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Admin of Randomness
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#1 Old 7th Jan 2006 at 12:54 PM Last edited by tiggerypum : 21st May 2007 at 8:57 AM.
Default Meshtool/XSI ModTool/SMD Tutorial
Meshtool/XSI Mod Tool Body Modification Tutorial

Edit: There is now SMD import/export options built into SimPE. This means you can skip using meshtool and simply export the smd from SimPE and then import it again when you are done. As this covers mostly the use of XSI Modtool, this tutorial is still helpful, and the only one we have right now

By Tiggerypum at modthesims2

This tutorial is not a total step-by-step tutorial with pictures of each step. I expect you’ve made a body mesh before and have probably used a 3-D editing program before, like Milkshape.

This tutorial uses the 3D View options of Meshtool to extract a .SMD file which you can then modify with XSI Mod Tool.

Both are Free. Mod Tool is a large program that is designed to do more things than we need for editing sims. You’ll need a good network connect and disk space. Their system requirements say ‘Windows XP Pro’, it runs fine for several of us on Windows XP Home Edition.

Meshtool is available here: http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=45457

XSI Mod Tool is available here: http://www.softimage.com/

You need MODTOOL, not the 30 day demo. Currently the detailed link is found on their downloads page and is: http://www.softimage.com/downloads/....2/default.aspx

Also you need the Valve Source download, and that link appears to be broken, but I found it here: http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/602...or+Valve+Source
There are several steps to getting Mod Tool

1) Click on downloads, then select Mod Tool.
2) Download the software
3) Download the documentation
4) Download the Mod Tool Add-On for Valve Source
5) Install all the above
6) Click on “Activate Your Exporter” - they rearranged the site, here's a page with that link: http://www.softimage.com/community/...ol/default.aspx


Starting Your Mesh

The first steps are outlined in multiple tutorials and I’ll remind you of them.

a) Create a temporary texture using bodyshop, importing it into your game.
b) Extract the 4 parts for your mesh the sims03.package through sims06.package files.
c) Build a new mesh file with the parts, fix integrity, save.
d) Save your modifiedcres and modifiedshape
e) Load your temp texture from Saved Sims and put the modifedcres and modified shape in it.
f) Now you’re ready to use Meshtool and then Mod Tool to modify your mesh.


Using MeshTool

This section is Miche's directions for Meshtool, with a few additions by Tigger.

1: open the mesh tool and load a gmdc file(from a body mesh) in step 2 (it should be safe to skip step 1 , but if you have any problems load in any obj file)

2: open the 3d view in the file menu

3: in the 3d view window check the check box named "edit groups" then click on the entry called "body" in the "objects" list box.

4: then click the export smd button, a new window will open asking if you want multiple bones per vertice or single bones per vertice, with a body mesh the only reason (other than if you have problems with multiple bones) to select single bones is if you are using Milkshape as that only supports singles bones per vertice. So leave the multiple bones option selected and click export and save the file. now close the mesh tool program.

5: now open the smd file in your 3d program, currently all the bones aren`t connected correctly into a real skeleton. (ie the hand bone isn`t connected to the arm bone, each bone is just connected directly to the root bone) as the gmdc file doesn`t hold the information on what bone is connected to what, but we will be adding a option for the mesh tool to make the bones into a correctly connect skeleton in a future version. (note this doesn`t effect how the sim will appear in the game, the skeleton will be correct when the gmdc file is reimported back into the package )

In Mod Tool: Import Materials can be left checked.

6: edit or change how ever you want the body mesh, just make sure you assign any new vertices to the correct bones, and don`t assign any vertice to more than 3 bones. ( with this version of the mesh tool when using smd files you can make what changes to a body mesh that you want, you are no longer restricted to just moving vertices around.)

7: save the mesh back out to a smd file.

Export SMD in Mod Tool:
CHECK THE FIRST 2 BOXES, not the 3rd -- this was someplace in the thread....

8: Open the mesh tool program again (please make sure you do close it in step 4 and reopen it now, as it hasn`t been tested that it doesn`t cause any problems if not closed down to clear any internal memory. )

9: go directly to the 3d view in the file menu.

10: if you are using 3ds studio cannonfodder exporter (we can`t say if any other 3ds smd exporter will work), then check the box named "Using 3ds Max"", or if you are using Softimage XSI mod tool (and I would think the same for the full version) then check the box named "using XSI mod tool"

Tig: I also have been checking the 'multiple bones' box, don't know if that's necessary or not.

11: in the file menu select load mesh , then load your smd file.

12: now in the file menu select load gmdc, load the original gmdc file.

13:now check the box named "body editing"

14 now check the edit groups box again. and then click on whatever name is in the "models" list box and then again click on the "body" entry in objects list box.

15: in the edit box name "sub-group#:" should now be "0" , change this to 1 and click commit.

Tig: If you do NOT click commit here - you will end up with the original mesh instead of your modified one.

16: now click the "replace" button and save the created gmdc file as whatever you want.

17: then replace the gmdc file back into the package in the normal way.
(run SimPe, and right click on the gmdc and 'replace')

Please note that currently some of the datalists which are in a original gmdc file for a body mesh aren`t put in the created gmdc file, these are thought to effect such things are shape deforms, so sims created in this way will can only have the normal body type and I would think can`t show being pregnant.
We aim to add back these datalists in future versions.

-----------------------------------------------------

Using Mod Tool

Getting Started: General Stuff and the Interface


First, you will need the VALVE SOURCE add on - go to the bottom of the left hand column to the "Mod Tool Downloads". That lets you import and export SMD files.

Activate your exporter - they send you an email and you need to respond within some time limit.

The ability to import/export SMD files will appear on the *top menu bar* with it's own menu named "ValveSource". I do not believe anything but import and export smd are of use to us on that menu. I spend most of my editing purely importing and exporting smd files to save my work (and numbering them so that I could follow the edit history if needed).

Do download the documentation. Once you start to be familiar with it, search is your friend.

The tutorials on their site are not oriented towards what we want to do for the most part.

There is one video tour from their site which is helpful in getting oriented -- found on the XSI Mod Tool pages under
"Understanding XSI > Key Features Video Tour > Getting Started and Ease of Use". PLEASE go watch that video, then come back here.

You should find it on this page: http://www.softimage.com/community/...es/Default.aspx

Now fire up Mod Tool.

You’ll get a splashscreen for XSI, you can close that.

Now your screen is going to look like this. Don’t panic, there’s a lot there but we’re only going to use some of it. I am going to show you enough Mod Tool so that you can do basic mesh edits, and you will have the documentation and pointers to learn more.



THE MENU BAR

It’s a menu bar, you’ve seen them before. When I mention something is in the menus, that’s where to look for it. Note over towards the right hand side there is the ValveSource menu that will let you import and export your smd file.


BUTTONS


The first set of buttons include Camera buttons to change your views; you can rotate, zoom, and otherwise manipulate the view of your mesh. These don’t move your mesh, but they move the angles at which you can view it.

The next 3 buttons are the Scale, Rotate, and Translate buttons, which will move the selected part of your mesh in the expected ways. You can see more detail about these commands in the Transform Panel on the right hand side.

The next 4 buttons are the select buttons – the first one is not applicable to editing sims meshes, if you click it your mesh will go black and you’ll have to go to the Scene Explorer and reselect your mesh again. The next three are: Select Points, Select Edges, and Select Polygons (surfaces)

Then there are two arrow buttons - Undo and Redo. You can also undo and redo from the Edit Menu.

One more button to note – the Scene Explorer lets you select which thing you wish to edit, which in this case is always the mesh.

PANELS

There are also panels with editing options, some of which are also on buttons. There are more panels than will show at any given time, to expand or collapse a panel to see the others, simply right click on their title bar.

The right hand panels I usually have visible are Select and Transform. There’s also a handy Snap panel right below Transform. You can expand or collapse the right hand menus by right clicking on their title bars.



EDITING YOUR MESH

Read your file in using the ValveSource menu –
ValveSource > Import SMD

To save, use
ValveSource > Export SMD

The only other thing I'll comment on here is that when saving or reading in files, the program likes to point to it's favorite place to keep stuff - which of course isn't where your project is. When you go to load or save a file, there is a small folder button in the upper left that lets you define favorites, so you can create a shortcut to your chosen project folders.


Select your mesh

When you load your mesh in, annoying enough, you seem to be unable do anything with it but look at it, and it’s all black. You need to let the program know that's what you want to work on using the Scene Explorer - which is the first button in the *rightmost* set of buttons that looks sort of like an outline. It can also be accessed by clicking on the button labeled 'Scene' in the right hand SELECT Panel. Click on it, you'll see a list of cameras, lights, and the MESH. Click on MESH and suddenly your mesh will go from black to white with little colorful dots all over it. The colors happen to represent the bone assignments, more on that later.

You’ll also see a rainbow of lines go across the screen. Those are the some incorrectly imported skeleton. Ignore them. And don’t worry, when you export the smd and use Meshtool to build the new gdmc, Meshtool will reassemble it all correctly for you.



Selecting Points

You can use the little top buttons or the Select Panel to select points, edges, or polys. Click or drag across the points to select. Right click to deselect. Selecting is *additive* by default - you don't have to hold down the shift key to add more points/edges/polys.

To DESELECT all the points - Ctrl-Shift-A

Because selection is always additive, you'll want to develop a habit of doing a DESELECT (Ctrl-Shift-A) every time you start a new edit.

Moving Points

You can move the points in any of the directions in *any* of the edit windows. I usually do my editing in one window, which has 'Camera' view - which means I can rotate every which way possible using the double arrowed rotate button on the button set.

I've found that I use 'S' (scale) and 'T' (translate, aka move) the most. I use the right hand 'Transform' panel - so that I can click on X Y or Z to constrain the movements in any way I wish. The numbers used by the sims meshes are small - moving something '1' will move it way off your mesh. Note that the bottom corner of your view windows will remind you which way X Y and Z are, with little colored arrows.

Snapping

You can snap to points or edges - below the Transform Panel is a Snap Panel. You can turn it on and off, and set if it snaps to points, edges or polygons. The details are in the manual if you want to see exactly how it works.

Adding Points/Edges/Polygons

There are many ways you can add points, edges and polygons to your mesh. There is a section of their help file that I keep going back to - from the Index you can find it:

Modeling and Deformations
Section II Polygonal Modeling
Fundamentals of Polygon Modeling

I am not going to cover every detail of how you might add points to your mesh, read that section of the documentation again and again and try things. I will share one technique I’ve been adding points to my meshes.

The most common way I add points to a mesh is to Split an existing edge or edges. To do that and not make a polygon disaster, it is very helpful to turn the polygons from triangles back to rectangles temporarily, and then make them back into triangles once I’m done.

Triangular/Rectangular Polys

This program is willing to work with rectangular polygons - while the sims (and smd files) use triangular polys. If you write your smd with a rectangular poly, it will automatically turn it into 2 triangles for you.

The only reason I've cared about this is that there are nice commands like 'Split Edge' that will let you easily add more points to your mesh -- which are in more or less the right location *and* are automatically given reasonable guessed bone assigments (which you'll need to check on). But it makes a mess of things if you've got a bunch of triangles there instead of rectangles.

You can select part (or all) of your mesh and use
Model > Modify - Poly Mesh > Quadrangulate
to turn your polys into 'rectangles'

Then select the edges you’d like to add points to (be sure to do a deselect before you start so you don’t accidently mess up some other section of our mesh). Then use ‘Split Edges’ and get all the points where you want them (btw, when you split edge, it automatically does the right thing with the uv map - so use the slider to position the new points in the right location if possible, then you won't have to adjust the uv map much) The command is:
Model > Modify - Poly Mesh > Split Edges (with split control)

Then select the section you modified and
Model > Modify - Poly Mesh > Triangulate
and you’ll be back to triangular polys.


UV MAPPING

There will be times you might want to adjust the uv map of your body mesh. You should always adjust the existing uv map, and so you should do it while you are editing the mesh, not with a separate program.

Application > Views > Texture Editor

will bring up the UV Map in a separate window. You can resize it, slide it around. It has its own little buttons for 'scale' 'rotate' and 'translate' and an arrow for selection. Deselect all (ctrl-shift-A) does work here.

This information might not be the ideal way to use the UV Map, but it will get you all the results you need. If someone knows a better way, let me know!

You can read in a sample texture for your mesh by using File > Import Clip
BUT when I close my texture window, it goes away! So if you want to see it on your mesh, don't close the window. You can shrink it to the side, but don't close it.

If your loaded texture doesn't appear on your mesh, click the little round two arrowed UPDATE button and it will.

I have ended up with the texture editor on half my screen and a window with my mesh set to 'textured decal' visible on the other half.

The translate and scale commands in the uv mapper are mouse driven and there's not the little buttons to click on to constrain movement.

Oddly enough, you can use the 'undo' buttons (on the top of the screen) from the main Mod Tool window to undo your steps in the texture editor.

Whatever uvmap changes you make are saved when you save out your smd file.

You can save a nice UV map graphic for your reference using:
Edit > Stamp UV Mesh (in the Texture Editor window)

UV Mapping Notes/Example

I carefully picked which short girl’s dress I wanted to use for my long gowns. I paid attention to both the shape (the smooth neckline) and the uv map for the feet (which allow for bare feet, the uvmap was in the standard place. Some of the sims shoes are uvmapped to an area between the legs, which doesn’t have toes!)

The steps I used to transform that dress and also have a good uv map were:

1) Delete most of the leg from the calf to the part right below the dress edge. I kept the underside of the dress.

I did look at some of the bone assignments on the child and on the teen's long dress to get an idea of what I'd need. I also looked at the teen dress to see how they set up the knee area.

2) Grab everything that's the lower dress edge and drag it to just above the remaining lower leg. I kept it slightly above the lower leg for most of my editing, just to make things easier for me to grab.

3) Go to the uv map and load a texture, change the view in my main window so I could see it - and then I translate (moved) the whole set of lower points to just above the lower leg area. The uv map did the right thing.

At this point, my dress had no knees and the lower points were still assigned the wrong bones. So then I quadrangulated the long section and then selected the long edges. I split them right above the knee joint and right below the knee joint (the knee joint shows up as a colored line on the screen, going across it because the skeleton is not imported right, although the data needed is there)

Anyway, then I had enough to work with. I didn't have to further adjust the uv map because I made sure to place my points in their final destination with the slider that shows up when you split edges.

BONES BONES BONES

They're called ENVELOPES. So now you know what to search for in the help file.

Select the points (make sure you're in POINT SELECTION mode) you want to edit/see

Hit CTRL-E or Animate > Deform Envelope > Edit Weights

I’ll start out by saying that I found dealing with this area a bit funky, I tended to click something or another wrong the first couple times I went in and had to triple check that I got my values correct before closing it and moving to another area I wanted to edit.

Mesh Tool sort of makes a mess of the skeleton, but retains all the values - you can have up to 3 bones with any percentage weight you want, assigned to each vertex.

Most of the body points will have one value. Around joints sometimes they have two values. The center of a skirt usually has a 50-50 value for each leg. Some of the points on the stomach seem to have 3 values. Most of your mesh should already have values, even if you’re extending a skirt from short to the floor.

They're not named pretty, they have numbers. Whatever points are selected when you bring up the Weight Editor window will show up there. The Weight Editor window will let you assign *anything* - so make sure you only have 3 bones at the most on any given point.

When you click on a point's box, it will highlight in your window - so you can see which point you've selected.

Right Click on a box to type in a new percentage value
You can shift click on multiple boxes to change them all at once
You can also click on the bone name and select all the points visible.

I found it helpful to select say, the entire right lower leg section and then assign them all at once.

Always watch those bone values. It took me a bit to get the hang of clicking on the stuff I wanted and not changing the wrong values. You can use the main UNDO buttons if it does something you didn't intend. Also, it will automatically adjust your values to total to 100%. The answer to have it cooperate and do what you want seems to be to change the lowest numerical assignments. So if there are currently bones assigned that you want to change to 'zero' -- do that first.

If you find yourself with parts of the mesh that somehow you’re not sure what the values should be – save your work and load up your original unedited file (you did save using sequential numbers, right). Grab a piece of paper and sketch out a skeleton. I suggest you look at the ‘front’ of the mesh, and jot down the various numbers for the skeleton parts. Then load your new mesh in again, look at it from the front, and go back to assigning bones.


FINISHING UP - WELDING and VISUAL DETAILS

The seam between the various parts will show up with a light blue line. You can select the points you'd like to weld together and then

Modify > Poly. Mesh > Weld Boundary Points/Edges

The blue line will disappear. I found I could not select the top of the neck with this command, it deformed (at least in the mesh I was working on)

There is another command that I found behaved nicer --

Modify > Poly. Mesh > Filter Points

BUT you need to move the slider to ZERO. At that point I was able to select my entire mesh, including the top of the neck, and it did it very nicely. If you don't move the slider to zero, the sims fingers will get damaged.

The SMD files do not retain the welding on import - so if you have been saving to smd and then loading smd files, you need to do the welding over and over again, so I saved it until the end. The welding is retained if you save Mod Tool 'scenes' though.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

AFTER the points are welded, test your mesh in the game and examine it closely all over before deciding to make any fine tuning adjustments.

So far I’ve edited some girl and toddler meshes with this. Even after ‘welding’ (I used Filter Points) I still ran into some oddities in the mesh – my toddler mesh ended up with extra pointy elbows and the arms had a single ‘seam’ still visible.

I added some points to the toddler arm and pulled them outwards a bit to make a more rounded shape, and the arm went smooth and the elbow looked more normal.

On the girl, the arms and legs looked fine, but the top of her hand had a few triangles at the knuckles. In examining the mesh closely, it was obvious that the knuckles were raised in fairly high points; when I moved them downwards some and adjusted here and there I was able to get a smooth looking hand that animated fine.

I also adjusted the points on the outer edges of the fingers to make them look more smooth.

The reason this happens is because when Maxis created these meshes they had a matching version that was much more detailed, and used a program to generate custom ‘normals’ that tell the 3D graphics engine how to display the mesh. Those normals are why we see smooth curves instead of the boxy meshes we’re editing. Unfortunately the fancy normals get lost, but Mod Tool does generate for us some very nice normals based on the low poly mesh we are editing. But there might be some spots we need to add a few points to in order to get some spots to be smoothed correctly.

Even when I added these points, the number of points in the mesh did not change dramatically, so it’s not like these extra points will suddenly turn the mesh high poly, although we should only add points when necessary.

Note: If you see seams ALL OVER your mesh, you probably forgot to weld you mesh. And if you go back in to edit to add more points – remember you MUST WELD THE MESH AGAIN, because the import smd function loses the welding info.


GOOD LUCK

I hope this helps you along the road to becoming a Mod Tool expert. Please post comments, questions and suggestions so that I may improve this document. This document is also available as a downloadable pdf.

Happy Meshing!
Screenshots
Attached files:
File Type: zip  Modtool-BodyMeshing-Tig.zip (255.7 KB, 725 downloads)
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Test Subject
#2 Old 8th Jan 2006 at 8:58 PM
Thanx for a good and comprehensive tutorial !! Good job !

I encountered problems with accessory-meshes and the meshtool. I wanted to use .smd-files in combination with 3d studio. But I could not pass the step with the meshtool. Can you ?

Greetz,

Phracto
Guest
#3 Old 19th Jan 2006 at 1:00 AM
Is it the same thing with hair meshes?

P.S. Thanks for the great tutorial!
Admin of Randomness
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Original Poster
#4 Old 19th Jan 2006 at 1:29 AM
I have not verified if this can work with hair meshes. I only did my first hair (using Wes' oldest plugin) yesterday.
Test Subject
#5 Old 21st Jan 2006 at 2:27 PM Last edited by chriko : 21st Jan 2006 at 3:21 PM.
Thank you very much for this tutorial...
i'm making bodymeshes for a lomg time, but with milkshape...
and i hate it's limit for assigning vertices...

i want to try this program, but something is wrong with my exported smd- files...
i only get an "valid source" error by importing my smd files into the mod tool...
no mesh is showing up...

i think, it's my own mistake by using the meshtool... but what can i do?


edit:
checked it again...
the valve importer is looking for a texture, but there's no texture exported by the meshtool...
if i made this with Milkshape (imported an ASCII file, added a texture, exported as smd file), than i can import this file into the mod tool, it shows up...
but this can't be the right way...

this is my HP - cu there?
Admin of Randomness
retired moderator
Original Poster
#6 Old 21st Jan 2006 at 9:45 PM
Are you using meshtool to make your smd file? If you use milkshape in between that won't work, as you won't have any of the secondary bone assignments.

I've had not problem (only done a few of them) using meshtool to take the gdmc and make the .smd file that then gets read in using the valvesource options in modtool.

Note (and I should have written this at the beginning). I am not sure exactly WHICH sort of sims bodies this supports - it might not support those with multiple groups (like hula girl) and I've not verified if it works on tops only or bottoms only, although I believe it should. So far I've done only full bodies.
Test Subject
#7 Old 22nd Jan 2006 at 10:51 AM
i made a new mesh package from the afbodynaked....(i've only tested the modtool with this milkshape file)...
it's a whole mesh and with only one group...
but the valve source can't import the smd file i made with the meshtool...
the error scrips says, it's looking for a texture bmp file ....

can it be a mistake in the settings... in meshtool or in the modtool?

this is my HP - cu there?
Scholar
#8 Old 22nd Jan 2006 at 5:50 PM
I haven't had a problem with that - but I've only ever used the ModTool a few times.

Try un-checkmarking "Import Materials" when you import the .smd file.
Test Subject
#9 Old 22nd Jan 2006 at 6:00 PM
thank you, Dr.Pixel...
i've unchecked this box everytime...
but the SMDImportProperty is looking for 2 pathes:

File
file path (it's not a problem)
texture path (i can do what i want, it won't find any path)

and

Options
Import materials (and i've unchecked the box)...

i don't know what i can do now...
the modtool i use is a new one... from january,10.... but the 4.2 version...
i'm out of any ideas

this is my HP - cu there?
Guest
#10 Old 25th Jan 2006 at 3:43 AM
Is there a way to make the split edges tool to assign only 3 bones when it makes new points?
Admin of Randomness
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Original Poster
#11 Old 25th Jan 2006 at 4:32 AM
Not that I'm aware of. I hadn't known it to do that, but maybe I was just always lucky.
Guest
#12 Old 25th Jan 2006 at 4:43 AM Last edited by Ron Riches : 25th Jan 2006 at 4:59 AM.
Its because when I import the smd back into the mesh tool, it says that some points are assigned to more than 3 bones. Then I'd have to go back and unassign some bones from points, it works now, but its really frustrating to have to do that.
Lab Assistant
#13 Old 2nd Feb 2006 at 7:08 PM
Great tut' tiggerypum,
As I'm working on a smd importer exporter for SimPE ( I test it with Gmax-3dsmax and it works great ) I get some problems with smd and XSI ModTool.
If I import a smd file exported with my smd plugin in ModTool I got some weird stuff with normals then if I export my mesh with ModTool then import it back in SimPe, normals are deformed.
So if anyone have an idea why and how ModTool modify normals...
Otherwise if someone can post a smd body mesh exported by ModTool (that looks good in ModTool) as I can see if normals are deformed during export or import process, it'll be very helpful.
Guest
#14 Old 17th Feb 2006 at 8:08 PM
Im having some problems,every time i try to weld the mesh or some type of process like that it doesnt let me,it says that the function doesnt work in Exp version can you help me with this
Admin of Randomness
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Original Poster
#15 Old 23rd Feb 2006 at 9:56 PM
Noel'sBabi, I'm at a loss as to exactly what the problem is. I have modtool and have repeatedly done the steps as I outlined them. Maybe if you can describe the steps and exactly where on the screen you're finding the command you're trying, I might be able to help.

I have had someone else report they couldn't SAVE - and we discovered that they weren't using the 'export' in the valvesource menu.
Lab Assistant
#16 Old 25th Feb 2006 at 7:43 PM
Hello !!
I have exactly the same problem that pointed Chriko ! It's impossible for me to import my .smd files in Mod Tool ...
I first thought that my files were wrong so I made all my temporary meshes twice with SimPE and ... nothing ! (I am even unable to open the .smd files in Milkshape 1.7.7 because it crashes when I make import Half life smd).
Can somebody help me, please !!!!!!!
Lab Assistant
#17 Old 25th Feb 2006 at 7:47 PM
I can't even open wabefront obj in Mod Tool ... I'm everything but lucky
Admin of Randomness
retired moderator
Original Poster
#18 Old 25th Feb 2006 at 11:13 PM
modtool won't import obj files from what I can tell. For that Milkshape is the editor almost everyone uses - because it doesn't mix up the vertices.

Now this is very odd indeed, what you're saying about not being able to import the smds into modtool. Did you register your modtool (using the email thing?). Otherwise... hmm... we have a few possiblities to explore

modtool breaks with some meshes
there's something checked wrong when you're creating the smd
you're not importing the smd file with the valvesource menu
there's something checked wrong when you import that is giving it headaches

Can you give me as much info about each of these points, and I'll see what I can do to reproduce the problem.
Lab Assistant
#19 Old 26th Feb 2006 at 10:30 AM
So, Tiggerypum

I have register Modtool,
I do import smd files with the valve source menu,
I tried to uncheck "import materials" and I don't know what to put in "texture path" while trying to import in modtool
I don't think I checked something wrong when creating the .smd file :
(in the 3d view window check the check box named "edit groups" then click on the entry called "body" in the "objects" list box. then click the export smd button, check "multiple bones per vertices", click export and save the file) is what I did ...
Lab Assistant
#20 Old 26th Feb 2006 at 11:46 AM
only 2 green crosses show up when the .smd file is imported in modtool, the meshes exported with bodyshop are "afbodyunderwear" and "afbodyshortdressshoes" ...
Test Subject
#21 Old 8th Mar 2006 at 6:11 PM
Help
do i need Modtool and Meshtool, or can i just use modtool?
Admin of Randomness
retired moderator
Original Poster
#22 Old 8th Mar 2006 at 9:16 PM
You need to get an smd with bone assignments extracted from a sims2 mesh (the gdmc file) so at this point you need to use meshtool to do it, although importers/exporters were being worked on for SimPE (so you could do it direct) but they aren't released yet. Hopefully soon.

Babboo, I am going to try to reproduce that problem. Can you post one of your modified smd files here so I can try to load it?
Test Subject
#23 Old 17th Mar 2006 at 9:03 PM
could you provide another link for me to download the add-on as it wont download for me
Admin of Randomness
retired moderator
Original Poster
#24 Old 17th Mar 2006 at 9:18 PM
Spotty-Balloons, I don't have another url. That stuff all comes/came from the XSI website. Maybe try their boards and ask for help there, they have a forum.
Lab Assistant
#25 Old 23rd Mar 2006 at 12:46 AM
When exporting smd's, you have to click which subgroup you want to export. But I can't figure out how to re-import the smd and replace just the sub-group without replacing the entire mesh. (Also, when I click on GMDC view, the program crashes, so I can't see the model I'm trying to work with to even know if it looks right.) I'm using 3DS max, by the way, if that makes a difference. Can you give me some pointers?

If it weren't for ADD I'd be forgetful, lazy, absentminded, clumsy, always late, disorganized, messy, and annoying.................for no apparant reason.
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