9 réponses à ce sujet

[Talisander]

I blame Eshme...  I told myself I would avoid trying to edit or make actual models for DA, limiting myself to simply retexturing, editing 2DAs, and using the toolset... as if that's not enough.  But Eshme's tools kept calling to me...  finally, I decided to make some hats.

    Well, edit some hats.  I've never used a modeling program before, you see.  So for a first assignment I decided to import the mage hat hlh_g02a and trim off the ridiculous feathers at the top, making it more of a good old-fashioned hood.

    So I've gotten familiar enough with Gmax that I can delete all the parts of the mesh that I want, but I can't edit the mesh without being warned that "a modifier on the stack depends on topology" and that "changing parameters may have undesirable affects."  Basically, it's telling me that if I change anything, the UV map is going to get screwed up -- right?

So I just wanted to ask, before I flounder around any more, is there a way to edit the shape of the mesh without screwing up the UV mapping?  I've discovered that right clicking and selecting "collapse all" on the UV map channel 1 allows me to edit the mesh and not change the UV mapping, but when I do that the .msh file is tiny (like 500 bytes, total) after I export it, so that can't be right.  I've also tried saving the unwrapped UV and reloading it later, but it gets all screwy when I try that.

   Do I have to redo the UV mapping from scratch after I delete a piece of the mesh?


   Sorry for coming in here with such hopelessly noobish questions.  Thanks for reading,

Alex

[Eshme]

Are you not missing a "Skin" modifier on top of the UV modifier?

Its true you cannot go below them, because both are topology dependant. Buuut, do like so..



First you import it, but make sure theres also a Skinmod if not thats an issue. Select the Mesh and go to "Edit/Clone" to make a "Copy".

Once done, select the original mesh again, and collapse the stack. Now you can delete points. Begin simple if youre a beginner.

If you just delete stuff ,you dont need to worry about the UV its still intact. Unless you want to cover the hole with new polygons you may need to edit UV's at that part. But lets assume you just deleted.

Now select the copy mesh. Select the "Skin" mod and rightclick/copy. Select the original mesh and "rightclick/paste". Delete the copy mesh.

Select that Skinmod, and click on "Edit Envelopes". In the Bones list select "Head" and click on "Paint Weights".

With the gizmo at your cursor, click and drag over the Hat and weightpaint it completely red. Red means fully weighted to the selected Bone.



At this point you can export it.

Some tips: You may want to import an Animation after you have pasted the Skinmod, to see if it follows the Skeleton. But make sure that you export the model while in T-Pose with that.

You could also weightpaint the neck area abit with the "Neck" bone. Compare how the original looks.

Also you could download the NIF plugins, to enable DDS texture support. Link is in my readme.

But just try to do first steps so you figure out if it works.

[Talisander]

Thanks for the detailed instructions, Eshme! I've got it working where I can edit the mesh and still keep all the UV mapping. Really awesome! But I haven't quite gotten it to export correctly.

So I've gone through all the steps several times, and everything seems to work. but when exporting I get this message:

Warning!! One or more problems have been found:

Undefined Objects found in the Hierarchy will not get exported! (no Dragon Age Parameters ,invalid or unknown)
--------------------
HF_HLH_G02_HelmetM1
--------------------

Model may not work as expected. Continue Export anyway?..

And when I export, it works, but the .msh file I get is smaller than 1 kb. Any idea?

Side question: if I want to reapply the UVMap modifier after I've said collapse all, can I simply paste that back from a copied mesh, or does that have issues? Should I make sure it's named Channel one? (Or is there some way to set this up? When I paste it from the copy to the original mesh I'm working on, it doesn't say anything about channel 1).

Thanks,

Alex

Modifié par Talisander, 09 août 2010 - 08:21 .

[Eshme]

Undefined objects..

Yes that happens in gmax when you collapse, the object looses them. They are from my exporter, and you need to apply it again. Open the model manager, select the mesh object from the list. (it should say "undefined" right?) Now above the "Add" button select the mesh parameters and press Add.

Now you must go to the mesh base level. Ignore the topology warning ,if only you setup the parameters. The parameters are somewhere inbetween all the other properties on the right side, called "Dragon Age Mesh". There you simply check the top entry, that is "Receive runtime shadow" i believe. Simply because all other models have it set, check it out.

Go to my readme, where it sais "custom parameters" or something like that, if you need to know more.



The side question. No you dont paste a UV modifier unless u want hazard. Its not needed is it, you can delete faces and the UV still works. If you want to edit ,you add a fresh UV modifier and edit. You should not make sure how it is named, this is only a meaninful name thats all.

[Talisander]

Double post.

Modifié par Talisander, 09 août 2010 - 08:55 .

[Talisander]

Wow, you're lightning fast, Eshme.



Going to try this right now!

[Talisander]

Ok, the forum won't let me post... but I think it worked! Going to try it out in the override folder!

[Talisander]

It... it worked. Oh MY GOD IT WORKED.



Thanks Eshme! This is incredible.



Alex

[Eshme]

Sure does work

[DarthParametric]

You've taken your first step into a larger world.