Resources for 3D Modeling

Overview

This is a collection of links to resources that are very helpful when it comes to modding Oblivion.

2D Graphics Manipulation

GIMP

GIMP is free image editing software.

Beginner Tutorials

GIMP tutorials geared towards people who are just starting to learn texturing.

• CommunityMX
• PDF - Texturing for Dummies. Somewhat geared towards Photoshop but mostly explains methods and theory. The file is 7.4 MB so you may want to right-click and save this one to view instead of opening it through your browser.
• Grokking the GIMP - An online book.

Oblivion-Specific Tutorials

GIMP tutorials that have a specific goal focused on Oblivion.

• Better Retextures: Detailed Guide For NifSkope and the GIMP
• Canadian Ice Forum - Contains guides on normal mapping, creating icons, and semi-transparent textures.
• Oblivion Texturing Tutorial Wiki

Contains guides on normal mapping, creating icons, and semi-transparent textures and much much more.

Non-Oblivion-Specific Tutorials

GIMP tutorials that are not specific to Oblivion.

• GIMP.org Tutorials

Adobe Photoshop Tutorials

Adobe Photoshop is an expensive but industry standard image editing software.

Beginner Tutorials

Adobe Photoshop tutorials geared towards people who are just starting to learn texturing.

• Good-Tutorials.com Basic tutorials
• This thread has 3 pdf files for texturing. You will find more advanced tutorials if you browse around the sites forums and wiki.

Oblivion-Specific Tutorials

Adobe Photoshop tutorials that have a specific goal focused on Oblivion.

• Oblivion Texturing Tutorial Wiki

Contains guides on normal mapping, creating icons, and semi-transparent textures and much much more.

• Construction Set Wiki Tutorials

Non-Oblivion-Specific Tutorials

Adobe Photoshop tutorials that are not specific to Oblivion.

• Ben Mathis's site directed toward video game modeling and texturing.
• 3DTotal.com With JavaScript is enabled, go to "Free Stuff-->Tutorials-->Photoshop"
• A long list of tutorials (check out the subcategories)
• Tutorials and free brushes.
• Photoshop Guides (tons of useful tutorials)

Textures Resources

• AZtextures - Free high resolution textures organised in categories.
• CGTextures - 9,300+ Uber-Hi-Res textures. Categorized very well. Limitation = 50MB daily quota.
• Mayang's Free Texture Library - 3,400+ Uber-Hi-Res textures. Limitation = 20 textures per day.
• Noctua Graphics - 459 Hi-Res seamlessly tileable textures.
• defcon-x - 90 Uber-Hi-Res wood textures.
• Absolute Background Textures Archive - A large repository of small images.
• Image*After - Hi-Res textures.
• Texture Library - 857 Medium-Res textures.
• FreeFoto - 300+ Medium-Res textures, somewhat slow site.
• Ookaboo: Free Pictures of Everything On Earth
• PixelPoke - Hi-Res textures and tutorials to create your own textures.
• LogSplitters - 50+ Medium-Res textures of wood.
• uwa.edu.au - Tons of Low to Medium-Res textures neatly categorized.
• RansomActive - For Sale - Textures, Models, Images, Sounds.
• Industry Graphics: Real Texture - For Sale - Texture volumes.
• iStockphoto - For Sale - Photos and Illustration.
• Shutterstock - For Sale - Photos.

3D Modeling

3DLinks.com - Massive list of tutorial links to most 3D programs and 2D textures.

3D Modeling Tutorials

Tutorials about 3D modeling that are not intentionally specific to a particular tool.

• Articulation by the seat of your pants
• Low-Poly Character Modeling by Ben Mathis
• Real Time Character Modeling Tutorial

Blender 3D Tutorials

Beginner Tutorials

Blender 3D tutorials geared towards people who are just starting to learn 3D modeling.

• Roy The Artist
• Official Blender Forum
• Blender Manual
• Noob to Pro
• UV Map Basics
• Video Tutorials
• Multiple threads ranging from beginner to advanced
• The Blender Knowledge Base (Mesh Editing, Rendering, Animation)
• Blender Normal Maps 1
• Blender Normal Maps 2
• Blender Normal Maps 3
• Mesh Editing Techniques
• Joining/Separating Parts of a Mesh
• Basic Objects
• Modelling Techniques and Strategies
• Creating a Logo
• A Simple Chair
• Candle
• Blender Cafe Tutorials
• The Gnomon Workshop - Training DVDs for sale and others for free.
• Blender Texture Disc - Textures, Materials, Plugins and Tutorials for Blender.
• Blender Learning Units by Tufts University

Oblivion-Specific Tutorials

Blender 3D tutorials that have a specific goal focused on Oblivion.

• Importing Animations from Blender
• Custom Sword in Blender
• Custom Shield in Blender
• Custom Cuirass in Blender Part 1
• Custom Cuirass in Blender Part 2
• Blender UVMapping Tutorial
• Modeling, Configuring, Splitting meshes for characters
• Exporting in .obj format
• Starter for hair meshes
• CuteUnits guide to rigging meshes and exporting them
• throttlekitty's guide to rigging meshes and exporting them
• Easy Rigging in Blender
• Growlfs Blender Tutorial - Skinning (in German but with screenshots)

Non-Oblivion-Specific Tutorials

Blender 3D tutorials that are not specific to Oblivion.

• Making a Sword Part 1
• Making a Sword Part 2
• UV Mapping a head. Note: For people using newer versions of blender that are following this select "unwrap" as you won't see "LSCM" as an option.
• Links to many more tutorials
• Tons of tutorials in two locations. Look under "Tutorials-->Tutorials" and "Tutorials-->Tutorial Links"
• Blender.org links to many more tutorials (some with video)
• Blender.org Tutorials
• Video tutorials, non-video tutorials on the right-side of the page under Tutorials
• BSoD/Introduction to Character Animation
• geneome video tutorials (36+ tutorials)
• Unwrapping a Mesh by Blender.org - UVMaps

3D Studio Max Tutorials

Beginner Tutorials

3D Studio Max tutorials geared towards people who are just starting to learn 3D modeling.

• Beginner and Advanced tutorials (has videos)
• With JavaScript is enabled, go to "Free Stuff-->Tutorials-->3d Studio Max-->Beginners"
• 16-minute long video.
• Explains the Max user interface.
• 3ds Max Tutorials for beginners.

Oblivion-Specific Tutorials

3D Studio Max tutorials that have a specific goal focused on Oblivion.

• Contains tutorials on Importing, Exporting, Conversion, and Configuration.
• Quick and dirty rigging in 3DS Max
• 3ds Max simple animation tutorial
• How to get multiple MOPP shapes

Non-Oblivion-Specific Tutorials

3D Studio Max tutorials that are not specific to Oblivion.

• Ben Mathis's site directed toward video game modeling and texturing.
• Modeling Joan of Arc by Michel Roger - This tutorial covers modeling starting with a person all the way through to adding armor, a weapon, UV mapping, rigging, etc. In other words, it's pretty thorough.]
• With JavaScript is enabled, go to "Free Stuff-->Tutorials-->3d Studio Max"
• You need to define what you're searching for but there's lots of stuff here.
• another long list of tutorials (check out the subcategories)

Example Models

• Stick Figure Weapons (Blender Files)
• Pillow (Blender File)
• Dragon Sword (Blender File)
• TurboSquid - Can't make your own? You can buy them here. Also some freebies.
• The 3D Studio - Some are free, others you buy.
• CGTrader - 3D models marketplace.

NifSkope Tutorials

• Has multiple links to NifSkope documentation and tutorials.
• Animated Weapons Tutorial by J3X
• Working with Nifs Series

Construction Set Tutorials

• List of Construction Set Wiki Tutorials
• House, Quest and Scenery tutorials
• How to Make a Quest
• Dialogue Tutorial Video by Tandem
• New Equipment Tutorial.doc by Alpha_Vortex
• Oblivion Enchantment Tutorial by tonyGar
• Buyable House Tutorial by Smokindan

Miscellaneous

• Normal Maps using Photography.
• WetPaint Modeling and Tutorial Wiki.
• Windy's Tutorial on creating a bow that morph (animated).
• Nicoroshi's way of using Windy's Bow Morph method
• Making a Custom Race Tutorial for Oblivion by Grimdeath
• Distributing useable horse armor retextures legally - This is fairly advanced and not for a novice.
• Program (and tutorial) to convert images to DDS format.
• wz_'s Mod Blog.
• Creating Normal Maps (by Valve Software)
• Blender, GIMP, and OpenGL class - Has links, lab assignments and student examples.
• www.3D-Resources.com - Models, Textures and Tutorials.
• UVMapper - View or Create UV Maps. Classic version is FREE.
• Texturing Made Easy by blackshark64

Tools

Name: 3D Studio Max
Version: 2011
Date: 3/7/2010
Cost: $3,500
Requirements: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, Microsoft DirectX 9.0c
Source: www.autodesk.com/3dsmax/
Description:
3D Modeling software. From what I hear, it's the bomb-digadie but the learning curve is high due to the complexity. I'll never know cause I'll probably never afford the pricetag.

Name: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Version: 12.0
Date: 4/12/2010
Cost: $700
Source: www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/
Associated file extensions: .psd
Description:
Professional image-editing software.

Name: Blender
Version: 2.49b
Date: 9/3/2009
Cost: Free (Open Source)
Compatibility: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, Mac OSX, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, Irix
Source: www.blender.org, TESNexus File Mirror
Description:
3D Modeling software. Create models, UV maps, rigging/skinning and animations for Oblivion with the aid of Blender NIF Scripts and PyFFI.

Name: Bodypaint 3D
Version: 12
Date: 9/1/2010
Cost: $1,000
Source: www.maxon.net
Description:
Paint textures directly on 3D images.

Name: DDS Converter
Version: 2.1
Date: 8/13/2004
Cost: Free
Source: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8698
Description:
A program to allow you to easily convert to and from DDS easily.
The program supports DDS, TGA, JPG, BMP, PNG and PSD image formats (you can import and export to any of those formats).

Name: GIMP
Version: 2.6.10
Date: 7/8/2010
Cost: Free (Open Source)
Source: www.gimp.org
Associated file extensions: .gimp?
Description:
Image-editing software.

Name: NifSkope
Version: 1.0.22
Date: 3/18/2010
Cost: Free (Open Source)
Source: NifTools
Description:
NIFSkope is a graphical program that allows you to open NIF files, view their contents, edit them, and write them back out again.

Name: NIBlE
Version: 0.5 Build 20071220
Date: 12/20/2007
Cost: Freeware
Source: Nible Wiki
Description:
NIBLE is a graphical interface for NIF-File manipulation, including a Morrowind <--> Oblivion conversion function.

Name: Paint Shop Pro
Version: 13.0 (X3)
Date: 1/25/2010
Cost: $60
Source: www.paintshoppro.com
Associated file extensions: .psp, .pspimage
Description:
Professional image-editing software. Similar functions to Photoshop.
NOTE: NVidia Photoshop plugins did not seem to work in version 9.0. NVidia plugins have been confirmed to work with version 7.0.

Name: Autodesk SoftImage Mod Tool
Version: 2011
Date: 4/1/2010
Cost: Free
Source: AutoDesk Softimage Mod Tool
Description:
Mod Tool is a 3D modeling and animation package, for non-commercial use, that plugs right into Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express and Valve Half- Life 2.

Name: ZBrush
Version: 4.0
Date: 8/9/2010
Cost: $600
Source: www.pixologic.com
Description:
Paint textures directly on 3D images.

References

Resources for 3D Modeling
List O Tutorial Links