Skyrim Hybrid Argonian Race Resources - Abandoned WIP

[Zuperbuu]

I started this mod over a year ago but I have been unable to get it past the modelling stages thanks to technical problems (I run everything from a laptop that is unreliable).

Originally began by making heads to replace the argonian one, but I couldn't import the argonian nifs into blender cleanly...so I made an entirely new body/head from scratch with a makeshift (temporary) armature.

 

 

Story Time!

 

 

 

The concept was to make different types of Argonians that were inspired by Dinosaurs, i saw Argonian raptor feet and was inspired, and thought it'd be a nice touch to have some more dinosaur themed races in the mix:

 

Tank Argonian

Based on the Triceratops, and had defence buffs and a higher chance at knocking enemies over or disarming them with a shield bash. They couldn't breathe under water, but had a resistance to disease.

Brute Argonian 
Based on the Allosaurus, and had attack buffs and a quicker strike speed with one-handed swords and daggers. They couldn't breathe under water, but had a resistance to disease.

 

Scout Argonian

Based on the Raptor, and had speed/jump buffs and a cloaking/invisibility skill. They couldn't breathe under water, but had a resistance to disease.

 

So naturally i started with the Scout by tinkering with Argonian Raptor feet, but I then hit a problem; the face and tail wasn't how I wanted them to be!

I tried opening up the argonianhead.nif in blender using this tutorial (I started from page 1 but bookmarked page 3 since that was where I kept getting stuck) but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get them to work. So I started making new meshes in blender in the hope of importing them in nifskope instead...but alas that did not work either.

The original goal was the just modify the Argonian head to sport a frill with horns (for the Triceratops) and a longer snout (for the raptor), the Allosaurus head did not require much of a change. All three tails would have been replaced with fatter and smoother ones, with the raptor one having feathers.

 

 

It was an overly ambitious project, I admit that now...so here is the only model that got finished, I have no use for it now so feel free to play around with it for whatever you want...just don't sell it, and let me know if you do use it, I wanna see! x

Triceratops_Anthro.zip

[Silvertail Khajiit]

Oh man I love the concept. I wouldn't even know where to begin contributing to something like this, but from the screenshot it looks awesome. Even though you didn't finish the project, you did a great job with that model.

[tanuhk]

damn i wish I could have helped with this project too, but not sure how...more reptilian like races would have been awesome!

[NightroModzz]

Umm...I think there are some big mistakes here. Here are some steps that me and a few people go by when creating a new race. Because I mostly just mess with the meshes, I don't have all the information in depth.

 

Modeling:

 

​Morphing the Low Poly Mesh

 

 

Morph an existing Skyrim head or one from CITRUS Heads (HD Meshes) in an application like Blender or Zbrush.

 

When morphing, don't change the polycount and vertices as called in Blender, or hitpoints in Zbrush. That means no remeshing, dividing, etc.

 

If mouth seams must be moved, remember to edit the mouth meshes as well. 

 

Extras: Ears can be made separately, as well as their phoneme's (expressions). Tails can be made with a new polycount provided that they fit an existing skeleton tail. Horns can be made as their own mesh as well.

 

Next, create new hands or morph existing ones. Same for feet. If you want to go digitigrade or plantigrade, use an existing skeleton such as the one from Bad Dog.

 

Finally, export all those low poly meshes and set them aside or test them. Duplicate those meshes and create high poly ones for normal maps. I use Zbrush that that only applies further on. I also suggest using an existing body and only creating a high poly version for normal maps.

 

High Poly

 

Remesh and then try and divide without messing up the seams. If you need to dynamesh to get rid of any cuts or holes in the mesh, first mask the lower jaw, [cnrl] left click on the mask to soften it, reverse by doing the same off the model, then again on the mask to soften it further. Switch to rotation, line it up on the side close to the ear to the chin, then rotate down.

 

Next dynamesh, then switch to polyframe mode to delete a new area such as the inner mouth. [ctrl] [shift] Left click on a polygroup the same but drag off the model to reverse. Go to geometry then modify topology and delete hidden.

 

If dynameshing with a khajiit model, separate the 3 meshes first. to do this, try and mask an entire mesh area like the whiskers and or bottom neck fur. Make them into their own polygroup by clicking [ctrl]+W. Next to the same thing with the polygroups as told previously, accept we wont be deleting them. Go to subtools and separate hidden.

 

Finally, place mouth back into position by following the low poly head in the same project file, continue to remesh, divide, and add detail. Also, don't forget to merge them back down into as a single mesh when finished.

 

 

Other Stuff:

 

Create DDS normal maps in xNormal and create textures in your preferred application. There should be a way to morph all of the phonemes (expressions) by bringing the low poly head mesh into BodySlide & Outfit Studios. Lastly, pack them up and bring them in game.

 

Result examples: Here and Here.

[wishnot4]

Umm...I think there are some big mistakes here. Here are some steps that me and a few people go by when creating a new race. Because I mostly just mess with the meshes, I don't have all the information in depth.

 

Modeling:

 

​Morphing the Low Poly Mesh

 

 

Morph an existing Skyrim head or one from CITRUS Heads (HD Meshes) in an application like Blender or Zbrush.

 

When morphing, don't change the polycount and vertices as called in Blender, or hitpoints in Zbrush. That means no remeshing, dividing, etc.

 

If mouth seams must be moved, remember to edit the mouth meshes as well. 

 

Extras: Ears can be made separately, as well as their phoneme's (expressions). Tails can be made with a new polycount provided that they fit an existing skeleton tail. Horns can be made as their own mesh as well.

 

Next, create new hands or morph existing ones. Same for feet. If you want to go digitigrade or plantigrade, use an existing skeleton such as the one from Bad Dog.

 

Finally, export all those low poly meshes and set them aside or test them. Duplicate those meshes and create high poly ones for normal maps. I use Zbrush that that only applies further on. I also suggest using an existing body and only creating a high poly version for normal maps.

 

High Poly

 

Remesh and then try and divide without messing up the seams. If you need to dynamesh to get rid of any cuts or holes in the mesh, first mask the lower jaw, [cnrl] left click on the mask to soften it, reverse by doing the same off the model, then again on the mask to soften it further. Switch to rotation, line it up on the side close to the ear to the chin, then rotate down.

 

Next dynamesh, then switch to polyframe mode to delete a new area such as the inner mouth. [ctrl] [shift] Left click on a polygroup the same but drag off the model to reverse. Go to geometry then modify topology and delete hidden.

 

If dynameshing with a khajiit model, separate the 3 meshes first. to do this, try and mask an entire mesh area like the whiskers and or bottom neck fur. Make them into their own polygroup by clicking [ctrl]+W. Next to the same thing with the polygroups as told previously, accept we wont be deleting them. Go to subtools and separate hidden.

 

Finally, place mouth back into position by following the low poly head in the same project file, continue to remesh, divide, and add detail. Also, don't forget to merge them back down into as a single mesh when finished.

 

 

Other Stuff:

 

Create DDS normal maps in xNormal and create textures in your preferred application. There should be a way to morph all of the phonemes (expressions) by bringing the low poly head mesh into BodySlide & Outfit Studios. Lastly, pack them up and bring them in game.

 

Result examples: Here and Here.

Um, I don't agree with that completely.  You're mostly right if you don't want to put in the work required for completely new stuff. But if you're willing to put in the work, you can make all kinds of things.  I made the snake tails for the Gorgon/Tsaesci race(will be making animated version soon) and the custom snake heads for the Tsaesci and my team is the one that released the centaurs.  Yep, functioning centaurs.  Lots and lots of work, but it can be done.  Even the mesh the thread author made could be made into a race.  And depending on the model, possibly not that difficultly.

[NightroModzz]

 

 

Umm...I think there are some big mistakes here. Here are some steps that me and a few people go by when creating a new race. Because I mostly just mess with the meshes, I don't have all the information in depth.

 

Modeling:

 

​Morphing the Low Poly Mesh

 

 

Morph an existing Skyrim head or one from CITRUS Heads (HD Meshes) in an application like Blender or Zbrush.

 

When morphing, don't change the polycount and vertices as called in Blender, or hitpoints in Zbrush. That means no remeshing, dividing, etc.

 

If mouth seams must be moved, remember to edit the mouth meshes as well. 

 

Extras: Ears can be made separately, as well as their phoneme's (expressions). Tails can be made with a new polycount provided that they fit an existing skeleton tail. Horns can be made as their own mesh as well.

 

Next, create new hands or morph existing ones. Same for feet. If you want to go digitigrade or plantigrade, use an existing skeleton such as the one from Bad Dog.

 

Finally, export all those low poly meshes and set them aside or test them. Duplicate those meshes and create high poly ones for normal maps. I use Zbrush that that only applies further on. I also suggest using an existing body and only creating a high poly version for normal maps.

 

High Poly

 

Remesh and then try and divide without messing up the seams. If you need to dynamesh to get rid of any cuts or holes in the mesh, first mask the lower jaw, [cnrl] left click on the mask to soften it, reverse by doing the same off the model, then again on the mask to soften it further. Switch to rotation, line it up on the side close to the ear to the chin, then rotate down.

 

Next dynamesh, then switch to polyframe mode to delete a new area such as the inner mouth. [ctrl] [shift] Left click on a polygroup the same but drag off the model to reverse. Go to geometry then modify topology and delete hidden.

 

If dynameshing with a khajiit model, separate the 3 meshes first. to do this, try and mask an entire mesh area like the whiskers and or bottom neck fur. Make them into their own polygroup by clicking [ctrl]+W. Next to the same thing with the polygroups as told previously, accept we wont be deleting them. Go to subtools and separate hidden.

 

Finally, place mouth back into position by following the low poly head in the same project file, continue to remesh, divide, and add detail. Also, don't forget to merge them back down into as a single mesh when finished.

 

 

Other Stuff:

 

Create DDS normal maps in xNormal and create textures in your preferred application. There should be a way to morph all of the phonemes (expressions) by bringing the low poly head mesh into BodySlide & Outfit Studios. Lastly, pack them up and bring them in game.

 

Result examples: Here and Here.

 

Um, I don't agree with that completely.  You're mostly right if you don't want to put in the work required for completely new stuff. But if you're willing to put in the work, you can make all kinds of things.  I made the snake tails for the Gorgon/Tsaesci race(will be making animated version soon) and the custom snake heads for the Tsaesci and my team is the one that released the centaurs.  Yep, functioning centaurs.  Lots and lots of work, but it can be done.  Even the mesh the thread author made could be made into a race.  And depending on the model, possibly not that difficultly.

 

Well yes, the idea was to make it easier for most people who do a solo project like this guy. Otherwise, similar projects will likely just end up abandoned because they bite off more then they can chew and lack the proper skills to complete it. My main point was for morphing heads to avoid having to do all the work on phonemes/expression morphs and maybe having to make a new mouth mesh, as apposed to doing it all from scratch which is a lot more work for one person.

 

Yes, you can do everything from scratch (completely new), and is easier as a team. No disrespect, but those aren't all that great examples of  "completely new," because they still use a bunch of Existing Skyrim assets. Tails aren't really all that impressive and the Centaur is basically gluing the existing Skyrim horse and human body models together. It also still uses the human head with existing phonemes still in tact. Not saying it doesn't require a lot of work which I'm sure it does, but isn't completely new (from scratch). Nonetheless, good job. I plan on a bunch of solo projects, from scratch stuff myself for UE4. As well as stuff for Skyrim that will be worked on as a team. Details here.

 

EDIT: Yeah... looked at the latest video on the thread. It might be best to just make a new horse body that isn't so thick and mix it up with an upper human body. In other words, an entirely new model besides the head or morph the horse half and shrink the horse half skeleton down. Something I can do, but isn't really isn't my cup of tea. I can see the size being really inconvenient in game, plus shrinking and thinning out the horse half would blend the two halves a lot better and majorly help prevent the hands sinking into the horse body.

[wishnot4]

 

Well yes, the idea was to make it easier for most people who do a solo project like this guy. Otherwise, similar projects will likely just end up abandoned because they bite off more then they can chew and lack the proper skills to complete it. My main point was for morphing heads to avoid having to do all the work on phonemes/expression morphs and maybe having to make a new mouth mesh, as apposed to doing it all from scratch which is a lot more work for one person.

 

 

Yes, you can do everything from scratch (completely new), and is easier as a team. No disrespect, but those aren't all that great examples of  "completely new," because they still use a bunch of Existing Skyrim assets. Tails aren't really all that impressive and the Centaur is basically gluing the existing Skyrim horse and human body models together. It also still uses the human head with existing phonemes still in tact. Not saying it doesn't require a lot of work which I'm sure it does, but isn't completely new (from scratch). Nonetheless, good job. I plan on a bunch of solo projects, from scratch stuff myself for UE4. As well as stuff for Skyrim that will be worked on as a team. Details here.

 

EDIT: Yeah... looked at the latest video on the thread. It might be best to just make a new horse body that isn't so thick and mix it up with an upper human body. In other words, an entirely new model besides the head or morph the horse half and shrink the horse half skeleton down. Something I can do, but isn't really isn't my cup of tea. I can see the size being really inconvenient in game, plus shrinking and thinning out the horse half would blend the two halves a lot better and majorly help prevent the hands sinking into the horse body.

 

Yes, that is why I said you were right.  I wasn't trying to argue with you, I just wanted people who read the thread to know that it can be done from scratch.  And first, on the Tsaesci I had to create all the morphs for the faces to animate(which I know was your point about making the edits).  Second, the tails were difficult because they function as the legs.  This wasn't a simple move bones to make work.  I had to create custom bones for the custom tail.  The only reason there aren't any animations for it yet, is because of the centaur project.  Which was an example of creating a custom Havok project more than the work on the mesh(almost none).  Last, when I say team, I am being polite to the other guys on my team.  I did those things completely on my own, my team just put them into a mod and did all the mod work.  But again, I'm not trying to argue, just wanted to add more information.

 

By the way, we do plan to make the horse half slimmer for the centaurs, but since I haven't finished making all the animations yet and haven't got the vanilla intro to work, I haven't messed with it.

[NightroModzz]

 

 

Yes, that is why I said you were right.  I wasn't trying to argue with you, I just wanted people who read the thread to know that it can be done from scratch.  And first, on the Tsaesci I had to create all the morphs for the faces to animate(which I know was your point about making the edits).  Second, the tails were difficult because they function as the legs.  This wasn't a simple move bones to make work.  I had to create custom bones for the custom tail.  The only reason there aren't any animations for it yet, is because of the centaur project.  Which was an example of creating a custom Havok project more than the work on the mesh(almost none).  Last, when I say team, I am being polite to the other guys on my team.  I did those things completely on my own, my team just put them into a mod and did all the mod work.  But again, I'm not trying to argue, just wanted to add more information.

 

By the way, we do plan to make the horse half slimmer for the centaurs, but since I haven't finished making all the animations yet and haven't got the vanilla intro to work, I haven't messed with it.

 

I am aware of why you said "I was right" and was not trying to argue either. just making a point that was likely said because of a misunderstanding. If you want to avoid a misunderstanding, then please leave this out "Um, I don't agree with that completely," and replace it with something like "you can still make things from scratch too." It's not even something that should be agreeable. That is like a discussion of right and wrong, it's just an option or different working way of going about something. And also not mention your projects right after talking about making stuff "completely new," if they are not an example of that. otherwise those will be seen as an example of "completely new" or just seem like your gloating. You need to be specific in why you mentioned them in the first place, whether it be a havoc or bone examples or something else. If not, it will only cause confusion. Maybe some were, but all were mentioned.

[wishnot4]

First, I would like to apologize to Zuperbuu for hijacking his thread with my ineloquence.  Second, to you Nightromodzz for my confusing tone.  The reason that I posted in the first place was because when I read the posts it sounded to me that you were telling Zuperbuu that there was only one way.  And since he(she) made a model from scratch, I thought they should know that it wasn't the only way.  But I went about it the wrong way and for that I apologize.

 

And again Nightromodzz, you are right, I should have listed what was from scratch on each of my examples. And yes, I was boasting a little, I mean, I made a frigging playable centaur race. LOL

 

 

 

[NightroModzz]

I also apologize for any confusion I may have caused in my original post.