How do I make a custom creature mesh work?

[Traveisimo]

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/819164-still-need-more-mesh-help/

 

i just made a mesh that i will use for a mod, i want it to use the feral ghoul skeleton, so what i started with is copying over the nitrishapesdata, then running the make skin partition command, then it said some vertices have no weights at all, so i imported into the newest blender(in case that matters) and opened the weight paint brush and painted it then exported as obj,

then i imported and got the same results, then i realized many faces are hidden, essentially weight paint is out of the question, as there are over 67 thousand faces (there where about 350,000 but i lowerd the pollys as much as i can) and many are hidden behind other faces.

if anyone has a sllution that involves blender, i will need a detailed step-by-step tutorial, as i have no skill what so ever.

also if anyone can explain what weights do, because i have no idea.

 

 

thanks in advance to anyone who helps

Edited October 29, 2012 by Traveisimo

[devinpatterson]

then it said some vertices have no weights at all, ....then i realized many faces are hidden, essentially weight paint is out of the question,

 

I'm probably not the best person to answer this as I'm a newbie in blender myself, but I'm going to throw a few things out there for you to consider until someone more experienced comes along. OBTW great looking mesh :thumbsup:

 

So I'd use the boneweight copy script, it should assign a weight of 1 even if you can't see the faces to hit with weight paint brush....although I'v never used it with a single mesh, just when adding an item to a critters mesh (attire, armor etc), which is where the copyweight part comes in..

 

In regard to some vertices have no weights at all I think blender might be referencing hte fact that those vertices aren't assigned/weighted to a bone. So when you imported your feral ghoul skeleton and parented it to your mesh every vertice should have been assign to a bone. Some weren't and you need to manually assign them. So if most of those are near the head assign them to Bip01 Head, if near another body part assign them to teh appropriate bone.

 

From Quetzlsacatanango's armor mashup; "In the lower left you will see a vertex group menu. Body parts will start with "BP_". Choose the one that is appropriate for the offending vertex, and click "assign"." Sometimes

[Traveisimo]

thanks a lot, honestly, now i feel like an idiot, although i didn't understand what you said about using the boneweight copy thing, i also forgot to import the skeleton, so wait, to import the skeleton i import my mesh, then i import the skeleton, then is that it? or what do i do from there. (i'm sorry, i'm just kind of an idiot sometimes).

edit: whell, one more question, i know how to use anim8or so i imported the mesh and the feral ghoul mesh(as the skeleton has no actual physical object) as obj files, then i aligned the mesh perfectly to the feral ghoul,but when i import it with the skeleton the mesh is sideways and tiny, if i scale and rotate it appropriately will it screw up the results, or not.(again, sorry, i am kind of stupid with this sort of thing)

Edited October 24, 2012 by Traveisimo

[Traveisimo]

i feel like an idiot but can someone walk me through step by step, i can't figure it out.

i guess if ayone wants the mesh(it's not as good as it looks in the images, but it's not bad, its a work in progress) you can have it,

(i will not have it up foever though) this link should work; https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-P5X_INf0MbTVlnR3V6dGEzTms/edit just don't claim as your own

and if anyone gets it working, contact me plz

it's a file for sculptris, it's a free high detail modeling software http://www.pixologic.com/sculptris/.

Edited October 24, 2012 by Traveisimo

[devinpatterson]

thanks a lot, honestly, now i feel like an idiot, although i didn't understand what you said about using the boneweight copy thing,

 

The boneweight copy script is for weightpainting something the same value as something else. In your case though I think it could be a useful "hack/trick" since it could weight paint faces you can't reach. So normally I'd use it to weight paint a hat to 1, since my protectron is 1. I'd select the hat first and the protectron last (last item is the value the other items will be weight painted). So I was thinking it could be kind of a cheat to get those inaccessible faces. Import a donar mesh with a weight paint of 1 and copy it over to your critter's mesh, then delete the donar mesh. Your critters mesh should now be fully weight painted...all faces.

 

Just an idea/theory. But what would help you a lot is moving this question to the blender forum where the guys that actually know what they'r talking about can help out.

 

i also forgot to import the skeleton, so wait, to import the skeleton i import my mesh, then i import the skeleton, then is that it? or what do i do from there.

 

Well importing the skeleton "import skeleton only and parent selected" button should parent the skeleton to your new mesh (although it may not be perfect, you may have to do some manual tweaking).

 

edit: whell, one more question, i know how to use anim8or so i imported the mesh and the feral ghoul mesh(as the skeleton has no actual physical object) as obj files, then i aligned the mesh perfectly to the feral ghoul,but when i import it with the skeleton the mesh is sideways and tiny, if i scale and rotate it appropriately will it screw up the results, or not.(again, sorry, i am kind of stupid with this sort of thing)

 

I'm afraid I don't know anything about anim8or, but you definitely have to have the right scale when you import the feral skeleton and parent it to your mesh or your just wasting time. And in re: to importing the ghoul mesh you will want to import it via the blender nif scripts;

File->Netimmerse/Gamebryo (.nif, .kf. & .egm)

Then line them up as close as possible (never moving the ghoul skeleton). Once your done with that delete the ghoul skeleton and mesh. Then once again import the ghoul but this make sure the "import skeleton only and parent selected" button is selected and blender should parent the skeleton to your custom mesh as best it can.

 

this Blender to Fallout 3 - Tutorial is older, but it touches on a lot of questions/subjects that are related directly to what your trying to accomplish. Good luck brother and check in on the thread when you'v got you critter up and running, it looks cool :thumbsup:

[Traveisimo]

i don't ave timeto try this now but thanks a lot, you have really helped.

[Traveisimo]

I need more help, (sorry)

it wonèt export, it appears to export as nif but there is no file

is there a size limit for blender 249.2 with nifscripts, because it has a lot of pollys

[devinpatterson]

I need more help, (sorry)

it wonèt export, it appears to export as nif but there is no file

 

Can you take a screenshot of your export settings. Sometimes it's just a little oversight. For instance if you didn't tick shadow map, it will export fine, but you won't see anything in geck or in game.

 

But really you should post in nexus's blender forum so some of the guys that really know what they're doing can weigh in on this.

 

is there a size limit for blender 249.2 with nifscripts, because it has a lot of pollys

 

Not that I'm aware of

[Quetzlsacatanango]

There is an upper limit, but I have never seen it fail silently. If you are over it you don't want it in the game that high anyway.

[Traveisimo]

whell i tried shifting the settings but that didn't help so i'l try lowering the pollys, if that doesn't work i'll try taking this to the blender forum, thanks a lot for all the help