Skyrim: Wish to mod the mesh of a peice of clothing with 3d studio 201

[fjbarton59]

hello. I've been writing mods for a while now and playing with construction using existing meshes etc but the time has come to mod a mesh, specifically a piece of clothing. i've found various tutorials on the net which seem to have bits missing, inaccurate or incomplete or perhaps i missed something. I have a fair working knowledge of 3d studio max and thanks to my boss i have access to the 2012 32 bit addition. I've already installed the nif add-on which allows me (allegedly) to import export nifs but i've not been having much luck. I also have blender but it appears to take a million and a half steps just for the import/ export. I'm wondering does anyone know of a decent up to date tutorial this will give me everything i need on mesh and texture modding especially with 3d studio? Thanks

.

[DizzasterJuice]

This thread helped me out a lot. http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/478312-tutorial-3ds-max-skinned-meshes-into-game/

[fjbarton59]

This thread helped me out a lot. http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/478312-tutorial-3ds-max-skinned-meshes-into-game/

 

I looked at that. even tried it but on exporting on some meshes 3ds max crashes but not on others anyone else get that. One mes is the wench clothing. she has a pendant around her neck/ if i remove that and try to export. 3ds crashes.

[Ragicka]

This thread helped me out a lot. http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/478312-tutorial-3ds-max-skinned-meshes-into-game/

 

I looked at that. even tried it but on exporting on some meshes 3ds max crashes but not on others anyone else get that. One mes is the wench clothing. she has a pendant around her neck/ if i remove that and try to export. 3ds crashes.

 

Any time I remove mesh from armor or clothing, I finish off by deleting the original skin and bsdismember. And apply a new skin (via skin wrap) and a new bsdismember.

 

Granted, I'm also a newby so maybe someone can correct or clarify. At the very least, I think a new bsdismember will be required. Also make sure to unfreeze the body and unhide the skeleton before export.

[DizzasterJuice]

This thread helped me out a lot. http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/478312-tutorial-3ds-max-skinned-meshes-into-game/

 

I looked at that. even tried it but on exporting on some meshes 3ds max crashes but not on others anyone else get that. One mes is the wench clothing. she has a pendant around her neck/ if i remove that and try to export. 3ds crashes.

 

Any time I remove mesh from armor or clothing, I finish off by deleting the original skin and bsdismember. And apply a new skin (via skin wrap) and a new bsdismember.

 

Granted, I'm also a newby so maybe someone can correct or clarify. At the very least, I think a new bsdismember will be required. Also make sure to unfreeze the body and unhide the skeleton before export.

Another way of replacing the skin is to clone as copy the original before changes then make your changes and copy and paste the skin from the cloned copy.

fjbarton59 - you have to replace the bsdismember and skin after changes or it will crash on export.

[Ragicka]

Another way of replacing the skin is to clone as copy the original before changes then make your changes and copy and paste the skin from the cloned copy.

fjbarton59 - you have to replace the bsdismember and skin after changes or it will crash on export.

Let me see if I understand correctly.

I can right-click the mesh, select Clone -> select Copy from clone options and then move it aside? Then, when I'm done with the original, I can copy the skin from the clone and paste it over top the original skin?

 

The method I've been using is to delete skin, import the vanilla mesh overtop and then do a skin wrap by selecting the body and then the vanilla mesh. This seems to work ok but I still have a lot of serious weight painting afterwards.

 

Are there any advantages or disadvantages between the two methods?

[fjbarton59]

This thread helped me out a lot. http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/478312-tutorial-3ds-max-skinned-meshes-into-game/

 

I looked at that. even tried it but on exporting on some meshes 3ds max crashes but not on others anyone else get that. One mes is the wench clothing. she has a pendant around her neck/ if i remove that and try to export. 3ds crashes.

 

Any time I remove mesh from armor or clothing, I finish off by deleting the original skin and bsdismember. And apply a new skin (via skin wrap) and a new bsdismember.

 

Granted, I'm also a newby so maybe someone can correct or clarify. At the very least, I think a new bsdismember will be required. Also make sure to unfreeze the body and unhide the skeleton before export.

 

I figured something similar. i go to the skin segments over the areas i wish to delete and delete them first, then i remap the dismember thing. seems to work. i managed to use the said mesh :)

[fjbarton59]

Another way of replacing the skin is to clone as copy the original before changes then make your changes and copy and paste the skin from the cloned copy.

fjbarton59 - you have to replace the bsdismember and skin after changes or it will crash on export.

Let me see if I understand correctly.

I can right-click the mesh, select Clone -> select Copy from clone options and then move it aside? Then, when I'm done with the original, I can copy the skin from the clone and paste it over top the original skin?

 

The method I've been using is to delete skin, import the vanilla mesh overtop and then do a skin wrap by selecting the body and then the vanilla mesh. This seems to work ok but I still have a lot of serious weight painting afterwards.

 

Are there any advantages or disadvantages between the two methods?

 

I've noticed the textures of custom meshes seem darker than the origional. anyone else noticed that?

[DizzasterJuice]

Another way of replacing the skin is to clone as copy the original before changes then make your changes and copy and paste the skin from the cloned copy.

fjbarton59 - you have to replace the bsdismember and skin after changes or it will crash on export.

Let me see if I understand correctly.

I can right-click the mesh, select Clone -> select Copy from clone options and then move it aside? Then, when I'm done with the original, I can copy the skin from the clone and paste it over top the original skin?

 

The method I've been using is to delete skin, import the vanilla mesh overtop and then do a skin wrap by selecting the body and then the vanilla mesh. This seems to work ok but I still have a lot of serious weight painting afterwards.

 

Are there any advantages or disadvantages between the two methods?

Select clone then make sure it says copy, not instance. You can also shift+drag to make a clone. You can either move the copy aside or hide it. As long as you didn't add anything to the model (you can delete or move any verts you want) you can just copy and paste the skin from the copy's stack to the new model's stack. No weight painting at all is needed this way. Make sure "Remove extra bones" is selected on export.

[Ragicka]

I've noticed the textures of custom meshes seem darker than the origional. anyone else noticed that?

I haven't noticed textures being darker. But I have noticed it loses n mapping. I think importing and exporting with niftools causes that.

 

 

Select clone then make sure it says copy, not instance. You can also shift+drag to make a clone. You can either move the copy aside or hide it. As long as you didn't add anything to the model (you can delete or move any verts you want) you can just copy and paste the skin from the copy's stack to the new model's stack. No weight painting at all is needed this way. Make sure "Remove extra bones" is selected on export.

 

Thank you so much. "No weight painting at all is needed this way." *Cue chorus of angels* I can't begin to describe how weight painting has become the bane of my existence. I will try your method out this weekend. Thanks again and kudos. :thumbsup: