Exporting from Blender?

[Myst42]

I dont give a crap if the process is complicated or long, I just want to know if it's possible and where to find the damn tutorials for it.

 

I dont know how to use 3DSMax, even though everyone else seems to know.

But I can be pretty crafty with Blender.

Most tutorials I've tried so far had only led me to CTD meshes or stuff that can't even be copied.

Am I wasting my time here or is there a way?

 

I mean, I could use all I know about Blender and learn how to export Skyrim stuff from it, or I could try to learn a whole fucking new software from scratch which frankly I dont have the time to anymore.

 

Sorry about the frustration. There is background battle history between me and this subject. I'd appreciate some help if anyone out there is listening.

[TDA]

Export what?

Well, you can make a model in a blender, export it to .obj, import  in 3D Max, there are modifiers (SkinWrap) that simply copy the weight of the vertices, from one model to another, then you fix it . The process is quite simple. and then export from 3DSMax. (then  Still need to refine the model in nifskope - copy-paste bslightingshaderproperty. )

( However, since I do not like to make skinning or rigging (onli skinwrap ), I do not know how good it is in Max or Blender.)

in general, complex models are always done in several programs. so that's it. .

 

On YouTube, just a sea of tutorials about these modifiers and about the methods .

 

 

 

[myuhinny]

You can export a outfit or outfit part out of blender in .OBJ format and then load those parts one at a time into outfit studios using the start new project selecting a body type and then scale the outfit down in it adjust where it's at and then adjust the body to fit add weighting and bone nodes and export with reference. Once that's done use the zap optino to zap out what isn't needed.

 

I use blender a lot to get outfit and models from other games into skyrim.

[Myst42]

Just now, TDA said:

Export what?

Anything I want.

Sometimes' I've wanted to export clothing/armor stuff, but more recently, a creature mesh, trying to make some new dragon priest stuff, female models, edited Miraak mask, perhaps new gear...

Just now, TDA said:

 import  in 3D Max,

And again, talking about needing 3DSMax.

The question was, is it possible to model stuff with Blender, but this method already requires the other program.

 

Some other tutorial I found suggested exporting as Morrowind file and then using some thing called ChunkMerge to convert the resulting nif, but it needs a collision template and somehow I get the feel that method works only for statics, which, through some pain, I've managed to export in the past, but this time, I require the bone weights.

Just now, myuhinny said:

You can export a outfit or outfit part out of blender in .OBJ format

Ok..

Just now, myuhinny said:

and then load those parts one at a time into outfit studios

You mean that bodyslide thingy? messed a bit with it, but only for resculpting, and had a terrible, terrible and traumatic experience trying to mess with bone weights in it.

Just now, myuhinny said:

and then adjust the body to fit add weighting and bone nodes and export with reference. Once that's done use the zap optino to zap out what isn't needed.

Ok the previous part sounded familiar at least, or like maybe I could at least find the buttons for it, but this last part is where you totally lost me.

Although, come to think of it... what you're saying sounds like it's only gonna work with outfits, assuming they have a similar rigging to an actual body mesh. Doesnt sound like it' realiable to port anything, like in this case, a new dragon priest model is it?

 

*Sigh...

There is no real "using blender to mod post-FalloutNV era models is it?

Goddammit.

[27X]

Build the model in blender

 

format the model in Outfit Studio

 

finalize the model's attributes in nifskope

 

that's the pipeline and has been definitively for three years

[TDA]

22 minutes ago, Myst42 said:

Some other tutorial I found suggested exporting as Morrowind file and then using some thing called ChunkMerge to convert the resulting nif, but it needs a collision template and somehow I get the feel that method works only for statics, which, through some pain, I've managed to export in the past, but this time, I require the bone weights.

 

The first time I hear about it I, probably, 7 years ago ported a mask from Oblivion to Skyrim. For me, the real pain was the Skyrim editor -  it is real shit

[Collygon]

You don't need 3DS max to make assets with Blender. Don't export to OBJ then import to 3DS max. That's wasteful and unnecessary. You can make assets with just Blender and NifSkope. You don't even need outfit studio, but it helps with armor stuff.

 

All you need is the Blender Nif Plugin: https://github.com/niftools/blender_nif_plugin

 

This works with the most recent version of Blender up to 2.8 (NOT 2.8). You just export your UV unwrapped mesh via the export button. To simplify the process, import an existing Skyrim NIF into your project workspace and merge your mesh with it before exporting. This will set all the necessary settings for a "smooth" export. You should also triangulate your mesh before exporting too. Set the NIF export settings to Skyrim (or whatever other game you are modding for) and it will export. Yes, there might be problems, so just check the log and resolve them. 

 

I've made all of my mods with Blender, from animations, to armors, to weapons. It's very possible.

 

 

[Myst42]

3 hours ago, Collygon said:

 

Man, that plugin is frigging AWESOME.

Thank you very much, works like a charm.

Still gotta find some new ways around to do some stuff I was used to making with Blender 2.49b in the new versions, as well as understanding a bit more about the mechanics of converting suff since apparently, some changes still need to be made within Blender to be able to port files from one game to another, but this is already far more than I was able to make earlier today.

 

As for trolls and condescending people trying to bully me because they dont have the ability to talk civilizedly about things, and remain butthurt because they lost an argument when they ran out of arguments, and proceeded to troll and talk nonsense, please don't ever quote me again. I refuse to talk to rude people.

@Y#tol: welcome to my ignore list. Bye bye!

[myuhinny]

@Myst42

 

Depends on what you are porting from one game to another game. Outfits from oblivion fallout 3/new Vegas can be ported easily first by running the nifs through Gerra6's pose converter to convert the models pose from oblivion/fallout to skyrims pose. Oblivion nif files you need to export each items out of the nif in .OBJ format then load them into outfit studios. For fallout 3/new Vegas you can load those nifs straight into skyrims outfit studios and do the scaling adjusting deleting out the old bone nodes while adding the new ones in.

 

I have a tutorial here that I have used many times. 

 

 

[Myst42]

8 hours ago, myuhinny said:

@Myst42

 

Depends on what you are porting from one game to another game. Outfits from oblivion fallout 3/new Vegas can be ported easily first by running the nifs through Gerra6's pose converter to convert the models pose from oblivion/fallout to skyrims pose. Oblivion nif files you need to export each items out of the nif in .OBJ format then load them into outfit studios. For fallout 3/new Vegas you can load those nifs straight into skyrims outfit studios and do the scaling adjusting deleting out the old bone nodes while adding the new ones in.

 

I have a tutorial here that I have used many times. 

 

 

Thanks, I'll take a look at it as well.

The way I've changed poses so far, is a bit longer than that, but IMHO, it preserves better the integrity of geometry.

I got used to importing both the model, and a functional poseable skeleton for that model, as well as the target body with its own skeleton.

Then all that's needed is to parent the mesh to its original skeleton, pose the skeleton to the target pose, apply the change as a skeleton modifier, and done, from A to T pose using the original rigging.

However I've only tested this from Skyrim to Oblivion, with any luck it can still be done with this new blender nif plugin.

 

On the outfit studio method, I'm mostly interested in handling bone weights. I know OBJ files are pretty universal in terms of compatibility but they dont support rigging, and sometimes, rigging can be even trickier when an outfit has things like loincloths or pauldrons that are not supposed to deform exactly as the naked body.

With any luck, I'll get to ways to play with that too using these tools.

[myuhinny]

With falllout 3/NV/fallout 4 if you load the files into outfit studios and then export them out into .OBJ format they'll retain their size when you load the .OBJ file back into outfit studios which you need to do to make your new skyrim nif file. Files you export out of nifskope they'll lose their size and become huge but scaling them down to around 0.10600 will bring them back to about the correct size adjust the position of the item and then use the increase mesh volume in a area to fix the clipping or adjust the butt sliders.

 

For weighting select bones in bone tab then select outfit parts and go to shape - copy selected weights then shape - transfer selected weights to attach those bones to the outfit parts. For skirts they require skirts nodes added to them and I'm sure how to do it in outfit studios but you can use the eraser to erase a weight from something if it is causing problems.

 

Oblivion shorts after export to .OBJ rescale position adjust and increase mesh volume used.

 

Spoiler

 

This outfit here was posed in blender as .XPS files have their own rigging then I exported 1 piece out of blender at a time in .OBJ format and then loaded each one into outfit studios and scaled all parts down at one time and then did positioning body adjusting and mesh volume adjusting to remove clipping once I was done then I added weights and bone nodes.

 

Spoiler

 

[Myst42]

On 5/18/2019 at 8:00 PM, Collygon said:

 

On 5/19/2019 at 12:52 PM, myuhinny said:

 

Right, so any of you who knows, I'm having more trouble than expected with re-rigging

First, I tried the native Blender function which is Transfer Weights

Spoiler

But It always gave me impredictable results. I take it, it's because I don't know how to use this feature yet.

Obviously, I'm doing something wrong because this is now how arm rigging is supposed to look like

Spoiler

Then I tried the only way that worked on Outfit Studio, which was setting the robes as "Set Reference" on the Meshes tab, then selecting bones on the target mesh, and use Copy Selected Weights under the Shapes menu.

And apparently it worked since it went from this

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To this

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Then I exported, the nif looks functional, except for one thing. It rearranged the position of the skeleton nodes (see elbow ones)

Spoiler

And if I try to transfer meshes between nifs, this is what happens:

Spoiler

Again, I take it I'm doing something wrong because i have not altered the skeleton, only wanted to repaint the bone weights on the arms.

 

On the old version of Blender (2.49b) the bone weight copy script could adapt anything to anything else, as long as the rigged areas were near, I also miss the part where I could just select a bunch of verticles, use the script and repaint ONLY the selected verticles instead of the entire mesh, although, I guess that's got to be possible somehow in Outfit Studio with mask brush.

 

The cherry of the pie is that none of this means a damn, since it made no changes on the target mesh, even though I used the direct OS nif export to make it work.

Maybe I got the wrong bones, but the arm is still clipping,

Spoiler

 

Perhaps there's something I'm missing about Skyrim rigging?

Is the mechanic so different from Oblivion? Thought the basics wwere still the same, red areas = more weight, vlue = less, similar colors beween meshes = similar behavior in animations, but apparently, even though it looks similar, it gives me deformed spaghetti arms now.

[Collygon]

On 5/20/2019 at 10:44 AM, Myst42 said:

 

I'm not the best at weight painting, but I'll offer what I can.

 

1. The Transfer Weights tool is only helpful for initial painting. You should never just use that tool and expect it to be finished. After using that transfer, you have to go in and rework it by hand.

 

2. Bodyslide is useful, but I wouldn't rely on it for weight painting. Using set reference and copying selected weights is basically the same thing as the transfer tool in blender.

 

3. You have the color system correct. Red = 100% weight. Blue = 0% weight. Weight painting is awful and it just takes try after try after try. I've spent weeks just doing weight painting on an armor. It sucks, but it's how it is. I can't really see anything you are doing wrong overall, but there isn't a whole lot of information to go off of here.

 

You have a few options:

1. Keep changing the weights and see if there are noticeable changes. Once you see what works, roll with it.

2. Delete vertices that are under the armor anyway. This is standard practice in making armors. If the dragon priest is not going to unequip that armor, then you could delete faces that are clipping and you won't have to worry about them. Just keep in mind that this method only works if the weights are working in every other way, and clipping is the only problem.

 

Lastly, are you adapting the female draugr model to standard dragon priest rig? If so, there WILL be odd deformities as you showed in the second to last image. The mesh is not designed to fit with the male rig, so it will stretch oddly like that. Yes, it looks weird, but that is actually correct. I don't have a lot of advice to offer on rerigging or making a new rig that works with Skyrim, but the last image looks good, so I'd just focus on testing the arm weights over and over until you get it. Good luck!

[yatol]

16 minutes ago, Collygon said:

Lastly, are you adapting the female draugr model to standard dragon priest rig? If so, there WILL be odd deformities as you showed in the second to last image.

bad guess

 

nif use draugr skeleton

if you don't select draugr skeleton before exporting it, bodyslide export it with xpms (newer version don't come option to not replace the original nif bones to avoid deformation?)

bone hand was x y 50 in original nif, it's now x y 100

everything with hand weight got higther, mesh is deformed

and you ctd if you try to equip that in game (you have weights for bone cape, that isn't in xpms, so skeleton ctd)

 

[Myst42]

On 5/21/2019 at 3:57 PM, Collygon said:

 

Thanks.

 

I think I found what was wrong

It's a rather weird thing, but apparently, the weight transfer thing from new Blender, does not work properly if there are modifiers attacked to a mesh.

Usually one would imagine it only refers to weird modifiers, i have worked with lattices, animations modifiers, curves, duplicates, mirrors etc... but in this case it means ANY modifier.

And that includes armature modifiers too.

Since importing, imports stuff with a skeleton, it's already altering the transfer, so the only way I could get it to work properly with certainty, was to remove the modifier from both meshes, the source and th target.

After the transfer is done, it is safe to re-parent meshes to the armature and export.

This time it worked properly

 

Well... most of the times at least.

Something weird happened later and on export, reweighted areas show invisible in game.

I'm still not aware how to prevent this issue. It's that awkward stage of learning curve where everything seems random.

I hadn't noticed before but the female draugr mesh also has invisible verticles, they're under the hood so I didn't notice.

Well... Keep trying I guess...

[Myst42]

Self bump, since apparently, I've been suffering from a majorly annoying fuckup on Blender export functions.

 

It seems to randomly create body partitions outta nowhere, and randomly assign weight to them.

I don't know where these partitions come from, or how to stop them from generating.

Being very careful to design the mesh with only the allowed number of partitions, in this case 2 (SBP_32_BODY and SBP_33_HANDS), and checking their weight paint is adequate, seemed to work in creating a viable model with no invisible parts, but it's still making partition explosions out of literally nowhere.

 

Reimporting the model shows the truth to what happens to it upon export.

Notice the duplicated body partition bones to the right.

Anyone knows why this happens and how to stop it?

Spoiler

 

[Ezarr]

Can I make a little request here? I just want to know if someone here could make a port for me. I wish to port a Krystal model (Star Fox) to skyrim. This is something that I been wanting for a long time. I know there is a Krystal race mod around but honestly I don't like it that much. I already tried to accomplish this by my self but I'm not good with 3d programs and there are not many blender tutorials on this subject for me to learn from. Anyways I have the model that I'll like to have imported. If you can help me with this, please write me a PM. This port will be for my personal use only, I won't release it in any way. Well thanks and sorry for using this thread for a request.

 

Edit: I'll delete this post if you guys think I should. No need to report, please.

[Andy14]

On 5/27/2019 at 1:30 AM, Myst42 said:

Self bump, since apparently, I've been suffering from a majorly annoying fuckup on Blender export functions.

 

It seems to randomly create body partitions outta nowhere, and randomly assign weight to them.

I don't know where these partitions come from, or how to stop them from generating.

Being very careful to design the mesh with only the allowed number of partitions, in this case 2 (SBP_32_BODY and SBP_33_HANDS), and checking their weight paint is adequate, seemed to work in creating a viable model with no invisible parts, but it's still making partition explosions out of literally nowhere.

 

Reimporting the model shows the truth to what happens to it upon export.

Notice the duplicated body partition bones to the right.

Anyone knows why this happens and how to stop it?

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I think the problem is, you use/has vertex groups. Maybe this can help:

https://beyondskyrim.org/rigging-from-blender-2-7-to-skyrim/

[TDA]

14 hours ago, Ezarr said:

Can I make a little request here? I just want to know if someone here could make a port for me. I wish to port a Krystal model (Star Fox) to skyrim. This is something that I been wanting for a long time. I know there is a Krystal race mod around but honestly I don't like it that much. I already tried to accomplish this by my self but I'm not good with 3d programs and there are not many blender tutorials on this subject for me to learn from. Anyways I have the model that I'll like to have imported. If you can help me with this, please write me a PM. This port will be for my personal use only, I won't release it in any way. Well thanks and sorry for using this thread for a request.

 

Edit: I'll delete this post if you guys think I should. No need to report, please. 

I think, you need to ask on 3D-thematic forums where such models are made. Hardly, there are such generalists.

[myuhinny]

@Myst42

 

I forgot about this thread for a bit. Outfit studios shouldn't really be used for 1.) player models (unless they have been properly posed to the skyrim player pose) 2.) models that have their own skeletons as they usually have a different pose then the skyrim bodies pose and different skeleton bone nodes and it'll mess up their skeleton 3.) outfits that have had HDT manually added to them like skirt bone nodes as outfit studios tends to fuck those ones up.

 

@Ezarr

 

http://littledragon.francemi.net/starfox_01.htm

 

I'm not sure if I still have the files or not as I think I deleted them I think. The player model type body you would have to pose in a 3d tool though.

 

The mesh files are in .OBJ format so you can use outfit studios for outfits that don't require posing like a bikini anything else needs a 3d tool for posing.

 

The .OBJ files might still need to be loaded into blender for tweaking as many .OBJ files have multiple pieces in them and that at times can cause the file to blow up in outfit studios or straight up cause it to get an exception error and CTD so you might have to join pieces together into one piece for items that you can delete out crap that's not needed and then export each piece out 1 at a time in .OBJ format.

 

You'll also have to make your own _N.dds files as there are none in the files.

 

Spoiler

 

I was able to edit the texture files some pieces had to be separated in blender that were in the above nif while other texture files had to be modified. The gems texture file I used ones of AveED's modder resource textures as there was no gem texture in the file.

 

Spoiler

 

Bikini from that page. The .OBJ file loaded fine into outfit studios the top I was able to keep the bikini top the bikini bottom had to be deleted and the other junk in it and the file had to be loaded into blender to join the bikini bottom into one the bikini top deleted out and exported out in .OBJ format and then loaded into outfit studios with the bikini top.

 

Spoiler