Difference between revisions of "Blender/Creature Meshes 101"
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Place comments/questions/bugs on the discussion page, please. | Place comments/questions/bugs on the discussion page, please. | ||
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'''When I write something in bold, I mean it. Really.''' | '''When I write something in bold, I mean it. Really.''' | ||
== The Blurb, or | == The Blurb, or Preface == | ||
While I still played Oblivion, I always wished for more creatures, more simple animal | While I still played Oblivion, I always wished for more creatures, more simple animal life for Oblivion because, you see, the bears and slaughterfish and eight other animals don't seem to be quite enough to fill a world this large. | ||
So I started out to follow CuteUnits call for more sealife, and tried to educate myself on the creation of new creatures for Oblivion. About 60 hours later, and endless gnawing on the tools, and howling with frustration, and much gnashing of teeth, and pestering people on the forum, I managed to get my first model into the game. | So I started out to follow CuteUnits' call for more sealife, and tried to educate myself on the creation of new creatures for Oblivion. About 60 hours later, and endless gnawing on the tools, and howling with frustration, and much gnashing of teeth, and pestering people on the forum, I managed to get my first model into the game. | ||
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While I learned as much in such a short time as I haven't for years, I would rather have had a simple "click here, then there"-style | While I learned as much in such a short time as I haven't for years, I would rather have had a simple "click here, then there"-style guide to follow to get me started. This guide is meant as such, designed to help you getting started. | ||
Be warned | Be warned on two accounts, though. First: Learning all this is not easy and there are seldom quick successes to be had. You need to take your time and play with things. Second: When you continue to explore the guts of NIF and meshes and materials, there's much trouble on your way. You need to be persistent. No tutorial can teach you that. | ||
I'm | Of course, I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. Few things you find in here are actually my own. | ||
That said, let's delve right in. | That said, let's delve right in. | ||
== Preparations == | == Preparations == | ||
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=== Required: Basics === | === Required: Basics === | ||
You need to know how to deal with .zip files, how to work in Windows Explorer (e.g. how to navigate to a folder and look at the contents), how to install and run programs, how to use a search engine and the search function on forums. | You need to know how to deal with .zip files, how to work in Windows Explorer (e.g. how to navigate to a folder and look at the contents), how to install and run programs, and how to use a search engine and the search function on forums. | ||
If such things are beyond you, | If such things are beyond you, this isn't your cup of tea. | ||
=== Required: Tools === | === Required: Tools === | ||
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|'''HINTS''' | |'''HINTS''' | ||
As any very complex program, Blender cannot be learned by just exploration. You need to read the manual. Really, now. Go. I'll be waiting here for you. | As with any very complex program, Blender cannot be learned by just exploration. You need to read the manual. Really, now. Go. I'll be waiting here for you. | ||
The | The German version is quite a bit better organized. If you understand German better than English, use that. | ||
|} | |} | ||
You need to learn the basics of the modeller we use first. The documentation is as free as the program, and you will have to spend a few hours learning to move in Blender, to select and move things, to edit a mesh. You need to understand a few words, for example vertex, mesh, object. To that end, doing a tutorial will get you started nicely. | You need to learn the basics of the modeller we use first. The documentation is as free as the program, and you will have to spend a few hours learning to move in Blender, to select and move things, or to edit a mesh. You need to understand a few words, for example: vertex, mesh, and object. To that end, doing a tutorial will get you started nicely. | ||
[http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro This] is ''the'' newbie documentation for blender. | [http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro This] is ''the'' newbie documentation for blender. | ||
Follow the tutorial, and I mean, '''follow it''', using Blender and the mouse and the keyboard, up to | Follow the tutorial, and I mean, '''follow it''', using Blender and the mouse and the keyboard, up to and including, the Quickie Model section. You should be good to go from there. You'll need to read up on other sections later, though. And try to remember that there's a section devoted to splitting windows. I'll test you later! | ||
== Finding and preparing an existing creature to mod == | == Finding and preparing an existing creature to mod == | ||
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* Now copy the whole sheep folder to Oblivion\Data\meshes\creatures. You may need to create the meshes\creatures folders in your Data folder first. | * Now copy the whole sheep folder to Oblivion\Data\meshes\creatures. You may need to create the meshes\creatures folders in your Data folder first. | ||
* Since we do not wish to replace the sheep coming with Oblivion, we rename the sheep folder to "oursheep". | * Since we do not wish to replace the sheep coming with Oblivion, we rename the sheep folder to "oursheep". | ||
* Make a backup copy of the .nif files right now. That's not strictly | * Make a backup copy of the .nif files right now. That's not strictly necessary, but convenient. Just select them, hit Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V. Should you want to start anew with a fresh skeleton.nif or so, it will be right there. | ||
That's the folder we're going to work with. In there are the files we're going to mod! | That's the folder we're going to work with. In there are the files we're going to mod! | ||
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Your surface normals must point in the right direction, or weirdness will ensue. If you have darker surfaces in the shaded view in Blender, they're not "normal". If you have a closed model, that's pretty simple to fix: SPACE, Edit>Normals>Recalculate outside. I do that quite often on the slightest suspicion that something is wrong. Blender will get it wrong once in a while when you start to place vertices by hand and fill the polygons in by hand. But, that's easy to fix. | Your surface normals must point in the right direction, or weirdness will ensue. If you have darker surfaces in the shaded view in Blender, they're not "normal". If you have a closed model, that's pretty simple to fix: SPACE, Edit>Normals>Recalculate outside. I do that quite often on the slightest suspicion that something is wrong. Blender will get it wrong once in a while when you start to place vertices by hand and fill the polygons in by hand. But, that's easy to fix. | ||
Make sure you don't have double vertices (SPACE, Edit>Vertices>Remove Doubles). Also make sure you didn't | Make sure you don't have double vertices (SPACE, Edit>Vertices>Remove Doubles). Also make sure you didn't accidentally put lines through or vertices inside of your model. If normalization does not appear to do what it should, that's usually the problem: Your model is not continuous. You have doubled vertices or open-ended surfaces. | ||
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[[image:tutcre101-scrn-vertexgroups.gif|left|thumb]] | [[image:tutcre101-scrn-vertexgroups.gif|left|thumb]] | ||
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| '''HINT''' | |||
I ran into problems when I once tried to completely remove a vertex from one group, '''have a backup copy handy''' if you want to do that. I believe they must be weighted to 0 before removing them from a group, but I'm not sure. | |||
|} | |||
Actually there is a deterministic method to find that out which vertices you missed, right in Blender. I showed you the visual method so you can recognize it in NIFskope later. | Actually there is a deterministic method to find that out which vertices you missed, right in Blender. I showed you the visual method so you can recognize it in NIFskope later. | ||
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There they are. You can of course first select all, and then deselct the vertex groups one by one, too. | There they are. You can of course first select all, and then deselct the vertex groups one by one, too. | ||
* '''read the hint box''' before running off | |||
=== UV mapping the model === | === UV mapping the model === | ||
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== Putting it all together == | == Putting it all together == | ||
Now we have a .nif containing a skeleton, and a mesh. ''We're now going to mod the | Now we have a .nif containing a skeleton, and a mesh. ''We're now going to mod the original sheep.nif to use our new mesh.'' Sounds like we're nearly there, doesn't it? And, want to know something? We don't need the skeleton, as we didn't need the sheep mesh in Blender before. But now, we don't simply delete it, we're just not going to copy it. | ||
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* There, click "Add NIF file...", and use the skeleton.nif from the Oblivion\Data\meshes\creatures\oursheep folder, click OK | * There, click "Add NIF file...", and use the skeleton.nif from the Oblivion\Data\meshes\creatures\oursheep folder, click OK | ||
Clicking OK was | Clicking OK was necessary here to get the CS to load the models and animations. We directly reopen the dialog, and ''activate our modded model''. | ||
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* there is a column named "Form ID" | * there is a column named "Form ID" | ||
The FormID there is '''01'''004C97 not '''10'''004C97 as I claimed above. That's because the first two digits are the mod number, in loading order, in hex. Since this is the most recently changed mod, it's always the last one. From here, you have two | The FormID there is '''01'''004C97 not '''10'''004C97 as I claimed above. That's because the first two digits are the mod number, in loading order, in hex. Since this is the most recently changed mod, it's always the last one. From here, you have two paths. | ||
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== Texturing quickie == | == Texturing quickie == | ||
As I'm not much of an artist, I can't really help you with actually drawing the texture. If you have nice pictures for the model, you can possibly use them to quickly cut&paste together a passable texture. I'd put | As I'm not much of an artist, I can't really help you with actually drawing the texture. If you have nice pictures for the model, you can possibly use them to quickly cut&paste together a passable texture. I'd put the saved UV layout we created during the UV mapping phase into a separate layer and draw on a see-through-layer on top of that. I believe texture sizes must be powers of two, e.g. 128x512, 1024x1024, 256x2048 and so on, but I may be wrong. | ||
When you have | When you have finished the texture, ''it has to be in the right format and in the right place.'' There are may good guides on that on the CS wiki, but here's a quickie using The Gimp. The Photoshop way may be easier - if you have Photoshop. | ||
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* create/open the texture file in gimp | * create/open the texture file in gimp | ||
* save as .dds file in oblivion\data\textures\creatures\goat\goat.dds | * save as .dds file in oblivion\data\textures\creatures\goat\goat.dds | ||
* select | * select DXT1 No Alpha. If the texture map requires the use of the alpha channel, ie contains a parallax or alpha transparency map, then select DXT5 (see "Choosing the right DXTC compression [http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Choose_the_right_DXTC_compression_algorithm lnk]) Check create mipmaps. | ||
Now, open the goat.nif again with NIFskope. | Now, open the goat.nif again with NIFskope. | ||
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I expect to hear from you! | I expect to hear from you! | ||
[[Category:Modeling Tutorials]] | |||
[[Category:Tutorials]] |