Export in-game face to file

[capmac]

Hello

 

I'm looking for a way to export an in-game face and head mesh of a character to a wave obj file or another 3D file format.

Basically what the mod RaceMenu can do in Skyrim I would like to do in FNV too. RaceMenu has an export head function for writing a head mesh to a NIF file.

 

Tools like FaceRipper and FaceExchange only copy the differences to the default head mesh, i.e. what makes the face specific. For example the width of the mouth compared to the mouth of the FNV head mesh. So they can't be used for exporting a complete head mesh.

 

Facegen Modeller can export heads. But I wasn't able to reproduce the same face with the tri and egm files from FNV, and combined with an FG file containing the above face differences.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards

capmac

[dubiousintent]

Please see the 'FaceGen Heads Faces Hairs and Helmets' section of the wiki "Getting started creating mods using GECK" article.

 

-Dubious-

[capmac]

Thank you Dubious for the link. Actually I've come across this information before, but haven't looked at it in detail. I did go over it again including the input from ThrottleKitty on Adding Eye Morphs to FaceGen Files.

 

Unfortunately I didn't find an obvious solution on how to export a face to an obj file. A face being a morphed head mesh in game.

The collected articles seem to focus primarily on how creating the morph files which can be used in game.

 

The conformulator I have used before to create the morph files for a hair mesh.

 

FNV is using facegen modeler as part of the game. But I wasn't able to reproduce the same face in the facegen modeler tool demo which can be downloaded separately.

Am i missing something?

 

Thanks again for your help.

[dubiousintent]

Have you seen: 1) the "Exporter Manual", and 2) the thread "What are some of the ways that I can edit my character's face?". Note version of the FaceGen Modeller used. Newer versions of various tools often have problems with FNV compatibility. According to "this thread" (behind an "Adult Content" gateway), they claim you can use the FaceGen Modeller ".FG" file in FNV with the "FaceGen Exchanger" tool (ref).

 

Edit: Might want to see this commentary on the UESP site regarding how an OBJ is not really what you need because it is just a "static" mesh. An ".FG" format contains the necessary deformation data.

 

Edit2: Alternatively, to make a face preset, open up G.E.C.K. and load the main New Vegas esm. In the NPC section of the object list, create a new NPC or modify and rename an existing one. There's a checkbox to make it a Facegen Preset. Have fun.

 

Unfortunately I am not a "modeller" so I can't really help further. My uneducated guess would be that you might have to combine the separate "model part files" (TRI, BMP, EGM, EGT, and FIM) to construct the OBJ. If you can't do that with The Conformulator Mod Tool, then it would seem you either can use a MESH tool like Blender, or NifSkope. (It has to be possible without the full blown commercial FaceGen product as others have accomplished it.) It is also possible that some "export" tool for Oblivion (as the closest to the game engine used in FO3/FNV) might work.

 

Hopefully a real modeller will pick up on this thread. Absent that help, you might try PMing one of those authors if they are still active on the Nexus.

 

Please do let me know what does eventually work out for you, so I can update the wiki.

 

-Dubious-

[HynoDesigns]

i have been working on this. What I did in Fallout 3 was ported over a few of the NPC's. I did Boone, Cass, Veronica and Benny.

Using two computers, I spec them out the best I could matching face gen feature for feature. Every single time you change a feature it changes something else. Needless to say Benny never looked like Benny when I made him bald he looked just like Sean Connery.

Veronica and Cass were designed as races cause I made them type 3, and doing the race rather than playing with the face creation seemed to be a bit more accurate. After spending hours on Boone, I mean hours. Said to myself their has to be an easier way of doing this. Want to point this out. I also did Samuel L. Jackson. In the GECK he looks just like him, in the game not so much. In other words what you create in the GECK sometimes looks a bit different in game.

Again it is always by mistake how I do things. I started building a massive fort and I ported some stuff over from other MODS. In the GECK, I was changing the landscape aka removing trees. Than in the game, the trees were still placed in the landscape. I tried everything. Than I was like I just wrecked the file. So decided to rebuild my MOD from scratch. While doing so found this YOUTUBE video. Basically it teaches you how to port anything in to blank MOD's. You can easily port over profiles as well.

FYI for CASS, I did the lipstick and eye shadow on face.dds file before hand (That was a lot harder to do than you think)

 

Edited March 16, 2019 by HynoDesigns

[HynoDesigns]

Porting MOD'S Fallout 3 to NV or NV back to Fallout 3

With this crazy method using FOMM you actually can build or port over the NEW VEGAS casinos in to FALLOUT 3.

My question is what are you trying to do, what is your end goal?

FNV to FNV copying the FACE sets from MOD to MOD is very easy. All you do is duplicate the NPC or RACE and save it to your MOD.

Game to Game you load it up in FOMM and save the sections you want in to a BLANK.esp.

So If I wanted to copy BOONE, would make a duplicate of him and saved it to a MOD than in FOMM it shows the changes you made to the source and you just port over Boone's face. It is a heck of a lot easier than what I did trying to copy feature for feature manually from game to game.

Edited March 16, 2019 by HynoDesigns

[capmac]

Thanks guys for the extensive help. Much appreciated.

 

To answer the question what I'm trying to achieve upfront. I'm trying to import a specific NPC face from FNV into Blender.

 

With Fallout 4 and its creation kit this is possible through the Ctrl F4 function which generates a NIF file from an existing NPC. Might by possible with Skyrim too and its creation kit.

 

I do still have the 3.5 version of the Facegen Modeller demo. The problem is that the free version does not allow to use a custom head model, specifically the standard head mesh from FNV. So even if you import the NPC specific facial settings as .FG file, it will only be applied to the demo head model and look differently compared to in-game.

 

The FG file only contains 50 float values for storing the facial settings. And Facegen Exchange basically copies these values from one place to another.

 

The only approach I can think of is extracting all morph data from the FNV head TRI file as obj files and import them into Blender. And then somehow apply those 50 floats in Blender. Or 3ds Max if that has better support. But I have no idea how to apply morphs like that.

 

It seems excessive compared to a single Ctrl F4 in the creation kit.

[HynoDesigns]

capmac,

 

I have not messed around with Fallout 4 at all. However what I used to do with my custom players for the Tiger Woods video game going from year to year was to recreate them each season. Some cases they could be ported over and other cases not.

 

Fallout 4, uses a different engine.

 

Again like I did with Boone, you can do in Fallout 4.

 

Will just use Boone as the example:

 

You have all the face features of Boone in Fallout NV

 

In the Geck it is pretty advanced than you also have the texture side of this as well. It is like 60 to 80 face features.

 

You go in to the Fallout4 geck and start trying to match of the character. Feature for feature. If something is off in the GAME FACE creator you make a manual adjustment and design by eye. You use two computers side by side to do this. If you don't have that. You do what I used to do with the TW game. I would hand write out all the features and than design them in to the new game.

 

My guess it will take about 1 to 3 hours to complete.