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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 19th Feb 2017 at 8:42 PM Last edited by WhacktheM0l3 : 26th Feb 2017 at 2:02 AM. Reason: Indicated solved status
Default [SOLVED] Neck Seam/Gap
Hello. I'm trying to make a modification to the EA wetsuit mesh--the mesh modifications mostly take place around the waist and but there is a small modification to the collar of the wet suit low down the throat. And although I didn't alter them, and they appear be correctly aligned in Blender and Milkshape, I'm getting a neck seam from apparently misaligned vertices in my mesh in TSWR. (First attached screenshot). I've tried combing through the forums for past similar problems, but a lot people fail to report back what they did to fix their issues, so I'm failing to find what's my specific problem--I THINK it's related to bone weights.

What I've Done:
  1. I extracted the reference mesh via TSRW as an .obj and imported/modified it in Blender. I also remapped the UV and on the side created the .dds files for the textures--those are all working fine.
  2. I exported the modified mesh from Blender and imported it into Milkshape, where I went through the regular process of making sure it looks clean, checking the normals etc. No problems there.
  3. I exported the mesh for TSRW, then ran it through the Mesh Toolkit to assign bones and morphs. Interestingly enough, the reference mesh for the wetsuit didn't play nice with bone assignment of the fingers--they got splayed all over the place. So I tried again with a different full-body reference mesh and that one seemed to assign the bones properly.
  4. After doing the full texture replacement etc. I exported the file from TSRW to test in-game. This is when I noticed that the normals and vertices of the neck weren't quite right. They do not change with morphs, they're constant.
  5. I imported the post-Mesh Toolkit version of the mesh into both Milkshape and Blender, with bone assignments and morphs etc, to see if maybe the vertices got misaligned during the Mesh Toolkit's bone and morph assignments. In both cases, the vertices were/are still perfectly aligned with all reference meshes I pull in.
  6. I tested other reference meshes in the bone and morph assignments in Mesh Toolkit, but the results in TSRW are identical regardless of which reference mesh I'm using. I also applied the actual reference meshes to the morph, just to make extra sure those are correctly aligning, and of course they are.
  7. I've used the Match Bones at Seams option in the Bone Tools of Mesh Toolkit.
  8. I've used the UniMesh Select Underweight Bones plug-in.
  9. I've tried it with auto-smoothing both on and off.
  10. I've used the UniMesh Vertex and Normal Data Merge tools, but that pushed the affected Neck vertices up the Z axis for some reason--again, this is though the vertices appear fine in Milkshape. (Second attached screenshot.)

As I mentioned above, I think it's related to bone assignment, but I'm not familiar enough with managing the weights and assignments of individual joints/bones to be able to peg what it's doing. Is there anyone out there still looking though these forums able to give me a hand? It's driving me crazy.

ETA: In prepping my mesh for the UV unwrap, I manually applied seams, including a seam along the edges of the neck. I may try removing that specific Seam to see if it's throwing it off, as I'm noting another funny coloring where a seam was placed.
Screenshots
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Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#2 Old 20th Feb 2017 at 11:59 AM
First, I would try to go back to an older TSRW version since the version you're using will break content: http://greenplumbboblover.tumblr.co...005426/tsrw-172
Though, I would try to see if you're doing it correctly although it seems like you know what you're doing : https://youtu.be/44shiWla2PE
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 21st Feb 2017 at 12:16 AM
Good to know--I'll try out an old build and report back. Probably won't be till the weekend though.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#4 Old 25th Feb 2017 at 2:27 PM


Okay, I've both downgraded TSRW and tried a version of the mesh with the neck seam removed. Neither changes fixed the problem.

Is there a good tutorial on checking and fixing bone weights? I haven't been able to find one. Or if anyone else has any ideas...
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#5 Old 25th Feb 2017 at 3:46 PM
Hmm it doesn't look like a bone weight issue. I know it would with 3D characters, but... Did you happen to edit the UV map, if so, edited the sim's UV map (like where the skin texture will be generated) Else, I wouldn't mind talking a look at it. If you do think it's a bone weight issue, I would recommend using a different reference mesh instead to start with.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#6 Old 26th Feb 2017 at 1:39 AM
Okay, got it! I'd tried a different reference mesh before the version switch, but hadn't thought about exporting new references after downgrading. I tried it over again with a fresh reference export, and it worked--looks like that old version of TSRW was breaking the meshes I exported for reference.

Thanks!
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