Object Not-Recolourable? Also, Messed Up Shadow

[SeeMyu]

erm. I was following Flabaliki's tutorial on meshing..

I did all the steps in the tutorial, and my object turned out to be like this:

http://i54.tinypic.com/34fbbza.jpg

http://i52.tinypic.com/330bx3b.jpg (don't mind the random glowing flooring.. i was in CAStyle and well.. my curser happened to be over that flooring

:blink: uhmm.. i believe this is a texture problem? Maybe?

you can change the texture.. but not the colours.. this is very odd. Can someone help me figure this out?

also.. the shadow.. it's far off :wtf:

[orangemittens]

The shadow just looks like you didn't remesh the shadow group. The other issue I'm not sure about since there's a couple things I can think of that could cause this. Did you use s3oc and s3pe to make this chair? If so, could you post the object so I can look at it?

[SeeMyu]

The shadow just looks like you didn't remesh the shadow group. The other issue I'm not sure about since there's a couple things I can think of that could cause this. Did you use s3oc and s3pe to make this chair? If so, could you post the object so I can look at it?

Yes, I used S3PE and S3OC. I uploaded the package below.

[orangemittens]

It looks like you've overwritten the Multiplier with the Mask and not changed the original Mask...you have two Masks (red/green/blue Img) in there.

The original object looks like it has two recolorable channels and you're trying to make it have three. If you want it to do that you're gonna have to enable the third channel most likely.

[SeeMyu]

It looks like you've overwritten the Multiplier with the Mask and not changed the original Mask...you have two Masks (red/green/blue Img) in there.

The original object looks like it has two recolorable channels and you're trying to make it have three. If you want it to do that you're gonna have to enable the third channel most likely.

Ah, I see where I went wrong, I saved over the multiplier file instead! :( . And, sorry I'm asking.. im new to meshing without TSR Workshop.. so how would I be able to enable the third channel?

[orangemittens]

Ah, I see where I went wrong, I saved over the multiplier file instead! :( . And, sorry I'm asking.. im new to meshing without TSR Workshop.. so how would I be able to enable the third channel?Open your object with s3pe, click on the OBJD line and then the Grid button near the bottom.

When the DataGrid box pops up choose the Materials line and then hit the little button at the far right (it will have three little dots in it). This little button only shows up after you've clicked on the line so don't be surprised if you don't see it at first.

In the next pop-up box hit the + sign next to Material Block on the right side. Click on Complate Overrides and again the little box that shows up on the right that has the little dots.

In the next pop-up click on each of the lines there and look at the description for that field that shows up on the right side. You're looking for one where the VariableName says Pattern C enabled. (TC07_Boolean) In the Unknown1 field below that you want it to say true. Yours will say false right now so just click on the Unknown1 line and a drop-down will appear on the right side...pick True.

Hit OK and it will go back to the previous pop-up box. If your object has more than 1 material in the list on the left you'll need to do this for each of them or they will still only have 2 recolorable channels.

Once you've enabled all the Materials on the list there click OK, then Commit, then File/Save.

[SeeMyu]

Thanks OM! You helped me fix the colour problem!

http://i51.tinypic.com/6p54dd.jpg

But, I'm still having troubles with the shadow. I have remeshed all the other files for the chair, as said to in the tutorial... but I don't get why it's doing this

[orangemittens]

Thanks OM! You helped me fix the colour problem!

http://i51.tinypic.com/6p54dd.jpg

But, I'm still having troubles with the shadow. I have remeshed all the other files for the chair, as said to in the tutorial... but I don't get why it's doing thisDid you change the shadow group +/- remap it so it fits your new object?

[SeeMyu]

Did you change the shadow group +/- remap it so it fits your new object?

I bet that's it because I have no clue what the group +/- is. The tutorial didn't say anything about this :/

[orangemittens]

I bet that's it because I have no clue what the group +/- is. The tutorial didn't say anything about this :/I apologize because I was not clear there. I meant to ask if you remeshed the shadow group and changed the mapping for it if necessary to get the look you want. By +/- I meant + changed the mapping if it needed it or - didn't change it if remeshing alone was sufficient.

[SeeMyu]

Well, I did change the mapping for the original mesh. But, in the tutorial.. it said to import the first mesh over the shadow group. then delete the original and change the original mesh name to group00. Does that also have to be mapped?

[orangemittens]

Well, I did change the mapping for the original mesh. But, in the tutorial.. it said to import the first mesh over the shadow group. then delete the original and change the original mesh name to group00. Does that also have to be mapped?Can you post the chair you have now so I can look at it...I'm confused by what that tutorial is telling you to do and it will be quicker for me to help if I can see what you have.

[SeeMyu]

here you go ;)

[orangemittens]

When I look at that in MS it looks like the shadow is mapped incorrectly. You need to apply EA's shadow IMG to your shadow plane and remap it. This is the shadow IMG that EA uses for most objects:

http://jaue.com/om/EA_shadowIMG.rar

Open a clone of EA's original chair to get an idea of how things should look and then base the map for your shadow on that.

[SeeMyu]

Mapping as in UV Mapping?

or as in this:

http://thumbs.modthesims.info/getimage.php?file=1209555

http://thumbs.modthesims.info/getimage.php?file=1209556

Sorry about all the frantic questions. This is all very new to me.
I'm just really confused on how to use the EA Shadows. :/

[orangemittens]

Mapping as in UV mapping. That big mesh is for the sunshadow. The plane that's mapped to EA's shadow IMG is for the groundshadow indoors. When you look at the 4 lods, the first, the 00000 has a plane under the main mesh(es) and none of the others do. This is the plane I'm talking about. Bring your object into MS and assign that shadow IMG to the plane group as a texture. You'll see that yours is not mapped correctly and this is why your shadow isn't showing up right in game.

[SeeMyu]

erm.. okay. I re-mapped it with LithUnwrap (which was less difficult than UV Classic)

And now, the object look like this in MS:

http://thumbs.modthesims.info/getimage.php?file=1209756

:wtf: goodness! so many problems! D:

[orangemittens]

Can't help you there...I don't use either one of those. For objects I've made with MS I use MS Texture Coordinator Editor to map with. It's very easy and it works every time. I posted a link to my tutorial on how to use it somewhere around here. If you're interested and can't find it let me know.

[SeeMyu]

Yes, I am interested :)

[orangemittens]

It was written for S2 so there are a few minor differences...the most important is that in S3, unlike S2, you can only have one IMG of each type for a given object. If you have questions let me know.

http://jaue.com/om/OM_TextureMappingwithMilkshape.rar

[SeeMyu]

woah! that was simpler than I thought it would be! Thank you, I'll take a shot at this with the chair. Also, is it okay if I use the mask for the material? Would it effect anything if I did?

[orangemittens]

woah! that was simpler than I thought it would be! Thank you, I'll take a shot at this with the chair. Also, is it okay if I use the mask for the material? Would it effect anything if I did?Yeah...that's the beauty of MS...it's simple :) Not sure what you mean by "use the mask for the material"

[SeeMyu]

meaning, like this

http://thumbs.modthesims.info/getimage.php?file=1209797

[orangemittens]

Typically what you're gonna want to do with an object like the one you're working with is this:

1. Create your mesh

2. Map your mesh on a generic .dds or .png that has a checkered pattern so you can see that your map is not causing pattern distortion

3. When object is mapped to your satisfaction take it into Blender and bake it to create the Multiplier...tweak as needed to get it looking perfect

4. Create your new Mask to match the map you've made

5. Fix your Specular

6. Make sure those are all in .dds form, rename, and import them into your object package to overwrite the originals

[SeeMyu]

Typically what you're gonna want to do with an object like the one you're working with is this:

1. Create your mesh

2. Map your mesh on a generic .dds or .png that has a checkered pattern so you can see that your map is not causing pattern distortion

3. When object is mapped to your satisfaction take it into Blender and bake it to create the Multiplier...tweak as needed to get it looking perfect

4. Create your new Mask to match the map you've made

5. Fix your Specular

6. Make sure those are all in .dds form, rename, and import them into your object package to overwrite the originals

Alright, thank you so much for all of your help! :bunny:

[SeeMyu]

I'm having problems with Blender, for some reason.. whenever I bake my object.. blender freezes and then crashes. :(

I think it's something to do with my UV Map. It was normal.. but i changed the view by accident and now it looks like this:

http://i55.tinypic.com/2rotkoz.jpg

:blink: is there anyway to get it back to normal?

[orangemittens]

What do you mean "changed the view"?...which button did you hit? With MS if you've made a change to your object that you don't like you can hit Edit/Undo as long as you still have the object open in MS.

[SeeMyu]

You know where it says "Front" "Back" "Top" in the drop down menu. I went to that menu by accident instead of the group menu and changed the view of group00. I wasn't able to undo anything :(

[orangemittens]

It sounds like you hit the Remap button. You should be able to use Edit/Undo to go back from that unless you saved and then closed. If you've saved it that way you'll have to fall back to a previous version to return your work to where it was. You *are* saving between each major step you take in creating this object right?

[SeeMyu]

Right, I didn't want to risk loosing anything so I saved. Oh well, I'll go back to the previous version. Thanks again :)

[SeeMyu]

I feel really bad to come back here and keep asking questions :/
But, in your tutorial on baking in blender. the object you imported doesn't have the box underneath the mesh. Does it matter if it is? If it does, how would I remove it?

If you do not know what I am talking about, I'm talking about this:

http://thumbs.modthesims.info/getimage.php?file=1209982

the square under the mesh

[orangemittens]

I'm more than happy to answer questions about my tutorials in the threads for those tutorials. I prefer to keep questions on them all in one place so I don't end up answering the same questions over and over but scattered in different threads :) And don't worry about asking questions...that's what these forums are for :beer: