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Blender/Creature Meshes 101 (edit)

Revision as of 09:25, 20 August 2006

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[[Category:Modeling_and_Texturing_Tutorials]]
[[Category:Tutorials]]
{| style="background:#ffff55;"
{| style="background:#ffff55;"
  |'''DO NOT EDIT OR DELETE THIS PAGE JUST YET, I'M KEEPING THE SOURCE AT HOME IN MY EDITOR FOR NOW!'''
  | '''DO NOT EDIT OR DELETE THIS PAGE JUST YET, I'M KEEPING THE SOURCE AT HOME IN MY EDITOR FOR NOW!'''
  |}
  |}


Place comments/questions/bugs on the discussion page, please.
Place comments/questions/bugs on the discussion page, please.
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* List items like this are actions to follow.
* List items like this are actions to follow.


''This defines a goal of some sort.''
''Italics define a goal of some sort.''


'''When I write something in bold, I mean it. Really.'''


== The Blurb, or preface ==
== The Blurb, or preface ==
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Download and install all of these.
Download and install all of these.


[http://www.blender.org Blender]
* [http://www.blender.org Blender]
Blender NIF export scripts
* [http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=149157 Blender NIF export scripts]
NIFskope
* From the same page, [http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=149157 NIFskope itself]<br>
BSA commander (or alternative, see below)
 
For BSA unpacking, you also need [http://www34.brinkster.com/ghostwheel/ a tool] capable of that (see below), and for texture work you want an image editing program which is capable of saving DDS files. If you don't have Photoshop, use [http://www.gimp.org The Gimp] and the associated [http://registry.gimp.org/plugin?id=4816 DDS export plugin]. Otherwise, just get the Photoshop plugin from [http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html NVidia].


Oh, and don't make it a habit to just click on any link you're seeing. That can be dangerous.


=== Required: Unpack your BSA ===
=== Required: Unpack your BSA ===


...
We need to unpack the original files first so we can mod them. The original files come in a special archive format called BSA. Imagine it as a giant ZIP archive, only it hasn't been packed with ZIP, but with another tool.  
 
* to unpack, please peruse the [[BSA Unpacker Tutorial]] on this wiki


My unpacked BSA files go in c:\programme\bsacmd\out. Yours will be somewhere else. I'll refer to that folder under the name of "unpacked BSA folder" below.
Because I'm german and because I used BSA commander, my unpacked BSA files go in c:\programme\bsacmd\out. Yours will be somewhere else, if you followed the tutorial, c:\BSA. I'll refer to that folder under the name of "unpacked BSA folder" below.


=== Required: Learn Blender ===
=== Required: Learn Blender ===
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|}
|}


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. 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, 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.


[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.
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[[image:tutcre101-scrn-csnewcreat.gif|right|thumb]]
[[image:tutcre101-scrn-csnewcreat.gif|right|thumb]]
So far we have created a working .nif file. When we want to get it into Oblivion, we must make a mod. I'm really no expert on the CS stuff, but the following works. ''We will use the Construction Set to create a mod containing our creature.''


* open the construction set
* open the construction set
* load the Oblivion.esm: File>Data...>mark Oblivion.esm>OK
* load the Oblivion.esm: File>Data...>mark Oblivion.esm>OK
First, we need to ''create a new creature with our .nif''.
* select Actors>Creatures>Creatures
* select Actors>Creatures>Creatures
* right click in the left pane, select New
* right click in the left pane, select New
* In the new creatures dialog, ID an name "Goat"
* In the new creatures dialog, ID an name "Goat"
* 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 neccessary here to get the CS to load the models and animations. We directly reopen the dialog, and ''activate our modded model''.
* In the right pane, a new entry "oursheep" appeared in Actors>Creatures>Creatures, select that
* In the right pane, a new entry "oursheep" appeared in Actors>Creatures>Creatures, select that
* In the right pane is one entry "Goat", double click that
* In the right pane is one entry "Goat", double click that
* From the tabs in the middle, select model list (look right)
* From the tabs in the middle, select model list (look right)
* check goat.nif
* check goat.nif
* save everything before the next move!
* '''save everything before the next move!'''
 
Excited yet? You should be!
 
* in the right pane, hit preview
* in the right pane, hit preview


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* switch to the Animations tab, and double click each animation
* switch to the Animations tab, and double click each animation


[[image:tutcre101-scrn-cspreview.jpg]]
To make it look right, you'd start the next iteration of work: Finessing the model and the weight painting. But from this point on, you know that you can actually do it. Putting a goat into Oblivion is possible, and further work on the model, the weight painting, the UV mapping and the texture will not be for nothing.
 
[[image:tutcre101-scrn-cspreview.jpg|thumb]]


=== Loading it into Oblivion: not tired of quickies yet ===
=== Loading it into Oblivion: not tired of quickies yet ===


...
Seeing the creature in the CS is fine and dandy, but you probably want to see the creature in the game, not just in the CS. By now you probably want to hit it really hard. The correct way is to place the creature using the CS, fire up the game, go to the place where the creature should be, draw your sword and hit the thing. We're going to take a shortcut, which gives us a little more flexibility: ''We want to load the creature from the console.''
 
The console command to load something a few paces in front of you is
 
player.placeatme ''FormID'' 1,250,0
 
The 1 means load one object, the 250 means "a few paces", and the 0 stands for "in front of the player". The FormID is a unique identifier for everything in the game, and it is written in hex. For the tests I did for this tutorial, the FormID was 10004C97. Here's how to ''get your FormID''.
 
[[image:tutcre101-scrn-formid.gif|right|thumb]]
 
* in the Construction Set's object window, find the Actors>Creatures>Creatures>oursheep entry, click that
* in the left pane you see a table: Editor ID, Count, Users, ...
* between Editor ID and Count is a hidden column, open that by dragging the right of the two lines between them to the right
* 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 pathes.
 
{| width="30%" align="right" style="background:#aaffaa;"
| '''HINT'''
 
Never start Oblivion with the CS running in the background without having saved. At least minimize the Construction Set. For me, when I don't, Oblivion crashes most of the time, and takes the whole computer down with it.
|}
 
'''Either'''
* make your mod the first to load using OBMM, and use mod number 01
 
'''or'''
* count your active mods, add 1, convert that to hex, and have your mod number
 
Obviously, I run 15 mods. 15+1=16 converted to hex is 10, that's my mod number.
 
* write down the FormID
* also write down the command above
* close the Construction Set
* run Oblivion
* open the console
* type the player.placeatme command with your FormID in it
* whack away
 
Relieved? Good.
 
[[image:tutcre101-scrn-inoblivion.jpg|thumb]]


== Additional NIFskope work: collision boxes ==
== Additional NIFskope work: collision boxes ==
If you played around some with the goat in Oblivion, you may have noticed a few things, first that you sometimes can see into the model, and second, that when the creature is dead, the legs disappear in the ground. Both problems are due to collision boxes for sheep used on our goat - they're not really fitting.


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