Blender Script: Seam Mender: Version 1.4 (Updated 10/12/2012)

[gerra6]

This script has a very simple purpose.

 

It Mends Seams.

 

1. Snaps selected vertices on your selected meshes to exactly match the position of the selected vertices on your active mesh

2. Replaces the boneweights on those vertices to exactly match the boneweights on the active mesh (not averaged like the boneweight copy script)

3. Set the vertex normals to exactly match the vertex normals on the active mesh

 

One caveat. To make the seams stay invisible, you need to force Blender to keep the modified normals. To do that, you will need Anthony D'Agostino's Blender True Normals patch and my custom nif script patch.

 

http://www.loverslab.com/showthread.php?tid=12264

 

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***Update v.1.1***

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1. Seam Mender now adjusts for Object Translation

 

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***Update v.1.2***

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1. Seam Mender script now adjusts for Object Translation and Scale Transformation

2. Seam Mender now accurately and efficiently finds the nearest vertexes.

 

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***Update v.1.3***

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1. All Object level transforms are now supported

2. Nearest vector algorithm has been improved. It should now be faster and more accurate.

3. Vertices with a distance of 0 will no longer be skipped. This was a bug.

 

 

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***Update v.1.4***

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1. Additional menu options added:

1.a. Position: Toggle vertex position copy

1.b. Boneweight: Toggle vertex boneweight copy

1.c. Normals: Toggle vertex normals copy

1.d. Redraw: Force update of selected background meshes (Note, this will destroy modified vertex normals if you haven't installed the True Normals patch)

2. Boneweight copy no longer copies groups with a boneweight of 0

[Symon]

Hmm, could be very useful indeed.

[Mailamea]

Gonna test this one out on monday

[Lucherenren]

Groovy, Gerra!...

 

Speaking of the useful things one can do with that script, I'm in the process of installing the latest release of your SetBody for a test drive. Seams-be-gone!

 

Thanks for your hard work!

[gerra6]

Groovy' date=' Gerra!...[/quote']

 

Groovy Indeed

 

Speaking of the useful things one can do with that script' date=' I'm in the process of installing the latest release of your SetBody for a test drive. Seams-be-gone!

[/quote']

 

The really sad thing is...I didn't start coding seam mender until after I finished the 1.20 release. Setbody 1.20 was completed using seam mender's much more primitive cousin, vertex normal copier, combined with boneweight copy and manual magnet vertex snaps. Ugh.

 

My life would have been much easier if I had known how to make this tool a month ago.

 

But then again, the breakthrough that allows us to control vertex normals (and make them stay under control) happened last Sunday. These are very recent developments, and the tools I'm writing to control vertex normals are very much WIP.

 

Thanks for your hard work!

 

Thanks for checking out my mod. Let me know what you think.

[Nephenee13]

How do I get these scripts to appear in Blender?

[gerra6]

How do I get these scripts to appear in Blender?

 

To make Seam Mender appear, copy object_seam_mender.py into your .Blender/scripts folder.

 

It should appear at the top of the scripts list when you are in Object mode. From Object mode, click on Object>Scripts>Seam Mender.

 

Next, set the maximum vertex snap distance. This requires a bit of finesse...set it too high and you may get some odd results (depending on which vertices are selected), set it too low and the script may miss a few vertices. I coded the script to remember your last snap distance, so you can always Control-Z and try again.

 

I'm working on a tutorial for various ways to use the script, but I probably won't publish it until I add a few more features.

 

The easiest and fastest way to use seam mender is to select the object, go into edit mode, make sure you are in Vertex Select mode, and hit Control-Alt-Shift-M. This will select any open edge on the mesh. Repeat with any other objects that you are working with.

 

Then select the source mesh, hit A twice (this will select all visible objects, but the first mesh you selected will be Active).

 

Then Run Seam Mender. The latest revision is extremely fast, so it should just take a second or two with just the border vertices selected.

[Nephenee13]

Thanks! I didn't realize there was a scripts folder in your userfolder, so I got it working.

 

I'd actually already worked out a way of eliminating seems, but this will come in handy to fix stuff easily, so thanks.

[gerra6]

Thanks! I didn't realize there was a scripts folder in your userfolder' date=' so I got it working.

 

I'd actually already worked out a way of eliminating seems, but this will come in handy to fix stuff easily, so thanks.

[/quote']

 

Sure. The traditional way of eliminating seams is to manually snap the vertices together, duplicate the boneweights, merge everything into a single object, export everything, and then clean it in nifskope.

 

This script does most of that for you, and, by duplicating the vertex normals of the reference mesh, you can simply export a single mesh with a fixed seam, without needing to export the rest of the scene.

 

No Nifskope cleanup required (unless you need to do Skyrim conversions).

 

The other advantage is that this script can allow you to create completely interchangeable meshes. I designed it specifically to solve a problem that I had during the development of Setbody Reloaded, where I have, as one example, ~50 lower body meshes that can be combined with ~80 upper body meshes, many with radically different waist geometry.

 

To solve this problem I created a reference mesh that had the exact seams I wanted to use. Then, it was a simple mater of running Seam Mender to set all of the meshes to a single common seam. (or it would have been, had I completed Seam Mender before I started working on the 1.20 Setbody Reloaded release)

[Jay1646]

Thanks im going to try this out!

[Happysparkles]

Thanks gerra6 I will be messing around with this when I get back on blender. This seems like it can be highly useful I might even use it and re-release the Sui-Cup body I play with xD.

 

Also notice you have a bone weighted Sui Cup body in the mod Set Body with BBB and BB. It works VERY well. (Better then mine lol)

[Mailamea]

Gerra6, tried this one out, but when i installed everything that is needed including true normals, i can't import Nif files, it keeps saying outdated pyffi. im using blender 2.49 and all the updated requirements. When i reinstalled blender it worked again.

 

EDIT : Nevermind, I was just being stupid

 

Results So happy with the results. Neph's DMRA Body Replacer + BBB+BB + Awesome Seam Mender = Profit

 

[gerra6]

Results So happy with the results. Neph's DMRA Body Replacer + BBB+BB + Awesome Seam Mender = Profit

 

Awesome. That looks fan-fricking-tastic

 

I've got a fairly minor update to this script in the works, sometime shortly after the next release of the clothing converter (transformation lattice generator).