Tutorial: A Beginners Guide on How to Mesh for The Sims 3, From Start to Finish (inc. pics)

[Flabaliki]

Tutorial: A Beginners Guide on How to Mesh for The Sims 3 (inc. pics)
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/1/0/6/2/9/4/MTS2_Flabaliki_1015859_display.jpg

I've written up this tutorial which covers everything one needs to know about meshing for The Sims 3.

It includes:
- Cloning
- Exporting/Importing MLOD/MODL & DDS
- How to model basic objects
- How to map your objects
- Texturing your objects correctly

Basically anyone who is completely new to meshing of any kind will be able to understand and follow along.

Video Tutorial
I've also created a video tutorial on meshing fences, however this does not go into the detail this tutorial does, so I recommend if you are new and don't know what you are doing that you read this tutorial first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUE-rbaTBVo

[orangemittens]

In Step 6: Importing Our Mapped Object you say, "Now you must rename that group to ‘group01’, if you recall, that was the name of the group the original table mesh was in, that’s why we have to call it ‘group01’."

I think it's important to note, because it has been quite a source of confusion and frustration for many, that the name of the group is really not the issue here.

The important thing, as repeated by WesleyHowe on several occasions, is that the order of the groups in the Group tab list is what matters.

So, if your shadow was group00 and the object was group01, this means that as far as the tool is concerned, the shadow group is the first group on the list. If during the meshing process you somehow end up with the shadow below the object on the groups tab list, you must select the shadow and use the Up button just below the blank rename box in order to move it back up to the top position.

If you simply rename the groups without moving them into the correct order, the tool will continue to treat your object group as the shadow group. Once the object is in the game it will be invisible and there will be a plane on the ground with gray and black mottling.

In Step 9: Recompiling the Files and Re-importing them to Sims 3 PE you say, "Now that the four files are recompiled, we are ready to import them back into Sims 3 PE, which you hopefully shouldn’t have closed, if you did close it, you will have a lot of issues importing back into it, as it will not replace the files".

This is not true. You don't have to keep s3pe open the whole time you are working on a mesh or risk importation issues.

You can close the s3pe and work on your mesh at your leisure. When your mesh is done you can open s3pe, import your MODL and MLODs) and the tool will replace the old versions of these with your new ones.

It is important to note that the part of the process which makes reimportation somewhat more involved is the part which occurs when you proceed to, what in your tutorial is labeled Step 11: Editing Name/Description/Price. That is the portion of the process which involves using the s3oc to fix the object.

Fix in this instance does not merely mean you get a chance to rename, redescribe, and reprice your object.

Fix means that the s3oc is making new numbers for your MLOD(s) and MODL...that is, this is the point where they are changed from what they were when you finished importing them into the s3pe. Now if you try to make changes to your MODL and MLOD(s) a second time and reimport them using the s3pe they will not overwrite the old versions.

This doesn't happen because you closed the s3pe, it happens because the s3oc "fixed" your object by giving it new numbers for each MLOD and the MODL.

If that still doesn't make sense to you see LemonCandy's comment on the issue here in this thread...she explains it better than I do and provides a picture:

http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=373185&page=1

OM

[Flabaliki]

orangemittens - I'm really new to meshing myself, and I did not know that, thanks for the info, I'll updated it right away :)

Edit - I've made the necessary changes, thanks again for the info.

[orangemittens]

Several of the factual issues with the tutorial are discussed in the many threads here on meshing at MTS. I've pointed out another in my post above.

I think it's great to want to help others by making a tutorial and this tutorial is very nice...but at the same time, I think it's important to know at least as much on the topic as anyone else does before writing the tutorial because otherwise you're just going to cause confusion. :)

It's early in meshing so there are a lot of things that are unknown...but there are a lot of things which are known and they are discussed in the threads here at MTS. It's helpful to read up on all the new information coming out prior to writing a tutorial so that your tutorial is up to date and not reiterating errors in the creative process which have already been identified and corrected.

OM

[Flabaliki]

Well the idea of this tutorial was to provide basics in creation, and continue updating as time goes on and as I, myself learn new things, as I already have done tonight :).

I made this because when I was starting it was so hard to find a straight forward tutorial in object creation, so I decided to make it easier for those starting so that they don't have to hunt all over the place for multiple tutorials on desperate parts of creation.

[orangemittens]

I understand :)

I refer you to Petallotus's tutorial which covers all the basics of creating a mesh. I think she posted this two days ago...in any case she points out, "****If using a file that you are converting, make sure you pay attention to the TS3 object. See how many groups it has and it what order they are. You object must have the same amount of groups and must be in the same order as the original. For example our chair has two groups and the chair is the first group while the shadow is the second. Your object must follow the same pattern: two groups with the object being the first group while the shadow is the second. Use the up and down button if you need to get them in the right order..." which states the issue more clearly than I did.

Hope that helps.

OM

[Killc*a]

Great tutorial! I started meshing about two weeks ago and read every tutorial I can get. Especially the uv map part was very useful to me.


But I found some small issue:

You wrote:
Navigate to where you exported the MODL/MLOD files, import the first file, if you left them in alphabetical order when you extracted them it will be the first one, if not, you can find out which one is the real mesh as it is the one that was extracted from the .model file, all the others were extracted from .lod files.


The first file in alphabetical order is the MLOD file with 00000000 in its name. But this is a .lod file, not a .model file.

Not such a big thing, but it can confuse people.

[Flabaliki]

Ok, I updated that part :)

[Bailey Weggins]

That's a great tutorial. Thank you very much, Flabaliki. Ther's just one strange problem I'm having here: in the tutorial it says that the MODL file is the actual mesh and the three MLOD files are the shadows and one simplified version. However, I exported the MODL file, decompiled it, opened it in Milkshape and it's not the mesh but the simplified version and the first MLOD file is the actual mesh. What does that mean?

---EDIT---

Okay, it seems it doesn't matter. Sorry for asking stupid questions, I'm new to meshing.
Soooo... I've just made my first object ever. I'm so happy!!! :)
Thank you again so much for this absolutely great tutorial. It's good that it's written from a beginner's point of view because you don't leave anything out.

[fluttereyes]

sometimes it's better when a beginner teaches a beginner, I find a lot of the tutorials very long winded as people don't put each step, assuming you must know what's in their head. It's really nice to get back to basics and I'm sure we can all learn the other stuff as we go along. Thanks for doing this and hopefully we can all work together on this

[hazuitokage]

One thing, in regards to OM comments on fixing the object that I found isn't correct :
You CAN fix the catalog price, name definition etc, without the Cloner giving the object a new internal number (just un-click that option once you've done your changes and before clicking 'Fix').
This way, you still can open you fixed object in s3pe and be able to fiddle with the modl/mlods, picts etc.

Just be careful to unclick the 'renumber internally' option.

As Inge said in a thread yesterday, we don't need the step of 'fixing' the object anymore at the end, now. Sometimes, I fix definitions name price etc first hand when I clone the object. the only time I go back to fix it into the cloner is when I want to change something I forgot, like catalog placement, or name, or price etc.(with the renumber option unclicked, of course).

:anime:

[fluttereyes]

One thing, in regards to OM comments on fixing the object that I found isn't correct :
You CAN fix the catalog price, name definition etc, without the Cloner giving the object a new internal number (just un-click that option once you've done your changes and before clicking 'Fix').
This way, you still can open you fixed object in s3pe and be able to fiddle with the modl/mlods, picts etc.

Just be careful to unclick the 'renumber internally' option.

As Inge said in a thread yesterday, we don't need the step of 'fixing' the object anymore at the end, now. Sometimes, I fix definitions name price etc first hand when I clone the object. the only time I go back to fix it into the cloner is when I want to change something I forgot, like catalog placement, or name, or price etc.(with the renumber option unclicked, of course).

:anime:

Inge's reply was to me in the other thread. She said you don't need to go back into s3oc as long as you DO tick renumber when you clone the object initially.

ON another note*

I would suggest that the people here who have any issues with this tutorial, which is intended for beginners like myself, go write their own adding all the details they feel are left out. That way people like me who know jack sh*** about meshing can have the benefit of several tutorials on different levels.

[hazuitokage]

Inge's reply was to me in the other thread. She said you don't need to go back into s3oc as long as you DO tick renumber when you clone the object initially.

Yes, we both mean the same thing : I always renumber when I clone (which I ASSUME most people who want to create new objects would do, since otherwise the clone overwrites the original), HENCE I don't need to do it again when I go back in if I forgot to change catalog descriptions and such.

That is all.

[fluttereyes]

Yes, we both mean the same thing : I always renumber when I clone (which I ASSUME most people who want to create new objects would do, since otherwise the clone overwrites the original), HENCE I don't need to do it again when I go back in if I forgot to change catalog descriptions and such.

That is all.

Oh right, it was just because you said to untick the renumber internally, it of course must be ticked

[robokitty]

Thanks for the tutorial. I just meshing for the first time ever, and it worked!

I was a little confused on one part though--what the heck do you do with the shadow? When I exported my mesh as an .obj and then tried to uv map it, I wasn't sure where I should stick the shadow on the uv maps because I had read in another thread that the shadow in inextricably linked to a dropshadow image somewhere else. Would it have been better to only export the mesh and map it instead of the mesh & shadow if I wanted to preserve the original drop shadow?


Just so you know, it took me a while to figure out the the object tool instructions. After I hit Decompile, I didn't realize for a long time that I needed to select the same file and hit open, so you might want to clarify that. :)

[WesHowe]

The dropshadow group and your main group should be UV mapped separately. The shadow maps to the image file that says "do not use any blobs below this line". You main groups map to something else.

Do this by exporting the groups separately for UV mapping. If you are only changing the dropshadow size, and not the blob it is using, you should not need to change the UV mapping for it, just resize the rectangle so it fits your new object instead of the original.

[fluttereyes]

Ok so I get stuck right at the beginning. I have a folder woth the opened MLOD's and another with the extractes MODL's. I have to go and import one into milkshape, but which, the MODL or the MLod both have mcfg files and they both open up, so which do I work on?

[Bailey Weggins]

Ok so I get stuck right at the beginning. I have a folder woth the opened MLOD's and another with the extractes MODL's. I have to go and import one into milkshape, but which, the MODL or the MLod both have mcfg files and they both open up, so which do I work on?
You work on all four files. In s3pe, you can see that one of them has only 0's in the group, like 0x00000000. This is the actual mesh which I believe you should start with.

[Rakime]

Awesome tutorial, thank you so much!

I got stuck in step 10: Textures. I chose an object that doesn't have red/blue/green map of the same dimension as the texture maps (it's a painting). There are twwo red one, but pretty small. Do I create it? What should I do, because I created a new mesh, but the CAS parts are the same from the original mesh :(

[Cocomama]

Fluttereyes and Bailey Weggins:
This tutorial needs to be updated about the use of MLOD and MODL

Information from WesHowe.

...start with building a working "00000000" MLOD file. After you have that UV mapped, tested and are happy you use the mesh from it to make your "00000001" mesh.(=MODL) That mesh is a same-sized but reduced poly count version.

The MLOD files have everything to do with sunshadows. The MODL is usually group "00000001" (lod1) and it pairs with "00010001" for it's sun shadow. The other lod0 (main) file will be group "00000000" and it pairs with "00010000" for its sunshadow. But the sunshadow mesh is not the shadow, it is the other half of some sort of template the game uses to make a sunshadow by calculation... as the sun moves, the shadow changes, whereas the dropshadow stays the same.

My recommendation is:

1. Make the MLOD 00000000, mesh texture UVmap and export/save that one.
2. Make the new MODL 00000001 = reduced polycount version of MLOD 00000000 use your new saved MLOD 00000000 to make it
3. Make the MLOD 00010000 = sunshadow of MLOD 00000000 use your new saved MLOD 00000000 to make it
4. Make the MLOD 00010001 = sunshadow of MODL 00000001 use your new saved MODL 00000001 to make it

More information about the MODL and MLODs here:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=373397

Rakime, if there is no _IMG texture with red and green and/ot blue blobs, it means the object you cloned has no recolorable parts. If you want (part of) your new object to be recolorable, you should clone an object/painting that already is recolorable.

[loser4020]

Hey I need help , How can I find a simple Tutorial for Meshing and Find out the Tools I need ? Please help I would love to get started on something For Christmas. thanks for the help.

[hazuitokage]

… read the first post of this thread ?

(I suppose if would be slightly rude to ask you if you're joking… :wtf: Honestly.)

[loser4020]

No not rude!
Honestly Some people,
I did not even see that. That's funny.

[Flabaliki]

Okey doke, anyways, I know there a quite a few little things I need to fix up in this tutorial, I will do that soon. I've just been preoccupied with final exams and such, but they are over soon so I'll be back to updating this :)

[ZiltzWiltz]

Congratulations, this is the most comprehensive and easy to understand object meshing tutorial that I have found thus far for TS3!

There are some parts that become a bit confusing, but I didn't really get stuck at all until I reached step 10. For some reason the texturing and UV mapping is harder for me to comprehend than any of the other stuff.

Still, thanks for this! I was able to successfully create an object and view it correctly in-game, minus some problems that I had with the shadow showing up correctly and UV mapping. I'm sure I'll figure it all out eventually though!

[melanise]

whats an easy quick sufficent way of creating a low poly count version of the main mesh ?? -.- so annoying that you gotta have 2 but anyway other than stupidly starting over again how can i go about this ??

[Cocomama]

You can use Tools> DirectX Mesh Tools.. in Milkshape to reduce polycount. Drag the slider to the left and click the little diskette button to save.

[melanise]

Omg ty your a saint x

[lovelife4eva]

i have downloaded all the things at http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Tutorial:Sims_3_Hair_Basics
and i want to make a hair mesh i dont understand it ???
i get to the first bit then i stuff up :cry:
plz help me!

[lovelife4eva]

i have downloaded all the things at http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Tutorial:Sims_3_Hair_Basics
and i want to make a hair mesh i dont understand it ???
i get to the first bit then i stuff up :cry:
plz help me!



Anyone???

[orangemittens]

No one is going to be able to help unless you ask a specific question. Start the tutorial and go through it as far as you can. When you get to the step that confuses you come back, describe where you are in the tutorial and the problem you are having going on to the next step. As it is, it isn't possible to tell from your post what the issue is so no one can provide advice.

OM

[melanise]

i posted in a diff forum but i thought i would post here also:

I have a problem, I'm now on the 2nd file of my Mlods, i've created the first Modl file perfectly and exported with no problems, anyway i'm trying to get the shadow files done now and when i resize my chain and turn down the poly count using direct x mesh.. i delete the old mesh and rename mine to group00 and when i go to export back onto that file i get an error mesh saying: ERR:Model has 1 groups; original had 0. i dont understand, i havnt tried this yet without turning the polycount down for the low poly version.. i'll give that a quick try but in the mean time why is this happening ??

all the other mlod and model files saved fine its just the one Mlod file (the shadow mesh) which just wont save i keeep getting an error i even managed to do the low poly detail mesh pleas someone help.

[orangemittens]

Interesting. I was able to reproduce this error taking the precise sequence of steps that you describe so I clicked ok to accept it thinking that since I wasn't really overwriting a 0 group MLOD that it shouldn't matter. But when I then tried to recompile I got an error message telling me it was unable to open the file.

Edited to add: I tried it again with a simpler object and using an obj instead of the actual s3asc thing. This time when I tried to overwrite using my Direct-X'ed obj following assignment of joints it told me a bone was missing. I accepted that and then tried to overwrite it again. On the second attempt to overwrite it gave me the 0 groups error.

Did you get the error the first time you tried to export or did you try to export over the MLOD more than once?

It seems, at least to my uneducated mind, that Direct-X'ing the s3asc removes a critical bone and that is causing the tool to perceive it as having no groups once the object is Direct-X'ed.

It makes me wonder if there is a threshold beyond which you should not try to decrease the poly count of an s3ascs using Direct-X or if you should just not use Direct-X at all on them.

Edited again to add: And, of course, one solution is to use Direct-X on your model. Save that model as an obj. Then use the Direct-X'ed obj to replace the shadow group after resizing and assigning joints. I did it this way and there were no problems. You just can't use Direct-X when the s3asc is open in MS.

OM

[melanise]

Ty orangemittens for going over this, well i did just that, used the large high detail shadow mesh ( as its the same size as the low detail shadow mesh) and turned the polys down abit on that and then exported this as an .obj file and when importing this into the low poly shadow file i still get this error.
I will go back to the very beginning with the mesh i imported from maya and rescale, assign etc that one, and see if that clears things up.
I'll try with and without direct x and see my results.. ty again and will post back with how it went :-)

[orangemittens]

No problem. You will have to re-export a new version of your shadow MLOD's because the ones you've been working with have already had the bone stripped from them by the Direct-X'ing you did. If you try to use them over again you will continue to get the error. But with new MLOD's that still have the bone you should be fine. It worked for me without any problem.

I used my non-shadow MLOD, saved it as an obj, closed MS. Opened MS, imported my obj, Direct-X'ed it, saved it again as an obj. Deleted it, imported my shadow MLOD, imported my obj, resized it, deleted the shadow MLOD group, assigned joints, and saved over the shadow MLOD. It all went well and recompiled with no errors.

OM

[melanise]

Brilliant thanks so much thats one thing i havnt tried starting fresh with a new Mlod i'm gonna do that now thanks again your a star :-P

[lovelife4eva]

No one is going to be able to help unless you ask a specific question. Start the tutorial and go through it as far as you can. When you get to the step that confuses you come back, describe where you are in the tutorial and the problem you are having going on to the next step. As it is, it isn't possible to tell from your post what the issue is so no one can provide advice.

OM

Ok well if you go to that link this is where i get stuck:

Extract Mesh:
Open the mesh file in SimPE.
Click on GMDC in the Resource Tree over on the left. If there are multiples in the Resource List on the right, pick the adult one.
i cant find what mesh it means :help:

[melanise]

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8062/screenshot8rg.jpg

I have one problem which was bound to coem about lol the shineyness its not meant to be this way because its meant to be wood for the legs and cloth for the body of the chair and i havnt chosen metal as the material, I'm not sure if maybe i wasnt meant to paint the specular file... but i did i will give that a shot at taking it out but if anyone can come up with a reason for this please tell ty x

Also thankyou OM for your support i nailed something i've been wanting to try with sims2 but never got the chance also flabaliki for a really straight forward tutorial its brilliant x

[orangemittens]

Hi lovelife4eva...now that is a question that can be answered :)

I don't work with hair meshes so I may be wrong about this...but when I look at that tutorial it seems like when it says, "Open the mesh file in SimPE," it is saying to open whatever hair mesh it is that you would like to convert to Sims 3. So you could pick whatever hair mesh you wanted and follow the tutorial by using that hair mesh.

I'm hoping someone who meshes with hair could help out more but that's the way it reads to me. Also you could try posting in this thread here which is all about hair meshes: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=358778

I'm sure there is probably someone there who can help a lot more than I can...but stick to asking specific questions because that is the way that you can get answers.

melanise, did the MLOD's work out after getting new ones? Which chair did you clone that from? You're welcome for the support :)

OM

[melanise]

I used just a normal dining chair cant remember the name but if thats a problem i can check, also when looking at info in s3oc it says wood and cloth as textures so i dont understand why this is happening... i've tried to black out the specular folder and then checked to see if it took away shinyness but no change... i'm lost as to what to do.. its cant be the multiplier i dont think because isnt that just for shading ?
Oh ya and the mod files all packed fine and recompiled no errors looks perfect in game as show above just the shineyness which is annoying... :alarm:

[melanise]

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/2981/screenshot9alk.jpg (http://img94.imageshack.us/i/screenshot9alk.jpg/) Thats another shot of the problem shiney evilness lol

[orangemittens]

Have you rechecked your Specular? I had a similar issue and when LemonCandy checked my Specular for me it was wrong even though I thought I had not changed it. Give that a peek.

If that isn't it hopefully someone who knows more about this kind of issue comes along because if it isn't that and it isn't the mtlsrcs I'm out of answers. I'm still learning too.

OM

[orangemittens]

It would be more helpful to have your package file.

OM

[lovelife4eva]

Hi lovelife4eva...now that is a question that can be answered :)

I don't work with hair meshes so I may be wrong about this...but when I look at that tutorial it seems like when it says, "Open the mesh file in SimPE," it is saying to open whatever hair mesh it is that you would like to convert to Sims 3. So you could pick whatever hair mesh you wanted and follow the tutorial by using that hair mesh.

I'm hoping someone who meshes with hair could help out more but that's the way it reads to me. Also you could try posting in this thread here which is all about hair meshes: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=358778

I'm sure there is probably someone there who can help a lot more than I can...but stick to asking specific questions because that is the way that you can get answers.

melanise, did the MLOD's work out after getting new ones? Which chair did you clone that from? You're welcome for the support :)

OM

Thx a heap

[orangemittens]

melanise, to quote HugeLunatic, "Your specular probably has a white alpha, make it black and the shiny should go away..." so there you go. Give that a shot.

OM

[melanise]

well i did try just that, i reimported my files into sim3 pe with the specular being completly black this time and saved as a DXT5 Interpolated Alpha and still the same result persist's i dunno i guess i'll try it again... have you looked at the package ? ( and just for the record i didnt save the other 2 files as DXT5 ) :-)

[ellacharmed]

Hey, you guys...
isn't it best to post this info in its own thread with an appropriate title so it doesn't get buried in this thread. It has gone way off topic to the tutorial guide. Plus @lovelife4eva's questions are on the Hair tutorial!

I'd definitely forget where I read all this useful info a few weeks/months from now.

[HugeLunatic]

Well most of it is related to issues with following the tutorial. But OM pointed lovelife4eva to the correct tutorial for hairs and any further questions about that should be posted there since this one is for objects.

Melanise please keep your questions to one thread, and please do some reading. You posted the same thing in another thread here (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=359585&c=0&ht=&page=2&pp=25#startcomments) where I answered before I saw this one. And in that thread Norbi had given the answer to a shiny texture (post 48). Which is the specular should have a black alpha, Photoshop imports it without an alpha and you have to add one. If you use another graphics program make sure it is black.

I can't really look at it since I use Photoshop and it will lose the alpha when I open it to look at it. Also make sure to delete your cache files, otherwise you will probably still see the shiny.

[melanise]

ok so i just paint the spec file black or do i need to create another file ?... and where do i find the cache files?. also sorry about multi post i just really need to fix this asap :-S something so near is so far >.< need patience sorry lol ty for replying though

[melanise]

Eurika! i finally solved it 20 mins to 5am and i've finally got the damn thing >.< its perfect! thanks so much for put up with me and the help has been great ty xx
I didnt notice you have to ceate an alpha channel in the specular DDs which will stop it from showing bright shiney woooo :-P

[orangemittens]

Cache files are in Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3 folder.

I always delete all 4 of the packages with the word cache in them although it may be that this is overkill. The ones I delete are:

CASPartCache.package
compositorCache.package
scriptCache.package
simCompositorCache.package

Sometimes if you make changes to an object and put it into the game without deleting the caches the changes you made will not show up. If you're making something new it's always a good idea to delete these before checking your object in the game just to be sure you're actually seeing the effect of whatever alterations you made to the object.

I'm glad your object worked out. :)

OM

[melanise]

I have a problem which i've bumped into twice now the first time i was able to resolve it by repackaging but i have a funny feeling its not the root cause and its just gonna wear me out completly repacking over and over O.o, :blink: so anyway here: http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/7826/screenshot5g.jpg

Now i've recently made a set MIA Living Set and i had this problem with the two seater but repackaged it and it some how reolved the issue, now the pillow has its own recolour patch on CAS and so the body and the legs but for some reason... when you change the colour or pattern on the legs you get a transparent projection on the pillow aswell... i really dont know whats causing this i've worked with other meshes fine but random things keep cropping up everytime i make new packages -.- its slowly annoying me.
Now this projection was... showing on the body of the chair but after repackaging it switched to the pillow, its not 100% noticable if you just use plain colours but it will hue the pillow some what.. and its just not finished then is it.... so plz if anyone has an idea as to why this is happening i would appreciate it, i'm guessign its probs in the DDS files but i very much doubt it.. but hey i'm really open for answers ty x

[orangemittens]

Trust me...I know exactly how you feel when you say, "i've worked with other meshes fine but random things keep cropping up everytime i make new packages,"...every single object has it's own ins and outs this is for sure.

Do you want someone to just give the thingy a second look for you?

[orangemittens]

What did you clone this from...is this the elusive chair with two groups that some people have been looking for?

Edited to add: I'm not sure your groups are how you want them. The map looks right but there are two shadow groups and only one chair group...could this be the issue? Check your groups out in MS and see what I mean. I was looking at the MLOD. Is this how the original object was grouped? With Group 00 the entire chair, Group01 a shadow (full square), and Group 2 another shadow made up of the four patches where the legs go?

But the MODL has only one group...that's strange. Usually when an object has three groups in the MLOD there are 2 in the MODL.

I'll admit, I haven't really worked much with chairs and maybe this grouping is normal for them...but it's not what I would have expected from looking at the set-up of other kinds of meshes.

[melanise]

What did you clone this from...is this the elusive chair with two groups that some people have been looking for?

Edited to add: I'm not sure your groups are how you want them. The map looks right but there are two shadow groups and only one chair group...could this be the issue? Check your groups out in MS and see what I mean. I was looking at the MLOD. Is this how the original object was grouped? With Group 00 the entire chair, Group01 a shadow (full square), and Group 2 another shadow made up of the four patches where the legs go?

But the MODL has only one group...that's strange. Usually when an object has three groups in the MLOD there are 2 in the MODL.

I'll admit, I haven't really worked much with chairs and maybe this grouping is normal for them...but it's not what I would have expected from looking at the set-up of other kinds of meshes.

Its exactly how it came i never touch the shadows i only ever re-size my object to comfortably fit just about right where the other chair did then i assign my chair and delete the old one, as of now its the only sofa i know which ahs the extra shadow under the feet but i've cloned this chair before with no problems so the shadows isnt the issue. When you say MLOD you mean the 2 shadow and 1 low detail files ? because those are the 3 which come with this sofa and most other objects. those 3 files only have 1 group "group00" as from what i've seen eeverytime i export them into MS, and the MODL file has the 3.

[orangemittens]

Well, if this is how the groups always are then that must not be the issue with your chair now. I was just wondering about it because it looked strange compared with most objects I've seen.

The MLODs usually come in threes, one has the group and the indoor shadow, and the other two are lower poly (and much larger) versions that have to do with the sunshadow. Your chair here is no different...you can look at the group arrangement by using the MLOD/MODL Info button in the ObjTool. Here are pics of your first MLOD and MODL:

http://jaue.com/om/MLODi.jpg

http://jaue.com/om/MODL.jpg

This arrangement for MLOD and MODL is pretty typical from what I've seen and read. What is less so, at least to me, is how the MLOD has three groups and 2 of them are shadows.

Anyway, since that isn't the issue I'll look again although the problem you're describing isn't one I've run into before so I've got no clue as to what the root cause of it could be. Hopefully someone else happens along in the meantime who has some better idea.

[WesHowe]

now the pillow has its own recolour patch on CAS and so the body and the legs but for some reason... when you change the colour or pattern on the legs you get a transparent projection on the pillow aswell.

Is the patch on the colored map a pure color? Blended mapping colors will have blended recoloring on them.

[melanise]

Is the patch on the colored map a pure color? Blended mapping colors will have blended recoloring on them.

On the coloured map? i dont understand... :blink: where do you mean on the DDS file ?? if so then the Chair it self is red the legs are blue and the cushion is green. The pillow is meant to be plain white its a shame i should have printscreened so you can see my CAS, but ya the pillow is pure white and when ever i darken lighten or patternt he legs i get the transparency on the pillow..

[WesHowe]

Well, I am thinking this is an issue with the color DDS map that defines the CAS zone, not anything to do with the grouping. I do remember that making a zone on the color map something that isn't a pure color, for instance 0, 255, 80 for green instead of 0, 255, 0 will mix the green zone texture with about 1/3 of the blue zone texture.

So I think something like that is happening, and you guys are looking for the solution in the wrong place. I could be wrong (I am far too often), as I didn't test this myself, but that is where I would look next to resolve it.

[orangemittens]

No, that seems to be right. The green on Melanise's R/G/B is 0/255/49 instead of 0/255/0.

So Melanise, look at the IMG that is red/green/blue and fix the green so that it is pure.

Edited to remove unnecessary reiteration of post above.

[melanise]

Ok fantastic that could be my problem because the blue i just maxed the colour to the top corner instead of copying the original or using those settings i will do this ty so much OM and Wesh xx always the simplest of things which makes a load of mess lol

[WesHowe]

always the simplest of things which makes a load of mess

So true... after all the polygons and UVs and everything were just right, just a wee difference in one color made a problem.

[Phantagora]

My table is ready for the UVMapper but when I open the object in it, it doesn't look as in the tutorial.

Will it affect anything as I continue? What did I do wrong? Can I remove it?

http://hem.bredband.net/skymning/uvmapper.gif

Thanks for a great tutorial.

/Phanta

Edit: I did everything in Milkshape again, and this time it worked. I am still interested in what went wrong the first time though. The two tables look the same in Milkshape.

[Megahue 2]

Melanise: I had this same problem and I realized that I still had another version of my object left in a home!

[Misty_2004]

Flabaliki, I just watched your video tutorial and I think you make it look entirely too easy, but at the same time that's a very encouraging thing. Thanks so much!

[Miss Morticia Gloom]

Does this work for clothing meshes?? :S

[Emily_Rugburn]

I know that this tutorial has been called "outdated" due to the new tutorial by EllaCharm3d, however, I tried her tutorial and it is almost as if we should know how to do it already. I like your tutorial, because you explain things in a way that is a lot easier for me to understand. I just have one problem... The very first step. It says in s3oc, to click file > new (clone). That is not an option. When I click file, I get 2 choices: open package and exit.

In EllaCharm3d's tutorial, she says to click cloning > normal objects. Will this get me the same result that I need to follow your tutorial?

And BTW, please do not give up on us. A lot of people would prefer your way of explaining things, because EllaCharm3d seems to expect us to read her mind half the time. You at least understand that we are not all as experienced as others may be.

[orangemittens]

I'm not noticing that this tutorial has been labeled "outdated" although you've certainly run into a part that needs updating :)

The s3oc has undergone some changes since this tutorial was written and to do step 1 you should follow the directions in the Ella tutorial...that is, click cloning and then pick normal objects unless you want to clone a counter or fence or some other modular object.