Difference between revisions of "Blender/Custom Shield"
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Fixed capitalization of NifSkope and NIF Scripts.
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Blender tutorials: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro | Blender tutorials: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro | ||
NifSkope - a powerful mesh-editing program whose interface is, er, a little less difficult than Blender's. | |||
Get it here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=149157&package_id=170735 | Get it here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=149157&package_id=170735 | ||
The Blender | The Blender NIF Scripts from Sourceforge - these allow you to import and export .nif files from Blender, which is necessary for your new mesh. | ||
Get it here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=149157 | Get it here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=149157 | ||
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You'll also need an image editing program such as Photoshop or my favorite, the GIMP, but I won't be showing you how to make a custom texture in this tutorial. | You'll also need an image editing program such as Photoshop or my favorite, the GIMP, but I won't be showing you how to make a custom texture in this tutorial. | ||
=='''Important Preliminaries: Configuring the | =='''Important Preliminaries: Configuring the NIF Scripts'''== | ||
Be sure to configure your | Be sure to configure your NIF Scripts to version 20.0.0.4. You can do this by clicking on the little python emblem in the main menu to take you to the scripts screen. Then click on scripts - system - import/export. This should allow you to choose your .nif import or export scripts from a dropdown menu. Make sure it says .nif version 20.0.0.4 and size 10. (I've heard people say 1, but 10 is what works for me. If your meshes seem too big or small when exported, this is the setting you change.) | ||
=='''Starting from Scratch: Choosing your Collision Boxes'''== | =='''Starting from Scratch: Choosing your Collision Boxes'''== | ||
Blender can't import and export collisions at the present time, so you'll need to find a shield from the existing game that is close to the shape you want. Don't worry if the size is a little off. Things are easy to resize in Blender and in | Blender can't import and export collisions at the present time, so you'll need to find a shield from the existing game that is close to the shape you want. Don't worry if the size is a little off. Things are easy to resize in Blender and in NifSkope. | ||
Delete the collision boxes from the mesh. There should be some branches that say BSX, UPB, bhkrigidbody, etc., and they should all be ABOVE the one that says "nitristrips" or "nitrishape." If you delete some but still can't import, there are still more to delete. After you do this, save the nif under a new name so you don't mess up a game mesh you might need later. | Delete the collision boxes from the mesh. There should be some branches that say BSX, UPB, bhkrigidbody, etc., and they should all be ABOVE the one that says "nitristrips" or "nitrishape." If you delete some but still can't import, there are still more to delete. After you do this, save the nif under a new name so you don't mess up a game mesh you might need later. | ||
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If you started from scratch, this is where you need to give the object a UV map, a material and a texture in Blender. I'm not going into that here. It's in the tutorials. If you started from a game mesh, you don't have to do that because it's already been done for you by Bethesda. Don't forget to use ctrl-a to apply scale and rotation. I recommend also saving the UV map from the UV map window for texturing use later. | If you started from scratch, this is where you need to give the object a UV map, a material and a texture in Blender. I'm not going into that here. It's in the tutorials. If you started from a game mesh, you don't have to do that because it's already been done for you by Bethesda. Don't forget to use ctrl-a to apply scale and rotation. I recommend also saving the UV map from the UV map window for texturing use later. | ||
=='''Exporting the Mesh and Editing in | =='''Exporting the Mesh and Editing in NifSkope'''== | ||
Okay, now export. File - export - netimmerse/gamebryo. Choose the folder you want your shield to go into - let's say data files\meshes\armor\mynewshield.nif. | Okay, now export. File - export - netimmerse/gamebryo. Choose the folder you want your shield to go into - let's say data files\meshes\armor\mynewshield.nif. | ||
Open up your nif with | Open up your nif with NifSkope. It may look odd if you started from a game mesh, since it will have the original texture on it still, but that's not what we're worried about right now. Be sure and expand the texture node branch to make sure it has the following series of numbers going downwards: 6,1,3,1,1. If it says 5,2, etc., change it. Believe me, you'll thank me later. | ||
''EDIT for latest | ''EDIT for latest NifSkope version: With the newest one you only have to change one number. The very last thing in the texture node is a number 0 that needs to be changed to a 1.'' | ||
Now go to file - new window. Remember the original mesh you chose for its collision boxes? The one that still has those boxes, because it's the original version that you did NOT save over with a new one? Load that in the new window. Find the nitristrips node for the actual shield itself - when you click on it it will be highlighted in the main window. Right click - block - remove branch. Now it is gone but its collision shapes (the bhkconvexvertices node) are still there. | Now go to file - new window. Remember the original mesh you chose for its collision boxes? The one that still has those boxes, because it's the original version that you did NOT save over with a new one? Load that in the new window. Find the nitristrips node for the actual shield itself - when you click on it it will be highlighted in the main window. Right click - block - remove branch. Now it is gone but its collision shapes (the bhkconvexvertices node) are still there. | ||
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=='''Adding a Texture'''== | =='''Adding a Texture'''== | ||
Now it's time to do some texturing. I'm not going to tell you how to make a texture from scratch here, but once you have one, you've only got to type the texture path into the top of the texture node in | Now it's time to do some texturing. I'm not going to tell you how to make a texture from scratch here, but once you have one, you've only got to type the texture path into the top of the texture node in NifSkope next to the little flower symbol. It will usually look something like data\textures\armor\mynewshield.dds. This tells NifSkope where your texture is. For now I'll leave it that the texture must be a .dds file and it must have a normal map, which is called something like mynewshield_n.dds. | ||
''::Important warning: make sure the slashes in the texture name lean backwards, like this: \ and not forwards like this: / or the game will refuse to recognize the texture. | ''::Important warning: make sure the slashes in the texture name lean backwards, like this: \ and not forwards like this: / or the game will refuse to recognize the texture. NifSkope will sometimes try to change this around on you.'' | ||
=='''Getting Your New Shield Into the Construction Set'''== | =='''Getting Your New Shield Into the Construction Set'''== | ||