Retexturing masks

[xander2077 80]

thanks. i think im going to take a short break from this for a little bit. i need to recenter. but when i get back i should have some new stuff to post. i want to do some new "robes/armor" models, and i also want to figure out how to get these models exported properly for the vanilla masks, and any other models im cooking up using the tools i have.

 

on the future agenda i will have some very cool stuff. i want to drag some new content in based on some very old SW history that predates the republic. and seeing as how it ties into the infinite empire of the rakata, it should be a lot of fun.

 

1. a force sabre.

2. various stuff from the same time frame of both je'daii and sith. (masks, robes, weapons etc...)

3. some of the early tales of the jedi masks, robes, armor, etc. (sith, krath, and jedi)

4. a new set of gauntlets.

 

im not sure how i will incorporate all this stuff, but i think i know how it would work best. since each piece of the "hero" costumes can correspond to various articles of clothing, i think it would be best to make them the various parts, mask or helmet, robe, armor, armbands, gauntlets, belts, etc... and the combination of synced items would give an enormous power boost or combination of effects. some will be restricted to certain alignment, some will be restricted to certain class. and some will be cross class but with a penalty. at first i wanted to do disguises but that actually seems more complicated than piecing things out properly.

 

i also have some other masks to modify/retexture, but they are player made. i do not know when i will tackle that either. the droid was kind of a natural stopping point for the moment. im getting to a place where its kind of like writers block, and i have to step back for a while. i also have to focus on finding a reliable way of getting things in game using linux. as long as it is only a model or texture replacement, it wont be as bad, but if it has anything to do with scripts, or modifying the 2da, or uti, or i think gff, or anything like that, it will be a huge learning curve on command line tools i have never used before. so i will need to consult the tools creators for some insight. since this is uncharted territory for me, and they have more experience obviously, i will have to lean on that for success.

[Jorak Uln 458]

@xander2077:

 

your ideas sound really interesting - especially new robe & armor models (based on SWTOR??) should be an intriguing addition to the visuals of both games.

[xander2077 80]

@xander2077:

 

your ideas sound really interesting - especially new robe & armor models (based on SWTOR??) should be an intriguing addition to the visuals of both games.

 

actually im trying to stay away from ToR content on purpose. the reason being it would look like a rip and conversion rather than new content. so the models will be different, so will the weapons and armors/robes. most of them will be sourced from dawn of the jedi and tales of the jedi respectively to predate the events in K1. some will coincide with K1 and 2 and ToR but be new or different. they will be more like easter eggs of a sort than trying to make K1 or 2 into ToR. now granted some of this has already been done before, but im trying to break new ground or put my own interpretation into the models and textures to hopefully make things look better as well as fit in with the art style of K1 and 2, and ToR stuff would kind of clash with that. so beyond my own interpretation of two of the helmets, (the arkanian and mando above) i probably will not include anything related to ToR. im struggling to find source material (concept art) ,to get ideas from, that would fit, but i have a bit of a collection of Ralph mcquarrie drawings that i can get ideas from, as well as some of the cover art and comic book art for robes and armor that is more realistic. so it is pretty much just a matter of finding additional drawings of masks he did to fill in some gaps. therea re a couple more i have found but like i said i need a break. somtimes it is hard to turn a drawing into a model that doesnt look out of place. somtimes that involves complex problem solving related to geometry. anyway, stay tuned. more to come later.

[Haveayap 127]

actually im trying to stay away from ToR content on purpose. the reason being it would look like a rip and conversion rather than new content. so the models will be different, so will the weapons and armors/robes. most of them will be sourced from dawn of the jedi and tales of the jedi respectively to predate the events in K1. some will coincide with K1 and 2 and ToR but be new or different. they will be more like easter eggs of a sort than trying to make K1 or 2 into ToR. now granted some of this has already been done before, but im trying to break new ground or put my own interpretation into the models and textures to hopefully make things look better as well as fit in with the art style of K1 and 2, and ToR stuff would kind of clash with that. so beyond my own interpretation of two of the helmets, (the arkanian and mando above) i probably will not include anything related to ToR. im struggling to find source material (concept art) ,to get ideas from, that would fit, but i have a bit of a collection of Ralph mcquarrie drawings that i can get ideas from, as well as some of the cover art and comic book art for robes and armor that is more realistic. so it is pretty much just a matter of finding additional drawings of masks he did to fill in some gaps. therea re a couple more i have found but like i said i need a break. somtimes it is hard to turn a drawing into a model that doesnt look out of place. somtimes that involves complex problem solving related to geometry. anyway, stay tuned. more to come later.

Sounds great, although if they do give you huge powerups, I'd expect the items to be extremely hard to get

[Malkior 476]

actually im trying to stay away from ToR content on purpose. the reason being it would look like a rip and conversion rather than new content. so the models will be different, so will the weapons and armors/robes. most of them will be sourced from dawn of the jedi and tales of the jedi respectively to predate the events in K1. some will coincide with K1 and 2 and ToR but be new or different. they will be more like easter eggs of a sort than trying to make K1 or 2 into ToR. now granted some of this has already been done before, but im trying to break new ground or put my own interpretation into the models and textures to hopefully make things look better as well as fit in with the art style of K1 and 2, and ToR stuff would kind of clash with that. so beyond my own interpretation of two of the helmets, (the arkanian and mando above) i probably will not include anything related to ToR. im struggling to find source material (concept art) ,to get ideas from, that would fit, but i have a bit of a collection of Ralph mcquarrie drawings that i can get ideas from, as well as some of the cover art and comic book art for robes and armor that is more realistic. so it is pretty much just a matter of finding additional drawings of masks he did to fill in some gaps. therea re a couple more i have found but like i said i need a break. somtimes it is hard to turn a drawing into a model that doesnt look out of place. somtimes that involves complex problem solving related to geometry. anyway, stay tuned. more to come later.

Have you considered using the Kotor comic series as reference? I've seen some really decent weapons and locations, so I'm sure there are some creative helmets as well.

[xander2077 80]

Have you considered using the Kotor comic series as reference? I've seen some really decent weapons and locations, so I'm sure there are some creative helmets as well.

 

not yet, there is so much i forgot about the comics it is ridiculous. of course that takes time, since not all the best frames are posted on the web and you have to go through page by page to find a decent detail shot. but i used to do that for ships once upon a time. this is similar.

 

Sounds great, although if they do give you huge powerups, I'd expect the items to be extremely hard to get

 

the idea is not to get a huge imbalanced power up right away, but over time as the items are discovered and once combined the effects will be pretty comparable to some of the very late items in the vanilla game. of course they wont be just given away, and they could be in a location that would normally be overlooked. i had thought that maybe i could even turn some of the prop containers into actual loot chests, since there seem to be many of those scattered through the game just waiting to be converted. of course i may also be a little devious and put them in a cluster of containers that are usually just for show to throw someone off.

[HK-47 84]

Opinion: I am loving what I see. Teta's Headband (most likely just the angle of the screenshot, so my opinion may change once viewed in-game) and the middle part of the Ocular Enhancer textures I don't care for. 

 

Admission: I may have missed that any changes were made to them in a post after when those were first posted. In which case, never mind.

 

Enthusiastic Statement: I do, however, love, and I can't express that enough, I love what you are doing with the visors that have the transparent band. That is just awesome. They're all great, but those I love the most.

 

Assurance: You can count on me downloading when released.

[xander2077 80]

well thats fine, i dont expect everyone to like everything i did, however i may also release some alternate textures for little things like that.

 

im also brainstorming on creating some wookie and twilek specific/restricted headgear.  which should actually not be that hard to pull off. i was also thinking of adding the head-dress of jori daragon just for that reason.

 

anyway, here is a sneak peek at something else i am working on as well. i took the suggestion to crack open the kotor comic books and tried to get my head around rohlan dyres helmet, and the trouble with that is there are several different interpretations of it even in the comics, so i decided to go with certain details i thought stuck out and i liked.  and also try and make it so it was not too foreign to a standard head model. im not sure yet on spikes or no spikes, but i think all that road warrior stuff is kinda cliche, so i might not put spikes on the helmet.

 

i am however going to put some decals on it that add a really nice touch that anyone can see in issues 18 and on the cover of issue 42. i may modify the overall details on tha back as well but i have to brainstorm. getting complex shapes to translate to 3d is not always easy. it took me 3 tries to get the cz droid head to resemble the correct details on the head in ANH, and it all begins in starting with the correct shape to build from.

 

pro tip:

 

one thing i do like is that you can use the knife to cut new topology, and then correct it with a geometric shape. so for instance if i need and arc, i can always cut a new line and then generate a circle, use that by moving it into position close to where i want it, and then use the vertices i need from that circle to correct the arc shape just in case the knife didnt quite turn out right. but that is in extreme cases.

 

another way to correct things is to delete offending faces and then extrude edges only until you patch a hole the way you want it.

 

another tip is you can rotate the edges on two faces to put a crease where you want it or orient it better so the lines are cleaner.

 

also i try to refrain from making really high poly models for kotor, so i start off simple and build slightly on that, instead of building a high poly model that i have to dissolve to knock the poly count back down. im noticing a lot of models i have viewed over the years tend to be built high poly and then dissovled, or they are a huge mess from using bevel and extrude without cleaning them up afterward to make sure there is surface cohesion. another mistake modelers make for games is they relax the vertices to smooth the surface without making sure the vertices are welded together, or rather after they have already separated the faces into tris that are not connected any more. it is just a lot harder to make the model behave unless the vertices are welded together until completion. and relaxing vertices is one of those things you have to be selective with. for instance on this helmet, if the dome was round like a sphere, but somehow not quite right, relax would help smooth the dome, but will also shrink it, so it would be better to relax just the dome if needed, and not the whole helmet. its easier to make small changes than huge ones that take longer to fix. another way to fix unclean lines on a helmet dome is to align the vertices. in blender we have something called flatten. now in max flatten would be along certain hard parameteres by default, either on the x,y, or z axis, and in order to put it on another plane it had to be spceified. in blender by default it is set on the best plane between vertices so it doesnt really alter it too much, just cleans it up a bit. this can make an arc a lot cleaner if things got moved a bit. to force it along a global axis is a bit more difficult but can also have nice results. but to avoid all of that i try to start with the right shape first and i am careful not to mess with the basic shape of things where the important details are.

 

to make certain details pop out, i also use the mark sharp function on key edges. so if the faces are rendered smooth materials, the sharp corners still stay sharp without turning into blobs. sure it may not look all that great in the 3d program, but once textures are on it kind of hides some of the imperfections created by material inconsistencies between faces.

 

finally one of the best functions to remember is symmetry. to get a nice clean look symmetry is a must. this can have its own quirks too though. if for some reason the center line is not right in the middle, it can have bad results. this can be caused by a lot of things, not applying the rotation and location, not having the model center line directly over the y axis, or having a skewed center line. but it is simple to correct. if there are a few strays then symmetry will duplicate the center vertices three times and create a bunch of unnecessary faces, simply selecting all three vertices and then collapsing them to the middle point of all three vertices fixes that and makes it easier to build the UV profile once texturing is started. and lastly, it is easier to work with quads up until the UVs are set and the texture is in place. my final two steps are usually the texture, UV tweaking, and then converting the model to tris for any game engine to have an easier time rendering. occasionally i break this rule, but i pay for it later when i build the texture and use the UV template. with most of the vanilla masks i was able to get around that by simply using the texture as the template and then adjusting the UVs to fit the model better once the texture was done, but on a new model it is better to just make the UV template then texture from that, and then apply tris to the faces and tweak the UVs if needed.

 

two things i have not done in blender yet, are using sculpture for anything but rocks, or using the so called built in paint function. sculpting takes too much memory for my computer so i avoid it, but paint i have not got working yet to try it out, for some reason there is data missing and i have no idea what blender means when it says that. i tried following the tutorial on how to use it, but it is no use, there is still something missing, and no external plugin helps either, otherwise i would have another set of tools to make a good base texture and speed up things. so i have to do textures the old fashioned way. by using the UV template, and hoping it turns out all right.

 

the last picture i uploaded for the rohlan helmet is just about where it should be for the back details, and i also converted it back to quads to make texturing easier. once the texture is applied i will convert it back to tris and adjust any skewed UVs.

 

it may not look like all of the comic book helmet variations with the spikeyness, but i tried to retain the overall look and incorporate it into the overall art style of star wars and make it fit the art style of kotor as well. hopefully it comes off right in the final redition.

 

there are some other mando helmets too that are supposed to be from the expanded universe that i have not really got a chance to research yet, but i will asap. there are a few i really would like to do, but im not sure if i will make them as alternates to another mod or as new helmets on their own. but i think there are plenty of types in the comic to cover both ideas.

 

...

 

like this one. a femal mando helmet in the comics that i tried to replicate in about 20 minutes or so. hopefully it wont clip hair, but i still have yet to try it on other female heads besides the modified juhani head.

 

...

 

another helmet i figure would be good for low level is what i call the arkanian surplus helmet. used by security forces this is one of the many low level helmets available by the dozens in local shops due to its cheap expense and proliferation on the surplus market. it is equipped with a very rudimetary targeting aid and head lamp. classed as light armor it is about a generation behind in the latest technology standards. as a result of it being so prolific, this may be a good helmet to have some republic forces use for new recruits since it would be cheap to equip them with, and just paint them in republic colors. which makes sense if the republic were trying to hurry up and build its forces up quickly and equip them fast. these could be found anywhere in a variety of colors and origins.

 

...

 

example of mission specific headgear is this interpretation of joris headband, based on the design of the headgear worn by jori daragon. the headgear is made to fit over top of missions default headgear and hide it. im not sure if that can be substituted or not but if it can then it will later be modified so it doesnt need to be as bulky.

 

...

 

also for mission, a twilek pilots helmet. this isnt really intended to be used on the ground, but it offers some ballistic protection and it is designed for twileks. found in various junk heaps and shops around the galaxy. as an added bonus, it interfaces with the twilek lekku and adds a bonus to missions senses. the blast shield is there to conceal the hood ornament on the top of missions default headgear.

 

 

MUCH later:

 

while i was waiting around for help with a 2da i was confused about and ktool was burning up my CPU for me, i decided to read the forums a bit and as somewhat of a joke i decided to go ahead and make two additional hutts in celebration of SithSpecter and company's Sleheyron mod.

 

so without further adue, i present the ancient gangsta hutt, and the repulsor hutt... for obvious reasons i dont want to hijack the Sleheyron thread.

[xander2077 80]

ok, back to modeling for now. today i decided to whip up a model for zaalbar only. and this time it is a bowcaster targeting interface that doesnt require an implant. highly illegal on kashyyk but easier to aquire on other less restricted planets.

 

i designed it to clip a little so the hair covers some of the model. hopefully it comes off right.

 

future plans or zaalbar include wookie armor, maybe a helmet or two that he can wear as well. im not sure if i want to make a cap for his head but if i do it will tie into his clan powers kind of like a talisman.

 

the armor will more than likely be equipped like a belt unless i can figure out how to open his body slot in which case it will be a new armor model and type.

[Sithspecter 909]

How do you plan to make it so that Zaalbar can actually equip the mask? I was under the impression that the Wookiee models lacked the proper dummy hooks for masks, in addition to the item restriction.

[DarthParametric 3,782]

Zaalbar has a GoggleHook at least, although Hanharr has neither. You could always try adding them, assuming the models recompile. I'd say a more pertinent question is whether there is a hard-coded restriction.

[xander2077 80]

i seem to remember a really old mod, cant remember the name, where zaalbar was able to equip masks and some armors, but im not sure how it looked since i never got around to playing it and i dont have it any more. if there is a hard coded restriction then i have no idea. only thing i can do is try and see if it works. i think someone did have a mod where item restriction was lifted for another character, but not sure which one.

[xander2077 80]

just downloaded the new improved gui version of mdlops and i will give it a whirl.

 

i made a mistake of not naming the blend files correctly to reflect the mdl original names, so i had to slog through all the files and compare the original model name to the reworked masks to name them correctly. once that was done i exported them all from 1-15 to an output folder.

 

then i used a nifty tool called metamorphose2 and renamed the files in batch to an ascii suffix before the dot and file type. i love that tool.

 

anyway, now i have to install the new version of mdlops and see what it can do. wish me luck. one step closer to this vanilla mask overhaul being released. plus i am busy networking and taking care of emails back and forth with other modders. lots to do.

 

 

...

 

edit: well today i learned the meaning of mlops catastrophy.

 

first it was one mask that would not export no matter what. mask_003... so i tweaked and prodded and finally had to reimport the mask and then import my mesh from an obj, and then try and fix it all. problem is now the textures will not show. so it is one huge white model. of course it looks good minus the texture.

 

then the UVs got all screwed up on the helmets. so the sith facemask and the second sith mask were reverted back to vanilla just with new textures til i can figure out how to fix that.

 

tetas headband is doing weird stuf with the UVs on the front of it but the back part is fine. so im thinking of just deleting the bad part and making them some bling glasses.

 

the vaccum mask ( the other helmet) was clipping hair so it got reverted to vanilla as well with new texture.

 

so far the only one that is really screwed up is the perception visor. the model again looks fine, nice and pretty, but no texture.

 

everything placed well on the face, all the textures look good. just a few hiccups.

 

so i will probably release a partial mask overhaul and keep working on a solution.

 

but not tonight, i am beat and i need to take a break.

[xander2077 80]

well, this problem with the percvisor persists to the point that unless i create a new mask from scratch it wont look new at all, just the texture. so, im thinking of going about it another way.

 

the thing is i have no idea what to do. is there a way to write the new model without having the old one? can i just convert it to binary without referencing the old one? then rename it and overwrite everything pertaining to the model in the override? this seems to be the issue, that when it compares the two models it jacks up all the UVs and even if i do everything right in blender, as in making sure vertices are welded in the UV window to their adjoining faces, making sure there are no extra nodes in the tree, and making sure all the seams are present, nothing works. for some reason it still messes up. so i reverted back to the original mask and the UVs work but it is lackluster.

 

so for all those masks that wont work as they are with UV issues, it seems i have to create them from scratch and then unwrap them and create a completely new texture for them based on the vanilla design, just better.

 

so back to the drawing board for some of them.

 

still want to release some of the mod, but i have to sort everything out and isolate the good from the bad.

[Sithspecter 909]

 

the thing is i have no idea what to do. is there a way to write the new model without having the old one? can i just convert it to binary without referencing the old one? then rename it and overwrite everything pertaining to the model in the override? this seems to be the issue, that when it compares the two models it jacks up all the UVs and even if i do everything right in blender, as in making sure vertices are welded in the UV window to their adjoining faces, making sure there are no extra nodes in the tree, and making sure all the seams are present, nothing works. for some reason it still messes up. so i reverted back to the original mask and the UVs work but it is lackluster.

 

so for all those masks that wont work as they are with UV issues, it seems i have to create them from scratch and then unwrap them and create a completely new texture for them based on the vanilla design, just better.

 

so back to the drawing board for some of them.

 

still want to release some of the mod, but i have to sort everything out and isolate the good from the bad.

 

Yes, you can read & write the new model without having the old one. MDLOps will convert the ASCII model to binary without referencing the old one. All you have to do is hit "Select File", select your new model file, and hit "Read and Write Model". It will put a .mdl file and .mdx file in the same folder as the source file that are named "filename-k1-bin.mdl/filename-k1-bin.mdx". Just copy these to the override folder and remove the "-k1-bin" from the file names.

 

How are you exporting the models from Blender? Do you have NWMax for it somehow? Or are you porting to 3DSMax and then exporting? Best success comes from 3DSMax. 3DSMax and Blender are obviously very different, so if you're using Blender your results will vary.

[DarthParametric 3,782]

well today i learned the meaning of mlops catastrophy.

And so it begins. You've taken your first step into a larger world.

 

A world of pain.

 

To fix your UV issues, you'll likely need to add breaks at UV island boundaries. 0.7 addressed some of the issues, but it's still finicky.

[xander2077 80]

Yes, you can read & write the new model without having the old one. MDLOps will convert the ASCII model to binary without referencing the old one. All you have to do is hit "Select File", select your new model file, and hit "Read and Write Model". It will put a .mdl file and .mdx file in the same folder as the source file that are named "filename-k1-bin.mdl/filename-k1-bin.mdx". Just copy these to the override folder and remove the "-k1-bin" from the file names.

 

How are you exporting the models from Blender? Do you have NWMax for it somehow? Or are you porting to 3DSMax and then exporting? Best success comes from 3DSMax. 3DSMax and Blender are obviously very different, so if you're using Blender your results will vary.

 

well im using a script that i found on neverwintervault.net, it is called neverbelnder. while not as dazzling as NWNmax (not as many options) it does the job when everything is right. as most of the masks can attest. there were really only 5 problem children. the rest exported fine and appear as they should in the game, even with the model adjustments and new geometry i added with new UVs. i am impressed by the plugin, just not sure what the issue is between the ones that worked and the ones that wont.

 

mask 3, mask 10, mask 12, mask 13, & mask 15 were terrible in game. all of them having the same issues with UVs. some of the UVs are intact and some of them are stretched even though the model appears fine in blender.

 

i also had some other issues that i fixed with a few of the models, such as there being two base nodes (the goggle hook was duplicated  in some cases when i had to reimport another goggle to get the alignment correct) so i had to delete that in order for some of the masks to appear and they then worked great. now as far as textures go im not 100% sure the ones i think are ok, are in fact ok, i just glanced at them since i cant run the game long with all the programs i have open. i have to get a closer look at some to be satisfied.

 

i did try to export the model as a different name, choosing mask 300, and then read/writing it in mdlops, changing the name back to 003, and then putting it in override, but the UV problem was still there.

 

from reading one of darth parametrics posts, it seems that the islands and seams have to match up 100% and there cannot be any verts together that should not be in the UV window, so by trial and error i am trying to figure out what should be joined and what should be split. unfortunately the interface in blender will not let me split separate islands off very easily without moving the faces in the UV. there is no script or function that will split them permanently unless they are physically moved even the tiniest bit off their coordinates.

 

however when i make new geometry, like a whole new part on this mask (mask 3) in particular, the UV unwrap on that is usually fine. it is the older parts that get messed up and stretched UVs. so i am thinking the best solution is to recreate all the parts, weld the model together, re-unwrap each part, make sure the seams are correct, and then try exporting the fresh geometry, because parts i have replaced map fine while parts that i modified just sightly on these 5 models are screwed. which does not make sense to me because i did the same thing on all other masks and they turned out great in game. even the vaccum mask that i turned into a helmet ( the one with neural band 2 texture) had pristine UVs it just clipped the back of the hair and that was a lot of new geometry.

 

another approach i am trying and have not viewed yet is to pin the UVs and see if that has any effect.

 

i also tried adding custom split normals since the vanilla models seem to have that as well. just not sure if that is one of the fixes yet.

 

the trouble is it is hard to translate what is done in 3ds max to the same theory in blender all of the time. some things you just cant replicate exactly. that has to do with the UI and the controls they have in the program really as well as terminology, and some of the convoluted ways they have to get things done. not everything is bad in the program, but it still has a ways to go before it is up to a higher standard of usability.

 

as far as export goes, by default here is the way it goes:

[xander2077 80]

And so it begins. You've taken your first step into a larger world.

 

A world of pain.

 

To fix your UV issues, you'll likely need to add breaks at UV island boundaries. 0.7 addressed some of the issues, but it's still finicky.

 

well that is another issue. i cant run mdlops 0.7 in wine for some reason. i addressed the issue with fair strides the other day but it is on hold til later. what is happening with that is  when 0.7 starts in wine, it only opens a command prompt window, and then closes. running it in debug really doesnt tell me anything. so i am not sure what the issue is since wine doesnt really work 100% like windows.

 

fair strides wants to provide a solution for that, which is something that is not windows dependent and perl based entirely, written in qt or something, but that has to be worked on so i understand if i have to wait. if i can eventually run something natively in linux, i will be real happy about it.

 

wine has been a headache for me throughout. some programs work, some dont. usually it has to do with dotnet. wine developers are uber paranoid about dotnet exploits enabling malware in linux, so they constantly edit dotnet releases to address the issue, and as a result it is not really a fully functional version of dotnet that runs, but a wine version of it. most windows programs dependent on dotnet (whatever version number) wont run as a result of the mismatch, such as certain calls and dlls being bypassed and the program erroring out. but in this case since it is perl based there should not be an issue. but there is.

 

wine is also the reason i can no longer use 3ds max 8 or 9, at one point i had it working and nwnmax as well, but something changed in the patch they released for wine between then and now that borked the program so i can no longer use any controls at all. all i can do is look at a model (usually a 3ds one) and nothing more. so that doesn't quite do it for me. and installing max to begin with needs a lot of heavy workarounds and regedits to even install. a headache.

 

...

 

EDIT:

 

i have also been scouring the web and i found this interesting tidbit of info, however the links are down (404) so i could not read the tutorials svosh linked to

 

but here is a quote, and it may help.

 

 

Now you know your XYZ….. and here are a few for UV ………..mapping

 

http://www.waylon-art.com/uvw_tutorial/uvwtut_01.html this is the normal method for uv mapping however to get a uv map that will not stitch it self back together you MUST segment your model up in the exact same way as you lay out your uv map.

 

NEW: http://www.chilliweb.co.uk/chilliskinner/index.htm

 

For online tutorials http://www.chilliweb.co.uk/chilliskinner/SkinningHowTo.htm

 

This is the preferred technique used for nwn uv mapping check out danmars video tutorial for the best explanation on how to uv map your models. http://nwvault.ign.com/Files/movies/data/1033914103656.shtml

 

I will add to this thread as we progress past simple item models.

 

I hope this info helps all of you, and may the force be with you

 

svösh

 

now i did some thinking about this and i am not sure exactly what that means in blender, but i will take a wild guess and say that selecing all faces of an island, and then separating them from the rest of the mesh may provide the results i seek. however i have no idea if it will or not. segmenting the mesh in exactly the same way the UV is layed out is not exactly pinpoint information. it could mean anything.

 

 

[DarthParametric 3,782]

If you are not using 0.7 then you absolutely must break every single edge at the boundaries of UV islands. The older MDLOps had a bug where it wouldn't calculate geometry verts and UV verts independently.

[xander2077 80]

If you are not using 0.7 then you absolutely must break every single edge at the boundaries of UV islands. The older MDLOps had a bug where it wouldn't calculate geometry verts and UV verts independently.

ok that actually worked. i had to break the faces of each island off into their own chunk of mesh and the UVs rendered in game the way they were in blender. so now that i have that worked out i know i have to do that with every model just to be sure.

 

that makes thing a whole lot easier. so now i will not have to settle for 5 of the old masks with just new textures, now i can edit all of them and put them in game they way they were intended.

[xander2077 80]

Here are some screens of the masks I have finished so far and appear correctly in the game. A few more tweaks are needed for some others, including coordinates on the face and clipping. But those are minor, just time consuming. I am going through them one by one and viewing them in game then adjusting them in blender again for export. Took a while to figure out my screencap key binding but I did it.

 

So enjoy the screens.

 

Edit: I am having a few clipping anomalies and since I am experimenting with it I tried reimporting the asciI model I exported (the one that works in game) to see if it retains the proper uvs on re-export, but they dont always, so besides clipping I have other issues with the helmet masks. So I will have to think outside the box for the helmet masks since resizing them doesnt really work, and trying to be lazy and reimport the good copies does not keep all the uvs from stretching in places. Its going to be an interesting fix but it is possible.

 

I am working on a solution with dj, and we know how to fix it, it is just a matter of coordinating and doing it. So eventually it wont matter what kind of head the main character or the group members have (except for mission and zalbar, sorry) but all human heads will be able to wear them once that part of the mod is complete, and if they have a pony tail or something that would stick out from under the mask in real life, it will do that here as well.

 

For mission and zaalbar, I plan on opening up a few of the goggle style mask options for him, and plan on retaining her ability to wear the goggle type masks, and possibly making alternates of some of the helmet masks for them to wear. Not sure how that will go or if it is even possible, but it is worth a try.

 

But ultimately I want to replace the ability to wear the alternates of helmet style masks with more fitting headgear. Such as joris crown, or a krath female headdress for mission, and several wookie options for zaalbar. All of that takes some more models and coding in scripts, and some adjustments to the appearance 2da file as well as additions to it.

 

For now the focus will be on getting the masks that fit humans and do not enclose the head to work in the game (just a few more tweaks), then getting the helmet versions of three masks to work with some modding magic, and then changing the restrictions on the goggles for zaalbar, and restricting mission from wearing the helmets. She will get some of her own stuff in the expansion to compensate for her losses.

 

Any additonal masks will be in a follow up mod later on.

[Malkior 476]

Looking good!

 

Can't wait to see what you do with my favorite red-visored headband of all time (Verpine Headband?)

 

Also I am very pleased that the Iridonian mercenary on Manaan will be getting a much needed facelift; with a new Iridonian helmet equippable for the player as well.

[xander2077 80]

well i have not gotten to the character model yet, but the helmet is done. just not exported yet or even ready for export.

 

i was thinking of redoing the npc model as well to reflect the changes on the helmet. i may still do that at some point but this overhaul is my focus right now. three masks to go and it will be ready for release, but those are a bit more involved than just a replacer. its going to take some additional modding magic but that is partially done. it will solve the clipping problem for the helmet versions of the sith masks and the neural/vacuum mask (since it has both names for some reason).

 

the red visored verpine headband is basically a retexture of the original by another modder, so i have to adjust the screwed up UVs on that model as well like i did for all the rest, however it wont be in this vaniila overhaul release, since it belongs to another mod. and one of the issues i had with it was the coloring of the holographic display texture, so i had to go a bit more on the orange side for it to be more visible. but both those models are done in blender, just not ready for export because of the UV issue with mdlops.

[djh269 264]

I don't know why I just thought of this haha: 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xos2MnVxe-c

[xander2077 80]

nmmmmmyesss, my evil mask machinations are becoming a reality and i will take over the world!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

 

ahem...

 

well i decided to do something about tetas headband, i did not like the way it looked and i kept thinking of those big bird glasses from the 80s so i decided to narrow the front part and do away with the two struts behind it... much better.

 

 

Zaalbar has a GoggleHook at least, although Hanharr has neither. You could always try adding them, assuming the models recompile. I'd say a more pertinent question is whether there is a hard-coded restriction.

 

does Vandar have a goggle hook? cause i want so bad to put tetas band on his head and have him do a Yoda rap in the game... it would be a worthless mod but fun...