In edit mode but it's alright actually, you can't notice it (Though I've yet to see it in-game)

Okay, I forgot to parent the hair, I had only assigned it to the head, so I'll see now if it will export.
And yes I want to export it to SimPE, then into the game to see how it's going so far :D
Edit: Oh and to give it the opacity values! Because I'm really not sure how to do that in blender.
Edit: OOH this is the problem I meant by before, (Though mabye it's supposed to happen?) When I parent the hair, clicking ''with empty groups'' they all join into 1 scene. So there are no longer the ''hair'' scenes, only the skeleton scene. They merged (Good thing though that the hair does follow the skeleton)

That is done in SimPE.




It sounds like you're talking about the outliner. Yes, that is supposed to happen. You can see what meshes are attached to the skeleton by clicking on the plus sign.

I'll set up some pictures to show you how to export.

Aaah, alright. Perfect.

Oh thanks! :D

I'm using Maxis hair afhairhalo in the images.



1. This will be the "hair" group in SimPE and will be opaque.
2. "hair_alpha5" will be one of the alpha groups. The normals are pointing out.
3. The meshes were separated from the skeleton and the vertex groups removed for the example.



4. The hair parts are now parented to the armature with empty groups. With everything selected, assign to the "head" vertex group.



5. hair_alpha5 was duplicated and had normals flipped so that they're pointing inward.
6. Renamed hair_alpha3



7. Note the viewpoint and the skeleton and hair's position. SimPE import/export SMDs Y forward. In this case, it means they have to be backwards.
8. Select armature and rotate it 180 on z axis. Apply rotation (ctrl+a), you will see it go from 180 to 0 in transform. If the mesh is going into Milkshape there's no need to do this.



9. The export settings. Check if they're similar. Don't forget to specify where you want it to spit out the SMDs.
10. You have the option to export the selected object or all of them.



11. In the mesh package, this is were you import and export SMDs.



12. Under the debug tab you can select the groups...
13. and change the opacity among other things.

Hi,
Thanks again, I just got a bit lost at how to select the armature.
Is the armature the same thing as the skeleton? I tried with that but it oddly grabbed only 1 part of the hair and didn't rotate right on spot. I was in back view.

Also I have a question, do the joints act any different depending on where you assign them? For example, if you assign the joints in blender (More specificaly the ''B_hair'') would it make the hair move differently than if you did it on milkshape? Or does that just depend on the game...

Thanks

Also, I got this error, but I'm guessing it's because I couldn't get the whole armature thing.

Yes, it's the same. If you have problems with selecting in 3D view, you can select with the outliner instead. Also, make sure that viewport selection hasn't been restricted for anything.



B_hair, if I recall correctly, is one of the bones for hair animations. If some of the hair is assigned to that it will move based on the animations in the game.

Ah, alright, it exported!
Is it possible to export it as a whole file though? As in, being able to replace the GMDC (Through the right click).

Nope, you can only import SMDs in SimPE one group at a time.

Ah.
It merges with the groups that are already there :P
Any way to delete those? Lol

By the way honestly thanks for your help and time.

Okay, this can't be normal for the preview in SimPE xD


The wierd thing is though, if I import it to milkshape, it IS where it should be. jointed to the head. Huh.

Edit: Oh but the groups aren't there. The whole thing is just merged into one group named ''Hair_Texture14'' witch is what I named the texture file.

When you import SMDs in SimPE there are options such as "add" or "replace". Choose replace and then you will be given options on which group to replace. You can rename and delete groups in the "Groups" tab in SimPE. Don't forget to commit.

In Blender, did you have your hair groups as separate objects? In the 2nd picture, notice that I had 1 part in edit mode but not the other. How many SMDs did you export out?

Was the target up axis on Z? (Step 9)

Alright.

Oh is the idea to have them as 1 group? I have 6 groups (Though Actually I can make it be 4)

I THINK I did Z, though I'm going to try again. In front view right? So numpad 5, then 1?

Edit: YIKES it happened again. I even tried through the back view. (Numpad 5, then 9)
I think I didn't assign it to the head correctly. Hold on.

Edit: Oh no's it's still hapenning! Strange. I mean it's fine in milkshape. Haha

EDIT: OOOOOH Okay I got it. I looked closely at your last picture and realized that where it says ''Order: XYZ'' I had it in ''XZY''
So now it works!

Ugh great I tried to launch the game and see how it was so far, only to read that some files are missing. Must've been when the PC's motherboard and stuff was changed. Repair I hope works 0.o

Edit: Uf, okay I had to re-do the whole graphics.sgr file thing-a-ma-jig so I was able to see the hair!
Except I couldn't see it
It did that thing where it was all invisible and you could see inside the head.

So, could that be because the texture isn't properly applied, or, I realized that I don't have a ''hair'' group, I only have alpha's.
I also made sure that the UV mapping was correct.

You should have a "hair" group. If no part of the hair is opaque, then use a scalp that matches the sim body you're making the hair for. Make sure the group names in the GMDC matches with those of the subsets in the property set of the recolor package.

OOOH alright, perfection. Thanks! I'll let you know if it works

Iiiinteresting... Lol


Okay my guess is, I didn't name the groups correctly, except the ''hair'' witch is a duplicate of the scalp, though I forgot to UV map it, witch is why it looks like that. Though I DID assign it to the head, so why is it flying away? Lol

Also I made sure to parent it.

Oh, progress!


Okay so NOW the problem is that, it's still floating off the body EXCEPT for the lowest layer, witch I THINK is the one that I had clicked when I assigned it to the head.

I had grabbed all of them, but in object mode, I couldn't find the ''vertex groups''. I had to go into edit mode. I think thats why. Unless it also counts wrong if I selected them with ''A'' only?
Thain'ks!

I was able to do it by selecting each group individually.

Now I'm lost at how to give it multiple adjustments 0_0
I would really like to give the joints in Milkshape, because it let's you choose 3 bones at a time and straight away give the %. (In blender I keep worrying about overwriting the previous joint, since it is one at a time (I think))

But of course the botheration is that when I import the groups into milkshape, they all merge into 1.
OOOH writing this I just realized I could export them through SimPE, right?

Heheheeeeeeeeeewwwwaaaaalol

Because let me understand if I understood this right. The joints won't be ''smoother'' or anything depending on the program, it just depends on the game right?

Edit: Doesn't work through SimPE either. Is there anything I shouldn't tick when importing? Mabye ''Re-name bones''?
Edit: Nope

If you import your meshes into a package, you can export them from SimPE. Just export them as 5gd like you normally would to import into Milkshape. I often do that when I check my morphs.

When you're ready for more detailed bone assignments you can use weight paint mode in Blender.

5gd? A file type? Oh okay I'll try that.
Edit: Oh alright, yeah. I was exporting them individually, not the whole GMDC package.

Weight paint! Alright, I'll research on it. I do believe I saw it in a tutorial.

Edit: Oh alright, this did clear it up a fair bit. I didn't understand how to choose the bone you want though. (I'll link it just in case, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keutkjmZTgY)