Custom Pose Creation Guide

[AltNameByeee]

On 5/25/2020 at 12:07 PM, Alter Native said:

Thanks for the tutorial, finally after years I finally had time to try it and everything worked perfectly. 

 

If you replace line 71 and 366
71:SelectedObject = bpy.context.window.scene.objects[0]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
and line 366 and replace with this
366:SelectedObject = bpy.context.window.scene.objects[0]

 

(source)

 

in the script it seems works with Blender 2.8+ 

Not sure if there is another problem I'm not aware of, but I got my crappy deformed pose into the game with the modified script.

 

 

Confirmed! This works. I'll update the guide with this new information! Thank you!

[JyJyporridge]

Thank you for that nice guide.

I look forward to use it for my upcoming stories.

I already started to do some poses.

 

 

 

 

[lrc_]

Thanks for the guide! After applying the two code changes, I easily managed to create my first custom pose.

 

I just wanted to point out that, with another small change in Blender, the "Animation Tools N3" rig does in fact allow posing all fingers separately. Simply select each finger bone, and on the "Bone Constraint Properties" tab (marked "1" in the attached screenshot), click the eye next to the "Copy Rotation" constraint (marked "2") to disable it. This doesn't cause problems with conversion: the ingame hand will look just like in Blender.

 

 

As for putting weapons and other items on or around characters: an alternative to creating object animations is to simply position the items ingame using Jaxonz Positioner. Just make sure you take the necessary precautions to prevent them from pushing the character around: tcl in the console for your own character and tai for NPCs. And when using tfc, make sure to use the time-freezing tfc 1 as otherwise your own character may get pushed away after all.

[AltNameByeee]

3 hours ago, lrc_ said:

Thanks for the guide! After applying the two code changes, I easily managed to create my first custom pose.

 

I just wanted to point out that, with another small change in Blender, the "Animation Tools N3" rig does in fact allow posing all fingers separately. Simply select each finger bone, and on the "Bone Constraint Properties" tab (marked "1" in the attached screenshot), click the eye next to the "Copy Rotation" constraint (marked "2") to disable it. This doesn't cause problems with conversion: the ingame hand will look just like in Blender.

 

 

As for putting weapons and other items on or around characters: an alternative to creating object animations is to simply position the items ingame using Jaxonz Positioner. Just make sure you take the necessary precautions to prevent them from pushing the character around: tcl in the console for your own character and tai for NPCs. And when using tfc, make sure to use the time-freezing tfc 1 as otherwise your own character may get pushed away after all.

 

Glad you found the guide helpful!

 

As for the fingers, yes, you are correct. That is one of the changes I made in the rigs I have for download. I find it is usually easier to give people a working rig rather than teach them how Blender works. But nice work figuring it out yourself!

 

And yeah, I love Jaxonz, too! I use it all the time. OBJ poses have more flexibility though, allowing you to adjust the character around the object with perfect precision, instead of having to hope it looks right in game.

 

 

[lrc_]

Sadly enough, I couldn't get your rig to work: even after applying the two code changes for Blender 2.8+ compatibility, the script still fails with "AttributeError: 'Mesh' object has no attribute 'bones'". And I guess that even if I did get it to work, the rig would still have the same problem as the original with hand placement. (I saw someone else mention it in this thread, and sure enough: if I make a quick test pose with touching thumbs, the hands are way apart ingame)

 

Here comes the good news, though: I found another custom rig based on Animation Tools N3, namely Animation Tools N3+ by tktk. Apart from making similar improvements to rig usability (individually posable fingers, much clearer controllers), it also fixes the bugs in the conversion script so that the ingame pose now looks exactly like the one in Blender! And that's not all: this new script calls the external conversion tools for you, and can even copy the finished .hkx file to your mod directory. In effect, you can get your finished .hkx, in the right place, in a single click - so that all that remains is to run FNIS and launch the game.

 

More details:

- The download page is as mentioned above. It's a huge page that's all in Japanese, but don't worry: the two download buttons (one for Blender 2.7 and one for Blender 2.8/2.9) are right at the top.

 

- When you open one of the .blend files, you'll probably get a warning about an autorun script. It's safe to let it run, but not mandatory: it just adds this little helper window in the "Misc" tab. (Only visible when you're in Pose mode, that is, have a controller/bone selected)

Skeleton shows/hides the bones (hidden by default)

Controller shows/hides the controllers (shown by default)

Arm -> IK shows/hides the arm IK controllers.

Arm -> FK shows/hides the arm FK controllers.

Weapon -> 1HM shows/hides a one-handed sword mesh (only available in Male.blend)

Weapon -> 2GS shows/hides a two-handed greatsword mesh (only available in Male.blend)

Weapon -> 2HM shows/hides a two-handed war axe mesh (only available in Male.blend)

IK Setting -> IK determines the arm IK strength. 1 means the arms are fully IK-controlled through the wrist (red) and elbow (blue) controllers. 0 means they're fully FK-controlled through the green circles around the arms.

FK track IK ties the FK controllers to the IK ones. I haven't found much use for this yet.

SpineArm determines whether the arm IK controllers move along with the spine. For example, say you have a T pose and tilt the spine forward. With SpineArm = 1, the character will still be T-posing, just while bent over. With SpineArm = 0, the character will now be Naruto running.

- Unlike with the original .blend files, you don't need to go into the script and change "skeleton.txt" to a full file path. This version finds the correct path automatically.

- If you open the file and only see the script window covering everything, simply switch to the "Default" tab at the top of the window.

- You may have a missing rotation axis on the left wrist controller. This can be fixed by unlocking it over here:

 

- Female.blend defaults to the vanilla mesh, but can also be switched to UNP. In the "Scene Collection" in the top right, first rightclick on "Collection 2" and choose "Visibility -> Disable in Viewports." Then rightclick on "Collection 3" and choose "Visibility -> Enable in Viewports."

- To create the .hkx, go to the "Scripting" tab at the top and click the Run button as usual. It'll create a DefaultPose.hkx in the "convert" folder, ready to use.

 

- For even more convenience, you can edit lines 32 and 33 of the script: change "DirectCopy = False" to "DirectCopy = True" and change the content of "CopyPath" to a complete .hkx file path, making sure to use double backslashes like in the example. This will cause the script to put the generated .hkx straight in your mod folder

[AltNameByeee]

3 hours ago, lrc_ said:

 

Yes, I am aware of all that. I made my rig for 2.7. I don't use Blender 2.8 for Skyrim stuff. It's just a personal preference. Is my rig the best? Not by a long shot. But it's consistent with my guide and I am sorry you couldn't get it to work. I have plenty of other people who have gotten it to work though, so I don't know what to tell you.

 

The purpose of this guide is not to replace tktk's mod or be the best rig. It's just a helpful starting point for inexperienced modders. I'm happy that you're versed enough in Blender to not need this guide. If you don't want to use my rig or are unable to get it working, then just don't use it. It really does not matter to me. Good luck in making poses in the future! I hope to see an awesome pose mod from you someday.

 

Peace!

[lrc_]

Oh, I'm completely new to Skyrim posing and Blender in general - I'm really just figuring things out as I go. This thread was the first thing I found about the subject, and considering how helpful it already is, I thought I'd add my own findings for other newbies who come across it. (ES6 is still a long way off after all)

 

Animation Tools N3+, especially, seems to be discussed exclusively in Japanese online, so it seemed hard to find - indeed, it hadn't been brought up in this thread before, so I wasn't sure how many people in the English-speaking community were aware of it. Having not just a proper rig (like yours) but also a fixed script that no doubt will save lots of time with hand placement, seemed like something too good to miss out on .

 

Thanks again for showing me and others the way!

 

(Edit: turns out N3+ was, in fact, already mentioned right here on LL, just in another thread in another subforum... Looks like Google didn't index it. Oh well, now it's mentioned here too)

[FlufyFox]

Hey hi :3 i just want to know how we can change the name of the HKX file itself on the public pose mod, i could change messages and names of the poses on the ck but the files i dk how to change the names, it is possible ? because i wwant to put a name with some reference to know specific poses and organization, thank you.

[AltNameByeee]

20 hours ago, FlufyFox said:

Hey hi :3 i just want to know how we can change the name of the HKX file itself on the public pose mod, i could change messages and names of the poses on the ck but the files i dk how to change the names, it is possible ? because i wwant to put a name with some reference to know specific poses and organization, thank you.

Unfortunately, you can't do that. You could just right click the .hkx and select rename, but if you do that, then the FNIS behavior file won't be able to reference that file. The behavior file has a list of all the .hkx by name, so changing the name would mean it can't reference the file. I recommend just having a separate folder somewhere on your PC with named hkx files like "Stab-1" or "Peace Sign". Then you can just copy them over to the folder with the hkx files, rename and overwrite.

[FlufyFox]

Hey its me again :3 as you know i am creating sort of anims and idles too, but how i can make a cutom mesh i created an obj for poses ? could you point me some place taht explains it ? i converted it to nif already and placed the lines with nifskope but i cant import it on 3ds max, and i tested another obj and i can open normally, i just missing something.
Thanks ^^

[AltNameByeee]

15 hours ago, FlufyFox said:

Hey its me again :3 as you know i am creating sort of anims and idles too, but how i can make a cutom mesh i created an obj for poses ? could you point me some place taht explains it ? i converted it to nif already and placed the lines with nifskope but i cant import it on 3ds max, and i tested another obj and i can open normally, i just missing something.
Thanks ^^

Hey! That's tough to diagnose through just text. Plus, I use Blender and not 3DS max. If you are able to import it into Blender, my Free Object Poser download comes with a blend file that has 'Copy Cubes'. Import your NIF, merge your NIF with one of the copy cubes, delete the copy cubes original faces, then remove your original NIFs material in the materials tab. THen just delete everything except for your merged NIF and export it as a NIF. That should work.

 

But if not, add me on Discord here: Collygon #3938. It'll be much easier for me to help you if I can see what's going on myself. I'm happy to lend whatever aid I can!

[AltNameByeee]

3 hours ago, argenteum said:

Thanks for the great guide. Got some poses in game successfully.

A problem though:

I see in the FAQ that your custom armature (Collygon's Choice) has improved weapon node accuracy. I'm using it and still get weapons way off... not 99% close, but more like 30 degrees off in any direction usually. In the example below, the sword should be pointing roughly straight down.

Example:

  Hide contents

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/515262002793545738/883525120017174568/ScreenShot759.png

Is there something wrong on my end or is this just a case of gotta do the trial and error?

Hey,

You're not doing anything wrong. It's just a problem with the animation tools n3 export. My rig made adjustments to the bone, so it's as accurate as possible without changing the animation tools n3 export script. It really is just trial and error. Another big factor is how the arm and hand is positioned. I find that the more "wild" the arm/hand is posed, the less accurate my "99%" claim becomes.

 

I would recommend using Animation Tools N3+. It is a bigger update of the tool, which was made after my guide was. So this tutorial is a bit outdated. I don't know if that tool has a weapon node though. But yeah... I wish I could give you a better answer.

[SaltedFish233]

Is there a way to mirror the pose? I tried 'Paste Pose Flipped', but seems like i didn't manage to symmetrise the pose

[AltNameByeee]

5 hours ago, SaltedFish233 said:

Is there a way to mirror the pose? I tried 'Paste Pose Flipped', but seems like i didn't manage to symmetrise the pose

There isn't a "one-click" way to mirror a pose, unfortunately. You'd have to duplicate the rig and that won't work with the script. The best way is just to do it by hand, clicking on a bone on the left side, then copying the transforms from it to the same bone on the right side, then doing the reverse for each bone. It's not elegant, but it's the easiest way.

[SaltedFish233]

I also wanna know if there is a way to convert a skyrim outfit to t-pose. I wanna convert some mods to other game but i need the mod to be in t-pose. My initial idea is make a t-pose in blender and import nif, letting nif use that t-pose armature. However I failed.....

[AltNameByeee]

6 hours ago, SaltedFish233 said:

I also wanna know if there is a way to convert a skyrim outfit to t-pose. I wanna convert some mods to other game but i need the mod to be in t-pose. My initial idea is make a t-pose in blender and import nif, letting nif use that t-pose armature. However I failed.....

You could, yeah. But I'd recommend not using this rig. If you import an outfit into Blender (or any other software) the skeleton will be imported with it. If you pose that skeleton, the outfit will psoe with it. Then just apply the transforms to the outfit and it should stay in the posed position

[SaltedFish233]

23 hours ago, Collygon said:

You could, yeah. But I'd recommend not using this rig. If you import an outfit into Blender (or any other software) the skeleton will be imported with it. If you pose that skeleton, the outfit will psoe with it. Then just apply the transforms to the outfit and it should stay in the posed position

this is where my problem comes, the skeleton accompanied with imported nif is very hard to use. for example, if i try to rotate arm's bone, then arms will become twisted rather than rotate.....

[AltNameByeee]

15 hours ago, SaltedFish233 said:

this is where my problem comes, the skeleton accompanied with imported nif is very hard to use. for example, if i try to rotate arm's bone, then arms will become twisted rather than rotate.....

Yep, that's just the way it is. You could delete the original skeleton, then select the armor you imported, then shift+select the N3 rig, then, with both selected, use control+P and choose armature with automatic weights. It will weight the armor to the skeleton and you can pose it that way. It won't be perfect weighting though, so there might be some stretching issues. But if you just want to get the armor in a T-Pose, it should suffice.

Edited November 21, 2021 by Collygon

[SaltedFish233]

Hi, i'm still asking converting skyrim clothes to t-pose

i managed to get a t-pose .kf file, the .kf file can be read by nifskope, although the clothes change to t-pose in nifskope, the output obj is still not in t-pose

 

On 11/21/2021 at 3:35 PM, Collygon said:

Yep, that's just the way it is. You could delete the original skeleton, then select the armor you imported, then shift+select the N3 rig, then, with both selected, use control+P and choose armature with automatic weights. It will weight the armor to the skeleton and you can pose it that way. It won't be perfect weighting though, so there might be some stretching issues. But if you just want to get the armor in a T-Pose, it should suffice.

this method does not work i guess since the imported nif and N3 rig are not i the same size......

[AltNameByeee]

20 hours ago, SaltedFish233 said:

Hi, i'm still asking converting skyrim clothes to t-pose

i managed to get a t-pose .kf file, the .kf file can be read by nifskope, although the clothes change to t-pose in nifskope, the output obj is still not in t-pose

 

this method does not work i guess since the imported nif and N3 rig are not i the same size......

I think you're doing something wrong then. They are the same size. Make sure you are in object mode when importing. If the rig wasn't the correct size, then creating object poses accurately would be incredibly difficult.

[SaltedFish233]

On 12/7/2021 at 9:47 PM, Collygon said:

I think you're doing something wrong then. They are the same size. Make sure you are in object mode when importing. If the rig wasn't the correct size, then creating object poses accurately would be incredibly difficult.

I think i found the reason: some vertex group are differnent. For example, NPC Clavicle [Clv].L is a vertex group in the imported nif, while the corresponding vertex group for the tool is NPC L Clavicle [LClv]

I am wondering whether i used correct nif importing pulgins.....

[AltNameByeee]

4 hours ago, SaltedFish233 said:

I think i found the reason: some vertex group are differnent. For example, NPC Clavicle [Clv].L is a vertex group in the imported nif, while the corresponding vertex group for the tool is NPC L Clavicle [LClv]

I am wondering whether i used correct nif importing pulgins.....

I find it easier to import NIFs in Blender 2.7, if you're using a later version. The NIFPlugin for that version works the best compared to later versions of Blender, at least for now.

 

I've attached my NIF Plugin for Blender 2.7. Give it a try.

 

1. Open the N3 Rig

2. Import your armor

3. Un-attach the imported armor from the imported skeleton. You can do this by dragging iot outside of the parent object in the outliner panel.

4. Select your armor and then the N3 rig IN OBJECT MODE, then use CTRL+P and choose with automatic weights.

5. Pose the armor how you want then go into the modifiers panel and apply the armature.

6. Done. Your armor is now in the pose you wanted and you can export it to an object or whatever else to work with.

io_scene_nif.zip

[bigglebojiggle]

I have a question, I'm trying to make adjustments to an animation, the erection animations specifically. I converted my hkx files to kf which I think I'm supposed to do, and I have all the plugins I think I'm supposed to have, but I can't seem to load the animation into Blender. I can load the penis into blender but I don't seem to have a way to adjust individual pieces either like the unp blend file. I hope what I'm wanting is pretty straightforward, I feel like I'm so close, but how do I add animations and make changes to them?

 

Edit: SO I did manage to load the animation but it warps the model. It's exhausting as a beginner!

Edited February 3, 2022 by bigglebojiggle

[AltNameByeee]

On 2/2/2022 at 2:24 AM, bigglebojiggle said:

I have a question, I'm trying to make adjustments to an animation, the erection animations specifically. I converted my hkx files to kf which I think I'm supposed to do, and I have all the plugins I think I'm supposed to have, but I can't seem to load the animation into Blender. I can load the penis into blender but I don't seem to have a way to adjust individual pieces either like the unp blend file. I hope what I'm wanting is pretty straightforward, I feel like I'm so close, but how do I add animations and make changes to them?

 

Edit: SO I did manage to load the animation but it warps the model. It's exhausting as a beginner!

So as far as I have tried, it is not possible to edit existing animations in Blender. It is possible to do in 3DS max, but only vanilla animations can be edited. I'm impressed you managed to import the animation though, and that leads me to think something might be possible. The reason it is warped is because the hkx file is not the same as the rig. The rig =/= the skeleton. So importing it will never be an exact match. I would like to see what you have though, maybe something can be done. If you have images or a recording, that'd be helpful. Or add me on Discord: Collygon #3938 if you have that. Might be easier for me to see that way.

 

Sorry for the late reply. I haven't been using LL much these days.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Collygon

[bigglebojiggle]

2 hours ago, Collygon said:

So as far as I have tried, it is not possible to edit existing animations in Blender. It is possible to do in 3DS max, but only vanilla animations can be edited. I'm impressed you managed to import the animation though, and that leads me to think something might be possible. The reason it is warped is because the hkx file is not the same as the rig. The rig =/= the skeleton. So importing it will never be an exact match. I would like to see what you have though, maybe something can be done. If you have images or a recording, that'd be helpful. Or add me on Discord: Collygon #3938 if you have that. Might be easier for me to see that way.

 

Sorry for the late reply. I haven't been using LL much these days.

 

Quite alright. Yeah, it looked like it wanted to do something, but it wouldn't recognize the mesh/rig, all it really did was just warp the mesh and kind of jitter. All I really did was load the unp.blend file then import the mesh and kf file I converted with this tool.

 

outfolder.7z

That's a 7.z of the kf files

malegenitalsf_1.nif

and the standard unp penis.

 

All I really wanted to do was change the erection to not look so stretched out at the start. Running it through nifskope and it looks like of the of nodes just stretches way out