I need to create a custom mesh to convert the dragons to flying whales? Also it would be appreciated if someone could send a link to a tutorial to fulfill such a task.

 

Thanks!

[calubri]

So I am wondering what programs will I need to create a custom mesh to convert the dragons to flying whales? Also it would be appreciated if someone could send a link to a tutorial to fulfill such a task.

 

Thanks!

I think there's no such tutorial yet specific to replacing dragons with custom meshes.

Either way programs you'll need are 3ds max I think, I never worked with blender, but I assume it has a niftools plugin as well so you could use niftools with blender, eliminating the need for 3ds max. Yeah well I mean those two programs (3ds max or blender), a niftools plugin for it, and nifskope. You'll also need the original Skyrim assets first (skeleton is needed at least) which you can extract using bsaunpacker tool: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/4804, using that you import the skeleton.nif of the dragons plus optionally a dragon mesh from Skyrim as reference, or as an object to skin wrap to (3ds max only). Yeah could be everything I said was wrong so don't take anything from me as facts, however I'm quite sure at least those tools are needed to even attempt to replace a Skyrim dragon.

[ResolveThatChord]

Yep, replacing creature meshes is a similar process to creating custom armour. You'll need to create meshes with vertex weights and export them into skyrim .nifs, which is a rather advanced process. You'll need Max or blender 2.49 (blender 2.5/2.6 don't have nif export scripts yet, which are needed for weighted meshes), the nif scripts, and nifskope.

 

If you have no 3D modelling experience, my advice would be to put your flying whale idea for one side now and get comfortable with the tools, then make a sword, which is a much simpler project that will teach you skills needed for more advanced projects.