Hi all,
Sorry for spamming this whole forum ...

Is it possible to do this in blender? I read that you had to import it into Milkshape then a compatible format into blender to get the skeleton to show and I do have a group named ''Original Export Skeleton'', witch I guess is the one.

Buuut I looked for any tutorials (Not just sim related) however I could not find a way to do the assigning, I could only find tutorials on how to create a skeleton.
The reason I want to do this in blender is I found the hair assignments in Milkshape rather ''sharp''. The ones for the hair to be animated so it moves around.(However I have no idea if this depends on the program or the game itself . Would you happen to know?)

Also, in blender when I do the UV mapping, the texture doesn't seem to acknowledge the tips of the hair, (My texture does have them). So I'd rather do the Mapping in Milkshape (Unless I am mistaken)
And trying to export it from blender is being rather tricky too, I had this problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnUT2fLa9_Y

However that didn't work either, though I think I might know how to fix it and I'll post again for others with the same problem

The other thing about the mapping in blender, vould ve zat where I don't want there to be texture, it shows white and solid rather than transperant. I have no idea how blender works though so mabye there is a way around this

You have to have transparency checked in the materials panel to use the alpha in the image.

As for assigning weights for the hair, it's a good idea to check how the hair looks in game first before adding detailed weights. I don't actually see the skeleton, but I see that you do have it and it's not hidden. Odd. Do you see any vertex groups? With the hair selected go into edit mode. Select everything (A key once or twice), find head under vertex groups, click it, and click assign. Leave the weight at 1. That should assign the hair to the head.

From that you can duplicate the hair in object mode to make the 2nd group and flip its normals. That is if you're ready to test the hair.

Thanks SO much!

Quick question though, when I go on vertex groups, there aren't any...
I have some theory's:
Merge all groups I have, or select a specific group like the ''original import skeleton''?
Mabye I got rid of it somehow, so I could try merging it with the original , and delete this one?

I ALSO found this:
http://sims4studio.com/thread/305/c...signment?page=1

But I'm not sure how to rename it :#

There aren't any because I forgot to mention to parent the hair to the skeleton. The problem is the skeleton seems to be invisible.

Try selecting the skeleton using the outliner. It will have a stickman icon next to its name. When it's selected go into the object data panel and see if "X-Ray" is checked (check it if it's unchecked). Tell me if there's any difference.

Huh, It SEEMS to be checked, o.o

What is it that did you imported? Since it appears that you're making an am hair, go through the steps of making a hair package. Import the hair 5gd into MS like you normally would and export it as smd. Import the smd into your hair project in blender. Have "Make new armature" selected as opposed to "Append to target", when you import the smd into blender. Hopefully, you should see the correct skeleton.

The hair package file itself should have at least 3 groups (hair and 2 alphas).

Okay, halfway through the process, I realized that what I have been exporting from is called ''Half-Life SMD''
Is ''Half Life'' another game?
Was I supposed to download a sims 2 SMD exporter or is this irrelevent?

Irrelevant.

Alright.
When exporting, I get a few options:
- Reference
- Sequence
- With Vertex Weights (HL2)

I believe that the first time I did ''Reference''
But I'm guessing ''With Vertex Weights'' sounds more logical?

I'll try that

EDIT: I realized that you CAN click with vertex weights, but also choose either reference or sequence. Not sure about that, I'll just try reference first.

AHA! JES! I AM ZE VICTOR!
This IS what it's supposed to look like? o.o


EDIT: Okay there's nothing under vertex groups, but I did find this witch kind of insinuates that it is normal for it to not be there?

http://sims4studio.com/thread/305/c...signment?page=1
Though that is for the sims 4...
If it's the same, then I can copy the names from the Milkshape ''joints'' tab

EDIT: Oh actually I just realized that when I click the really small ''+'' button after creating a new vertex group (With the bif ''+'' button) , the joint names ''head'' already appeared there. Now I'm trying to figure out how to find all the other joints!

Eh, would you know why ( I THINK ) It's not exporting? It doesn't show any errors or anything of that sort, but I simply don't see where it goes 0.0
It's not asking me where I want it to be exported to or name it... Huh .

EDIT:
Oh okay, I guess it HAS been exporting, it was just replacing and blah I don't even know 0.0
But even though I assigned the bones, it keeps on showing up through the ground! (In milkshape)
Unless it HASN'T been exporting so it still doesn't have the bones.
As sim vamps say, ¡Bleh! lol.

Yes, when you export smd from MS "Reference, with vertex weights" is the one you want.

Great, you have the skeleton. You just need to parent it to the hair. In object mode select the hair parts then select the skeleton, so the skeleton is the last selected (the last object selected is the active object). Ctrl P to set the parent and when the options pop up, choose "With Empty Groups" under Armature Deform. With that, the hair should have the same groups as the skeleton, and you can continue on with the steps from the other post.

Note that because the skeleton is the hair's parent, the hair should follow the skeleton even before the setting the weights. Test this (in obj mode) by selecting the skeleton and moving it around.

OOH. Hm. Alright.

I'm going to make it from scratch. With my new-found knowledge it should be easier.
I also can't sdjust the UV mapping correctly because pieces that are mean't to be together are seperate, (Even though I merged those groups and the vertices).

I think I might do it now.
:D

Is there any way to get a plane to fit the scalp? I tried duplicating the scalp and editing from there, but it would get DOZENS of vertices on the same spot. It was impossible to work with....

Did you separate the scalp after duplicating (P key)? There a several ways to make similar shaped objects. You can take advantage of the snapping tools and the shrinkwrap modifier. You also have the option of starting with a quad sphere or a single vertex.

Yes I did! It's wierd...
A sphere? Hmm... Wouldn't that make too many faces?

I think I'm doing it now though. I started with a single vertex.

Okay this is impossible. I duplicate half of the front row of vertices from the scalp, duplicate selection, (Without moving it) then seperate selection through ''p''.

Then there are either billions of vertices all on the same spot, ot they aren't connected through a face, even if I try to do so with ''f''
Has this ever happened to you? :P

And then when I try to extrude, it has a lock on it, making it go only that direction. I can click on ''y'' a few times then I'm free, but this isn't normal is it?

OKAY!

I was finally able to do it a long way.

I duplicated each and every single vertex by 1, (seperating it after the duplication) and then, once I had all of those, I Ctr-J 'd them into a group, and THEN make a face with ''F'' in each vertex.
My GOODNESS.

I have no idea what you're trying to do, but I'm glad you found a solution. It would help if you show an image of the problem you're having. If you extrude something and don't want it locked on the normal direction, just press z.

Oh haha!
Here:


So what I want to do is make the whole hair be slicked backwards. So I duplicated it, (That difficult way) scale it a bit, and grabbed the back part at the neck and extrude that all the way to the waist.


So, may I ask, is it ''Normal'' for a hair mesh to look like this so far?
Of course it depends on the style of the hair. But. I don't know.... Would you happen to know what I mean? :P
Like what is your advice when meshing hair?

Thanks!

And I'm going to go layering it up until it's mid-way on the back of the head

Quick question (Suprising)

Would you know why, after I mirror, there are still little imperfections? Is that normal?

Here I mirrored from (Our view) right to left, and on the left there is small gap line.


Edit: Though when I un-hide the scalp, it's well okay.

Here I am yet again :P

About before. I did everything step by step, however, when I export it, it says ''la-la group doesn't have a material assigned to it''
But since the bone is parent to the hair, I can't assign materials.
Also, I don't have the ''hair'' group anymore, wondering if that's alright.

AAAAAnnnd , I don't have the option for ''reference-with vertex weights'' or is that just for import?
Honestly so sorry for the bombard of questions 24/7 >_<

Are you using the mirror tool in edit mode or the mirror modifier? The sims body isn't completely symmetrical so mirror won't always match. There's also the possibility of the origin not being in the middle.

No need to worry about the material being assigned, but you still should be able to assign materials whether or not the hair is parented to the armature.

What do you mean by hair group, the vertex group/bone or the mesh object itself? You can always rename the mesh.

The "Reference, with vertex weights" option is for when you export SMDs from milkshape.

Do you need for help with exporting from blender, or importing to milkshape or SimPE?