I Need Help With Using Blender

[Nyren]

For the last year I've been mulling over whether to get into 3D modeling or not, both for experience so I have something else to put on my resume, and also to create models for the NSFW Source Filmmaker community(Which I'm sure at least half the people on LL are familiar with.). However, I'm flat broke and can't seem to get a job no matter how many places I apply too, so I can't afford programs like 3DS Max which cost a hefty monthly subscription. Cue the free modeling program Blender.

 

I've looked as many tutorials as I possibly can and while I get the gist of it, I've been hitting a roadblock with my first attempt to import a hair model from the Skyrim mod SG Hair Pack. I'm planning to make my first model using a pre-made body from Daz Studio and then slapping clothing and hair onto it, which to my understanding has to be done in Blender. And while I've managed to get the models into Blender by importing the NIF file into Nifskope, exporting it as an OBJ file, and then importing it into Blender, I just can't seem to stop running into problems.

 

At first it was just dark spots on the blank hair model. I eventually learned that I had to recalculate the normals. So consider that the first thing done every time I start up my Blender attempts, of course, after I scale the model down because for some reason it's enormous and doesn't fit on my screen and also rotate it so its upright because for some reason it's laying on its side. With all that out of the way though, I get to the real problem that I'm running into right now: Applying a texture. By all accounts I should really just be trying to fit the clothing I've chosen to the model and attaching the hair, but I want to know that the textures will actually work when I'm finished.

 

Some mods handle textures a bit different with any number of files corresponding to the same model. In this case, the hair models from SG Hair Pack 350 have two texture files each: The standard file(i,e. Hair35) that ends in ".dds", and a second file such as hair35_n that ends in ".dds". Looking at them, the first file is obviously the actual texture. It's colored, looks normal, pretty straightforward. The _n texture is a white background with purplish lines on it, which reminds me of an alpha texture, the ones with transparent backgrounds. Obviously it took me a while to realize what this was and that I probably needed it, so I screwed up the model multiples times because of it. But now my work flow looks like this:

 

1. Import OBJ file, scale it down and rotate it upright.

 

2. Enter Edit Mode and recalculate the normals to fix dark spots on the outward surface.

 

2. Go into the Texture tab and open the standard texture file.

 

3. Move one sub tab over to the Materials tab under the main Textures tab and open up the alpha texture, checking the alpha box afterwards.

 

4. Render the model to view final result.

 

And this is what I get:

 

 

As you can see, that is not at all what it is supposed to look like and I haven't the faintest clue what's going on. Not only does it still look like I'm staring at a bunch of polygon strips rather than hair, but the regular hair texture failed to even show up. If you look closely, you'll see some dark patches on the model AND some barely noticeable streaks which are from the alpha texture(Or maybe I'm just seeing things.). So the alpha was clearly used, but nothing turned transparent on top of the fact that the main texture didn't even work.

 

I can't see where I would have gone wrong. It seems like a simple straightforward process and all the tutorials I've viewed have shown me that that's the way to do it. I haven't tried it on any other model yet, and since the clothing model I want to use has three textures instead of two, I'm a little more intimidated to try that one before I get this sorted out. I figure that there have to be SOME Blender users here on LL, otherwise I'm out of ideas as to where to go for help. I don't know anyone that uses Blender, they all use some version of 3DS Max, and I refuse to use Blender Stack Exchange to ask questions because the last time I went there was not a pleasant experience.

[wishnot4]

Get the nif scripts importer.  If you are using the common version of blender for modding(2.49b) with the correct scripts, then it just takes a little nifskope editing to get the mesh importable to blender.  Then it should be just a simple matter of adding a material and setting up the uv mapping.  If you'd like I can send you a link to my tutorial on editing meshes for skyrim.

[Nyren]

Get the nif scripts importer.  If you are using the common version of blender for modding(2.49b) with the correct scripts, then it just takes a little nifskope editing to get the mesh importable to blender.  Then it should be just a simple matter of adding a material and setting up the uv mapping.  If you'd like I can send you a link to my tutorial on editing meshes for skyrim.

 

I can't use 2.49b, it crashes on startup even with Python 2.66 installed. And the meshes work fine as OBJ exported from Nifskope. It's the textures that are the problem.

 

EDIT: Well the mesh does have those dark spots when rendered so maybe there is a problem, I'm not sure.

[wishnot4]

If 2.49b is crashing, then something wasn't installed right.  It is very stable.  I would try reinstalling it and see if that helps.  Which version of nifskope are you using to export the obj file?  I don't know how the newest version handles it, but one of the older versions(I can't remember which one) would mess up obj's textures every time.  If you can't get 2.49b to work, then I would try using a different version of nifskope.

[Nyren]

If 2.49b is crashing, then something wasn't installed right.  It is very stable.  I would try reinstalling it and see if that helps.  Which version of nifskope are you using to export the obj file?  I don't know how the newest version handles it, but one of the older versions(I can't remember which one) would mess up obj's textures every time.  If you can't get 2.49b to work, then I would try using a different version of nifskope.

 

I've reinstalled it multiple times. Even reinstalled Python. It started up once, but after I closed out of it, it just suddenly refused to open again. It'll start up with the initial black screen, with a Blender logo on it, then it'll flash, and then stop working.

 

As for Nifskope, I'm using v2.0 so I probably will go to a lower version because this one might not be the most stable.

 

I also can't seem to figure out how to use the two other programs I was told download by a guide. The Blender NIF Plugin is self-explanatory, but I have no idea what to do with PYFFI. I think it came with the download for the guide, but I know nothing about Python so everything is just confusing.

[D_ManXX2]

Have you tried blender 2.49b portable ??

[Vortec]

 Blender all in one

 

http://www.loverslab.com/files/file/357-blender-249b-all-in-one/

[Nyren]

So I just tried:

 

- Blender Portable

 

- Blender AIO Stable

 

- Blender AIO Latest

 

All crashed at the exact same spot as before. Blender starts up, tells me Python is good, takes me to a black screen, then crashed. I install Python first, then Blender, then I run Blender to see if it works. If I'm supposed to install something else BEFORE I run 2.49b, please tell me. The order I saw on a guide was Python -> Blender 2.49b -> PYFFI -> Blender NIF Plugin.

[D_ManXX2]

blender portable dont need phyton it already has his own python version installed that is why it is called portable. if it crashes then maybe check your system for compatibility run with admin rights etc.. not sure about windows 10 all i know it works correctly on windows 7

[Nyren]

blender portable dont need phyton it already has his own python version installed that is why it is called portable. if it crashes then maybe check your system for compatibility run with admin rights etc.. not sure about windows 10 all i know it works correctly on windows 7

 

I saw that it does, but even running the included version of Blender as administrator and uninstalling the versions of Python that the other methods required did not work. It still crashed upon start-up. I am using Windows 10, but others have reported that it works. In fact, it worked for me once two days ago. But after I closed out of it it stopped working and I can't understand why.

[D_ManXX2]

did you change anything in blender itself ?? in the options screen etc.. maybe try removing blender completelty in clean folder i had blender sometime becoming corrupted but that was because i changed some settings in blender witch i should not have, and somehow was bugging out blender when loading up.

 

As for troubleshooting i cant really help you since i will never use windows 10 and not sure if it even supported on windows 10

[Nyren]

did you change anything in blender itself ?? in the options screen etc.. maybe try removing blender completelty in clean folder i had blender sometime becoming corrupted but that was because i changed some settings in blender witch i should not have, and somehow was bugging out blender when loading up.

 

As for troubleshooting i cant really help you since i will never use windows 10 and not sure if it even supported on windows 10

 

I didn't touch anything in Blender itself. I just opened it up, saw that it worked, then closed out of it. And I've installed, uninstalled, and reinstalled it multiple times over, all folders deleted. Well, except for one folder which refuses to be uninstalled, the ".blend" folder. I have to manually delete that one.

[wishnot4]

I have windows ten and blender installed and works fine on my computer.  But I thought you needed to install blender, then python, then the pyffi. (This is the way I did it).

[PsychoMachina]

Have you tried X-Blender?  It's also a portable version of v2.4b and contains all the files you need to run it.  You still need to install the Blender NIF plugins.  I have windows 7 and 8.1, X-Blender works well with those, but I don't know if it will work with windows 10.

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/42755/?