Tutorials:TS3 HTMG ChapH MeshingMilkshape - Revision history

Kiwi tea at 14:57, 17 September 2012

2012-09-17T14:57:31Z

Kiwi tea at 14:40, 17 September 2012

2012-09-17T14:40:55Z

EllaCharm3d at 06:08, 25 January 2011

2011-01-25T06:08:32Z

EllaCharm3d: /* Analyzing existing UV map */

2010-05-01T15:31:06Z

‎Analyzing existing UV map

EllaCharm3d at 18:04, 23 April 2010

2010-04-23T18:04:28Z

EllaCharm3d: /* new */

2010-04-23T17:34:39Z

‎new

New page

{{EllaMeshTutNavigator}}
{| class=toccolours align=center
|-
! colspan=2 style="background:#ccf;" | [[Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_ChapH_MeshingMilkshape| Meshing in Milkshape]]
|-
| colspan=2 align=center |
[[Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_SectH0_Analysis|Analysis]]  |
[[Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_SectH1_Cycle1|Cycle 1]]  |
[[Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_SectH2_Cycle2|Cycle 2]]  
|}
==H. Meshing in Milkshape==
===Import into Milkshape===
H1. [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_81.png|right|250px]]Open Milkshape.

H2. Import into Milkshape.
: If you had created the shortcuts, you could just press the key combination (mine is setup as "'''M'''"), but if not, the Import plug-in is located in '''File''' menu → '''Import'''. See picture on the right.

:{|cellspacing="2" cellpadding = "6" style="border-style:solid; border-color:black; border-width:1px;" width="60%" align="left"
| [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial 14.jpg|baseline]] Tip: 
''If you don’t see it,'' 
# ''have you downloaded it?'' 
# ''is it in the Milkshape installation path? It must be in this program’s root folder. It will not work if you put it in a subfolder.''
|}

 
===Collecting Statistics===
H3. [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_83.jpg|right|350px]]Before we begin making changes to our mesh, let<nowiki>’</nowiki>s retain some information we would need later on to make sure our cloned object works as intended.
:* Click on the '''Groups''' tab, select the first group – group00 
:* Click on the '''Select''' button, and you get the following selected, which is the ground shadow of this table (it uses the dropshadow texture). Different objects will have different groupings & arrangements, so do a thorough analysis before you proceed. 
:* [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_82.png|right|150px]]We are going to capture the statistics as well, this can be found in the '''Tools''' menu → '''Show Model Statistics''' 
 

:: Do these for all the MLOD/MODL files you export and would modify. For analysis, I found it easier to digest when I have all the information in a table form. 

{|border="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" width="100%"
| 
|dimensions, ''x y z''
|center, ''x y z''
|vertices
|polygon
|groups
|materials
|joints

|-
|'''MLOD 00000''' 
|1.82 0.80 0.82 - 1.92 0.00 0.91 - 1.82 0.80 0.82
|0.00 0.40 -0.00 - 0.01 0.01 0.01 - 0.00 0.40 -0.00
|783 26 601
|770 32 744
|2 - group00 - group01
|0
|1

|-
|'''MLOD 10000'''
|2.00 1.59 1.65
|0.00 -0.20 -0.28
|404
|744
|1
|0
|1

|-
|'''MODL 00001'''
|1.81 0.79 0.81
|0.00 0.39 -0.00
|306
|196
|1
|0
|1

|-
|'''MLOD 10001'''
|2.00 1.58 1.63
|0.00 -0.21 -0.19
|128
|196
|1
|0
|1
|}
 
:: The '''1'''000'''x''' versions make-up the sunshadows of the '''0'''000'''x''' versions, and they look to be lower-poly than the '''0'''000'''x''' versions. They are also placed off-center relative to their '''0'''000'''x''' counterpart. For this dining table, at least, they appear to be a smidgen longer('''x-axis''') and double in height('''y-axis''') and depth('''z-axis''').

===Analyzing existing UV map===
H4. Analyzing the mesh and its UV-map.
:* Ok, now we have imported our MLOD 00000 mesh. In order to make changes and decide what can be removed or retained, depending on how much you want your new table to differ from the original; we need to ungroup the main mesh<nowiki>’</nowiki>s groups (if the object has more than one). In the case of this table, it has 2 groups: group00 is the ground-shadow that uses the dropshadow texture and group01 that uses the main texture, its matching specular and the part-mask images 
:* ms3d do not have an ungroup feature – we need to separate out the existing group by "regrouping". 
:* Let<nowiki>’</nowiki>s hide the shadow first. From the '''Group''' tab, click on group00, then '''Select''' button and then '''Hide'''. 3D view in ms3d shows group00 hidden away. [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_84.gif|center]]
{|cellspacing="2" cellpadding = "6" style="border-style:solid; border-color:black; border-width:1px;" width="65%" align="center"
| [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_85.png|right|120px]][[Image:EllaMeshTutorial 14.jpg]] Tip: 
''If your screen looks different or messed up, you can reset ms3d’s preferences settings.'' 
# ''Exit ms3d'' 
# ''Enter “%appdata%” (without quotes) in Windows Explorer address bar'' 
# ''Go to Milkshape 3D 1.x.x folder'' 
# ''Delete the .cfg files there ( there’s 4 – one for each viewport)'' 
# ''Restart ms3d'' 
# ''Reapply the settings shown in the prep stage – section C'' 
 
And the UNDO command (CTRL+Z) is your best friend! 
|} 
:* [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_86.gif|right]]Go to '''Select''' tab, ensure the '''Select Options''' are set as shown. We want to have the faces of what we enclose and have both right table legs selected. If the '''Ignore Backfaces''' option is checked, we would only get one leg selected. If you selected the wrong vertices or faces, clicking anywhere in the gray area will deselect everything. 
:* [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_88.png|right|350px]] In the '''Left''' viewport, select the right leg from the bottom corner to the point indicated by the red arrow. We should get the legs selected, but not the table top or the table base. Then tab back to '''Group, '''click''' Regroup'''.''' '''We should get a new Regroup00 in the Group list. Click on this new group, click '''Select''' and then click '''Hide''' button. Ta-da! Bye-bye Legs! 
:* [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_87.png|right|350px]]Repeat the steps for the other pair. So, now we have a floating table! You can rename the groups as you like. 
:* [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_17.png|right]]These are my new group names (right pic – example shown is for another model, so the names I used are different). 
:* [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_89.png|right|350px]]To rename:
:** Click group name in the list – <code>Regroup03</code> 
:** Click '''Select''' button. 
:** Enter a new name beside the '''Rename''' button – "<code>legs.F</code>" 
:** Then click '''Rename'''. 
:* Let<nowiki>’</nowiki>s match this to the UV map. Note the shapes of the table edges – they are beveled (left pic) and there is a base (right pic).
{|border="0" cellspacing="2" width="80%"
|[[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_90.png|center]]
|[[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_91.png|center|276px]]
|}

 
:* [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_92.png|right|120px]]So here are the set of UV maps for this table. The way I got these is: 
:** Select the groups, except for group00. 
:** Tab to '''Materials''', click '''New '''(1). You<nowiki>’</nowiki>ll get a new Material in the list with some number. 
:** See pic on right. Click the top '''<nowiki><</nowiki>none<nowiki>></nowiki> '''button (2) and navigate to the dds/jpg images that you exported from s3pe /altered earlier, select the image you want to map to and click [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_307.png|baseline]] (3 – no pic). 
:** Click '''Assign''' (4) and your '''Group''' tab would now list the groups with <nowiki><</nowiki>Mat: materialnn<nowiki>></nowiki>, instead of <nowiki><</nowiki>No material<nowiki>></nowiki>. 
:** [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_93.png|right|200px]]With the groups still selected, go to '''Window''' menu → '''Texture Coordinate Editor'''. 
:* So, what do these pictures tell us? (''BTW, these picture are the original grouped version because I wanted to explain while I have all the items UV-mapped in one screen per material'').
:** If you had regrouped correctly, you can click each group in turn from the dropdown list. The top of the table (without base) is the 1st '''CaST''' pattern in '''Create-A-Style''' (the red section) and all the rest will take the 2nd pattern. Notice how the beveled strips of the table<nowiki>’</nowiki>s edges are all laid out? The whole concept of UV mapping will be tackled in a later section.
:** The base and legs are on the left side.
:** The leg parts are all those diamond-looking maps and the legs<nowiki>’</nowiki> tops and base are the ones at the top left corner.
:** The table<nowiki>’</nowiki>s base is the long double strips – one for the length and the shorter one for the width. I haven<nowiki>’</nowiki>t figured out what the pentagon shape is for, though.

:{|border="0" cellspacing="2" width="80%"
|[[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_94.jpg|center|350px]]
|[[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_95.png|center|350px]]
|}
 
:* These are the shadows. 
:** I have ungrouped the legs<nowiki>’</nowiki> shadows from the main shadow.
:** The left pic is for the ground shadow and on the right for the base of the legs (no idea why they are set to have separate intensity).

:{|border="0" cellspacing="2" width="80%"
|[[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_96.png|center|350px]]
|[[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_98.png|center|350px]]
|}
:{|border="0" cellspacing="2" width="80%"
|[[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_97.png|center|350px]]
|[[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_99.png|center|350px]]
|}

 
H5. Let<nowiki>’</nowiki>s get the PARTY started!!…uh…uummm, I meant let<nowiki>’</nowiki>s start meshing…already!

:Throughout the writing of this document, I have done numerous versions and abandoned and change the table<nowiki>’</nowiki>s design and texture map so I<nowiki>’</nowiki>ll be showing 2 cycles of my attempts.

:[[Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_SectH1_Cycle1|'''Cycle 1''']] is where it didn<nowiki>’</nowiki>t get past meshing, because the UV mapping stage was too complicated for my beginner capabilities and it was hard to document. But, I<nowiki>’</nowiki>ll still show the steps as this is where I learnt how to apply meshing terms to actually doing the mesh and seeing it come to a 3D version from a picture. If you want to create something, just read through this part, and take note of the steps, but start creating along at Cycle 2 (sorry!).

:[[Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_SectH2_Cycle2|'''Cycle 2''']] made it all the way to testing in-game, there are flaws to fix. Hopefully, when we do, this is the one which will become the end product of this whole exercise!

:''PS: Whenever I run through steps that have been illustrated before, I<nowiki>’</nowiki>ll just ask you to do them without giving the step-by-step. New Instructions will still be illustrated. Don<nowiki>’</nowiki>t worry, you<nowiki>’</nowiki>ll be able to follow along just fine! And remember to save periodically….''

{{Navigator|Tutorials:TS3_Basic_HowTo_Mesh_Guide|Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_ChapG_TexturingGimp|Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_SectH1_Cycle1|}}
[[Category:Sims 3]]
[[Category:Sims 3 Tutorials]]

@@ Line 177: / Line 177: @@
 {{Navigator|Tutorials:TS3_Basic_HowTo_Mesh_Guide|Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_ChapG_TexturingGimp|Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_SectH1_Cycle1|}}
 [[Category:Milkshape Tutorials]]
 [[Category:Sims 3 Modding Tutorials]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:08, 25 January 2011
Line 159:		Line 159:

	:''PS: Whenever I run through steps that have been illustrated before, I<nowiki>’</nowiki>ll just ask you to do them without giving the step-by-step. New Instructions will still be illustrated. Don<nowiki>’</nowiki>t worry, you<nowiki>’</nowiki>ll be able to follow along just fine! And remember to save periodically….''		:''PS: Whenever I run through steps that have been illustrated before, I<nowiki>’</nowiki>ll just ask you to do them without giving the step-by-step. New Instructions will still be illustrated. Don<nowiki>’</nowiki>t worry, you<nowiki>’</nowiki>ll be able to follow along just fine! And remember to save periodically….''
		+
		+
		+
		+	{{MTS2ThankThread\|2901305}}
		+
		+	== Questions? Problems? ==
		+
		+	* If you encounter any problems with the steps outlined in this tutorial and need help, head on over to the '''[http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=375349 Step-by-step Start-to-Finish HowTo mesh guide for TS3]''' thread to post your questions or
		+
		+
		+	* If you need help in fixing your mesh, you may want to browse through our '''[[Tutorials:TS3_Meshing_FAQ\|TS3 Meshing FAQs]]''' for some of the more common Meshing issues and their fixes or
		+
		+
		+	* If none of the above links provided any help, you may want to browse through the threads in MTS' '''[http://www.modthesims.info/forumdisplay.php?f=602 Meshing Forum]''' or even start your own thread.

@@ Line 119: / Line 119: @@
 <br>
-:* [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_92.png|right|120px]]So here are the set of UV maps for this table. The way I got these is:<br>
+:* [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_92.png|right|120px]]<span id="assign_mat">So here</span> are the set of UV maps for this table. The way I got these is:<br>
 :** Select the groups, except for <code>group00</code>.<br><br>
 :** Tab to '''Materials''', click '''New '''(1). You<nowiki>’</nowiki>ll get a new Material in the list with some number.<br><br>

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 |-
 | colspan=2 align=center |
-[[Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_SectH0_Analysis|Analysis]] &nbsp;|
+[[Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_ChapH_MeshingMilkshape|Analysis]] &nbsp;|
 [[Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_SectH1_Cycle1|Cycle 1]] &nbsp;|
 [[Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_SectH2_Cycle2|Cycle 2]] &nbsp;
@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 ===Collecting Statistics===
 H3. [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_83.jpg|right|350px]]Before we begin making changes to our mesh, let<nowiki>’</nowiki>s retain some information we would need later on to make sure our cloned object works as intended.
-:* Click on the '''Groups''' tab, select the first group – group00<br><br>
+:* Click on the '''Groups''' tab, select the first group – <code>group00</code><br><br>
 :* Click on the '''Select''' button, and you get the following selected, which is the ground shadow of this table (it uses the dropshadow texture). Different objects will have different groupings & arrangements, so do a thorough analysis before you proceed.<br><br><br clear="all"/>
 :* [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_82.png|right|150px]]We are going to capture the statistics as well, this can be found in the '''Tools''' menu &rarr; '''Show Model Statistics'''<br><br>
@@ Line 88: / Line 88: @@
 ===Analyzing existing UV map===
 H4. Analyzing the mesh and its UV-map.
-:* Ok, now we have imported our MLOD 00000 mesh. In order to make changes and decide what can be removed or retained, depending on how much you want your new table to differ from the original; we need to ungroup the main mesh<nowiki>’</nowiki>s groups (if the object has more than one). In the case of this table, it has 2 groups: group00 is the ground-shadow that uses the dropshadow texture and group01 that uses the main texture, its matching specular and the part-mask images<br><br>
+:* Ok, now we have imported our MLOD 00000 mesh. In order to make changes and decide what can be removed or retained, depending on how much you want your new table to differ from the original; we need to ungroup the main mesh<nowiki>’</nowiki>s groups (if the object has more than one). In the case of this table, it has 2 groups: <code>group00</code> is the ground-shadow that uses the dropshadow texture and <code>group01</code> that uses the main texture, its matching specular and the part-mask images<br><br>
 :* ms3d do not have an ungroup feature – we need to separate out the existing group by "regrouping".<br><br>
-:* Let<nowiki>’</nowiki>s hide the shadow first. From the '''Group''' tab, click on group00, then '''Select''' button and then '''Hide'''. 3D view in ms3d shows group00 hidden away.<br><br>[[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_84.gif|center]]
+:* Let<nowiki>’</nowiki>s hide the shadow first. From the '''Group''' tab, click on <code>group00</code>, then '''Select''' button and then '''Hide'''. 3D view in ms3d shows group00 hidden away.<br><br>[[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_84.gif|center]]
 {|cellspacing="2" cellpadding = "6" style="border-style:solid; border-color:black; border-width:1px;" width="65%" align="center"
 | [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_85.png|right|120px]][[Image:EllaMeshTutorial 14.jpg]] Tip:<br>
@@ Line 108: / Line 108: @@
 :* [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_17.png|right]]These are my new group names (right pic – example shown is for another model, so the names I used are different).<br clear="all"/>
 :* [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_89.png|right|350px]]To rename:
-:** Click group name in the list – <code>Regroup03</code><br>
+:*# Click group name in the list – <code>Regroup03</code><br>
-:** Click '''Select''' button.<br>
+:*# Click '''Select''' button.<br>
-:** Enter a new name beside the '''Rename''' button – "<code>legs.F</code>"<br>
+:*# Enter a new name beside the '''Rename''' button – "<code>legs.F</code>"<br>
-:** Then click '''Rename'''.<br><br clear="all"/>
+:*# Then click '''Rename'''.<br><br clear="all"/>
 :* Let<nowiki>’</nowiki>s match this to the UV map. Note the shapes of the table edges – they are beveled (left pic) and there is a base (right pic).
 {|border="0" cellspacing="2" width="80%"
@@ Line 120: / Line 120: @@
 <br>
 :* [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_92.png|right|120px]]So here are the set of UV maps for this table. The way I got these is:<br>
-:** Select the groups, except for group00.<br><br>
+:** Select the groups, except for <code>group00</code>.<br><br>
 :** Tab to '''Materials''', click '''New '''(1). You<nowiki>’</nowiki>ll get a new Material in the list with some number.<br><br>
 :** See pic on right. Click the top '''<nowiki><</nowiki>none<nowiki>></nowiki> '''button (2) and navigate to the dds/jpg images that you exported from s3pe /altered earlier, select the image you want to map to and click [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_307.png|baseline]] (3 – no pic).<br><br>
-:** Click '''Assign''' (4) and your '''Group''' tab would now list the groups with <nowiki><</nowiki>Mat: material<u>nn<nowiki>></nowiki></u>, instead of <nowiki><</nowiki>No material<nowiki>></nowiki>.<br clear="all"/>
+:** Click '''Assign''' (4) and your '''Group''' tab would now list the groups with <nowiki><</nowiki>Mat: material<u>nn</u><nowiki>></nowiki>, instead of <nowiki><</nowiki>No material<nowiki>></nowiki>.<br clear="all"/>
 :** [[Image:EllaMeshTutorial_93.png|right|200px]]With the groups still selected, go to '''Window''' menu &rarr; '''Texture Coordinate Editor'''.<br clear="all"/> <br>
 :* So, what do these pictures tell us? (''BTW, these picture are the original grouped version because I wanted to explain while I have all the items UV-mapped in one screen per material'').

@@ Line 176: / Line 176: @@
 {{Navigator|Tutorials:TS3_Basic_HowTo_Mesh_Guide|Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_ChapG_TexturingGimp|Tutorials:TS3_HTMG_SectH1_Cycle1|}}
-[[Category:Sims 3]]
+[[Category:Milkshape Tutorials]]
 [[Category:Sims 3 Tutorials]]