TS3 Garments, etc

[TheLadysGhost]

Okay, first of all, here is my copy of af morph ref .wso... 

PREGwhole.wso

This can be used to transfer bone assignments for SEPARATE top or bottom. You CANNOT use it to assign bones for a swimsuit/ 1 pc outfit! Why? EA has a limit of 60 bones per mesh group. More than 60 bones in a mesh, and one have a Picasoo! EA's af swimsuit has 59 bones total. EA af top nude has 51 bones, and bottom nude has 14 = 65 = Picasso!!! I know that spine 0 intersects, possibly pelvis and spine 1 also, but have never figured out what the additional bones are. EA af swimsuit plunge has 59 bones and a pregnant morph, so use that for outfits.

 

NOTE: Top nude has a split seam at under boob, and different bone weights than af swimsuit plunge, so end result will be a bit different.

 

Using MTK, convert your mesh from .obj to geom. Here you have option. MTK has bone assignment and seam fix in "auto tools for geom" tab. You can do bone assignment and seam fix there, then convert to .wso, or convert the geom to .wso and assign bones and do seam fix as .wso. I use the geom section only for custom meshes that have painted bone weights, otherwise, I use "auto tools for .wso" section.

 

After converting to .wso, bone assignments and seam fix, you generate morphs. Then import to TSRW. In the mesh tab, you can check morphs, except pregnant for whatever reason.

 

I rarely use s3oc, but open projects in TSRW, and work there. I understand that MS has a .wso export, but have never used it, so know nothing about how well it works, or what it does.

Edited May 19, 2022 by TheLadysGhost

[TheLadysGhost]

Part 2...

 

I use the basic EA mesh as template, to maintain vertices alignment with a garment. I find that this helps reduce clipping issues greatly.  This is EA bikini mesh. Highlight the area you need, duplicate mesh and separate.

Spoiler

Next, hide the bottom mesh.

Change tris to quads to work on your project.

Use knife tool to cut out your garment. I use vertices as targets, but will cut across an edge if necessary for the shape of the garment. Highlight the part you do not need/ want as the garment and delete it.

Unhide the bottom mesh. Next, in top tabs, I use mesh> transform> shrink/flatten, and increase size a little bigger than the base mesh. Without clicking "proportional" box, this tool will make the mesh bigger in all directions, even between the legs, which is very different from simply increasing size with x, y, z.

Next, adjustments. You see that some edges clip the base mesh. This is because the base mesh has an edge that intersects. You must create a corresponding edge in your mesh. With both meshes in edit mode, you see this better. I highlight only the offending edges, and use sub-divide. I forgot a pic, but next step is to roughly align your new vertices with the crossing edge of the body mesh. I will move vertices on opposite sides together, so they remain same. Two ways to do this... move x, y, z, or top tab, Vertex> side vertices, and slide the vertices along the edge. This will also move the vertices on the UV map! Because Blender does not always triangulate faces with the edges matching an EA mesh, I will use knife tool to manually cut some edges.

This shows Blender triangulate in "beauty" setting. The garment edges cross the body = bad.

This worked out by using "fixed" setting. There are a few settings to try, but if all fail, I will manually disolve those edges and recut them as necessary, to maintain alignment with the EA body mesh.

Before joining the meshes, move the panties UV. This was also resized to .8 on x and y, to fit the space given.

From here, you may might make a few more adjustments to the mesh.

You know how it works from here... spin the mesh and look at many angles, tweak it and look again... rinse and repeat! Then, export your UV image to make the multiplier and other textures. @JoshQ makes textures in Blender, but I still just do not understand all of those tools, so it's over to GIMP for me!

 

You export the mesh as usual, either as object or geom, depending on preference or necessity, make conversions in MTK, bones, seams, morphs... and into TSRW.

 

This same method can be used for bra.

 

There are more advanced ways, but best to get basics first, as I also did. Some have asked about how to do advanced meshing, and not even know how to import a mesh to Blender, MS or TSRW. At least you understand some things about those basic tools. )))

 

Next up... "Practice and Patience"____ @JoshQ

[Brisbane Australia]

Ooh wow look at your post!  Thanks for this?!  I haven't moved onto your next Blender steps yet but I will do that next.

 

I've managed to complete a basic set of briefs and because I've been working with Milkshape I wanted to complete a project this way so I know I can "do it".  The bra had mesh issues, the meshing on the briefs went a lot better because I have a rough idea how it works now.

 

I made a lot of newbie mistakes on the UV positions, I got it to work now but took me like 8 tries to "learn" that I can't put it in certain places, I've worked with the texture file before for my female skin so have a basic idea of what's there,but in the end I used the left side similar to how you're showing in your post.

 

It's very slow but something complex like this I'm learning the basic steps like you did too and also making all the learning mistakes along the way, if I can't get the basics right then I can't do the advanced, my animations worked the same way and the posts that you've done here helped me a lot to get a start in and also push me on that bit further so thanks?!

 

BrisbaneAustralia-PlainBriefs.package

 

 

 

[TheLadysGhost]

1 hour ago, Brisbane Australia said:

 

I made a lot of newbie mistakes on the UV positions, I got it to work now but took me like 8 tries

 

As I said, as long as you see mistakes as learning, all is well. I have 100's of folders that are fails, but I often learned from those mistakes. Josh told me that 1 of 10 of his projects work as he wanted, which made me feel better, sooooo........

 

There is much to learn... I continue to learn. I played with GIMP and Blender for several years, making little changes to things, just for me, long before I ever thought to upload anything to share. 

 

There is a map (probably several) around the internet that shows the areas allowed by EA for which parts. I had one (not sure where it is now), but now simply import a body mesh and check UV position that way. For where the shoes are, is generally at the bottom of the ankle seam of the bottom mesh.

 

The cutting out the project with knife tool is a step toward the area extrude method, but requires a bit of planning. So... later with that. Also, having the separate garment mesh is a step toward things like transparent garments and open bottom... again, later with that, until you are comfortable with the garments you now want to make. )))

 

The pic looks good! I only see a shadow at back waist. That is only in TSRW, or also in game? I will check your mesh, and advise what I find. I always intend to be constructive, as Josh is toward me. ))) Recently, I showed him a mesh, and he said it looked terrible. I knew it was bad, but not sure how to fix it. AND... he showed me how to use a new tool in Blender. ))) Very tedious to do, but the results are worth the effort. Many things don't have a magical easy button... or in this case, when I used the magical easy button, the mesh ended up not looking so good. So, one of those things... how much do I want this? Well, enough to take the LONG road!

 

Could not fix that mesh, so actually started with a new mesh. It is one of the MMD model conversions, trying to reduce poly count. Decimate tool works okay for making L2 and L3, but when trying to reduce a higher poly mesh for use as L1, can leave it looking pretty bad.

 

"Practice and Patience" 

Edited May 21, 2022 by TheLadysGhost

[TheLadysGhost]

Well, went mother-in-law's house to help with yard work, but it is a bit hot here today. My husband's motto is that the mulch will be there later when it cools, sooooo......

 

Took a look at the package. I had to use the old TSRW, as new versions do not read s3oc packages well, and lose the texture images. Again, I rarely use s3oc, and usually only if I wish to make default replacement for something, and still then, it's rare.

 

The shadow at the waist is an easy fix... NOW! I say "NOW", because it was a big problem for me, for a while. ) Sometimes, a mesh will hold it's edges on export, whether as object or geom. Often, Blender (and I guess MS) need instructions. 2 easiest ways to retain a sharp edge are: 1) split that edge before averaging normals. 2) mark the edge as "sharp". I now usually use the second option.

Spoiler

 

I show UV export because it is needed for aligning the texture. I moved the UV of panties to right side, and needed to be able to realign the texture. If I cannot find one online, I will make a location map for you. Although you may not use the panties with shoes, if you did, the shoe texture will be on the panties. You know of people complaining of odd texxture on male penis? It is because Cmar's V1 had the penis UV where shoes go. V2, she moved it to bottoms area. As the male is nude, there is no texture issues from other garments. )

 

I know that a sharp edge on panties may not be desired, but for basics, the options are sharp or shadows. Best, which is more work, involves adding several rows of vertices at that egde, and rounding it. There is a bevel tool in Blender that does this, more or less. Josh showed it to me, but I rarely use it.

 

Multipliers need to be gray scale, not as white as you have. This is to allow more color variety. Baseline is 50% or 128, depending on scale you use. Things like panties or bras can be a little brighter. Various gray tones are used to "force" certain variants. As EA meshes are basically low poly and flat, the gray tones are necessary to trick eyes to think there is depth and shadows. Also, normals maps are used for this purpose. I continue to work to improve at multiplier textures and tones. All things I learned, and am still learning along the way, so do not think I am beating you up!

 

Also, there are easy ways to make L2 and L3 for such a garment that I can show you later (use the EA L2 and L3 meshes under yor decimated garment and join), as well as making a specular map and normals map. Both are important later. A specular helps determine how light reflects. as does the normals, but in different ways. Importance of normals is that if you clone from a base that uses a normals map, and you do not replace it, you will see shadow lines on your garment. The panties base uses a texture blank, so no issue. )))

 

But, focussing on honing skills on L1 is best for now. )))

[TheLadysGhost]

Found it! A lot happened in 2010 when The Titans were modding TS3!!! Because the right "keywords" can be such a PITA to figure out, it can be hard to find answers, but they are out there! I find so many answers on Mod The Sims threads from before 2012...

 And this from MurfeeL, which has a body UV to show where the fingers stop. I often cheat right up to the fingers. Those extra pixels might be needed!

NOTE: the one by Bloombase better follows the waist.

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by TheLadysGhost

[Brisbane Australia]

Phew... Success after aaaaggeees!! ?

 

I couldn't quite figure the exact sequence on the first post so I had a go on my own over the last few day's trying to get the mesh from Blender working as a TS3 mesh, there was a lot of hrs on this I pretty much spent all my spare time doing this and your PREGwhole.wso was a huge help.

 

Originally I built more briefs in Blender like how you showed me here because if it was worth you showing them it was worth me trying it out too then I went to export them and couldn't figure the exact steps to get it actually working, so I began playing around and it was a lot of trial and error and I prob had around 50 tries before I got to this point but I did also figure out things the process uses like name's, bone's etc.  Lots of things went wrong but I slowly made progress.

 

So I went and started from the beginning again with just a quick Blender modify just to see it working so the package here has just basic shorts but it's modified from Blender using shrink fatten which you showed me, there's also no UV or texture because I know I can do those, this was just to get the Blender mesh up and actually working.

 

It's a very early step but getting over this the basic hump of meshing in Blender and not Milkshape was really difficult and getting to this point was entirely because of your help, the Blender pics you posted and the wso. too so thanks very much?. 

 

I've posted the steps here that I did to make this in case you or anyone else wants to see and try, some of the steps might be unnecessary and can be cleaned up later so it's not perfect but it works.

 

The first Blender briefs:

 

Mesh TestShorts.package

 

Mesh Morphs correctly.

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

Tools used: Milkshape, Blender, Mesh Tool Kit, TSRW, LadySmoks PREGwhole.wso (above)

 

Milkshape
Import the EA GEOM I want to modify
Export as OBJ

 

Blender
Import last OBJ
Make Edits
Export from Blender as OBJ

 

Milkshape
Import the OBJ
Rename OBJ to Briefs, Shirt etc
Import EA GEOM Nude bottom/top etc
Export to wes both Briefs and Nude

 

MTK
GEOM tools > FrankenMesh
Base mesh 1: The Briefs
Base mesh 2: Nude bottom
Leave all other morphs empty
Fill vertex number and click update Morphs

 

Replace missing bones: Auto tools for GEOM>Auto-assign Bones
GEOM mesh to modify: the frankenmesh we just made
Reference mesh: the EA original GEOM mesh
Select Replace only empty bone assignments
Do Assignments and Save

 

Milkshape
Import GEOM now with bones
Rename group: "group_base"
Export as TSRW WSO

 

MTK
Auto tools for WSO > Auto-Create Morphs
WSO mesh to morph: the one we just exported from Milk
Reference WSO Mesh: LadySmoks PREGwhole.wso
Create Morph Meshgroups

 

TSRW
Open original package
Go to mesh tab
Select detail level
Import WSO file
Save to Packages folder.

 

 

[TheLadysGhost]

24 minutes ago, Brisbane Australia said:

Milkshape
Import the EA GEOM I want to modify
Export as OBJ

 

Blender
Import last OBJ
Make Edits
Export from Blender as OBJ

First, a link to Smug Tomato's Blender geom tools at MTS. They are continuation of work started by cmomoney, back to Blender 2.6. 

NOTE: The tool for 2.8x has a feature to auto split seams before export. On VERY rare occasion, it failed to split all seams, which messed up the mesh. You usually saw the defect immediately in TSRW, and could go back to fix it, if only a small problem. But, Smug removed the auto split from the later version, and it uses a manual seam split. Her download pages have instructions, and there are a couple of threads on MTS about the tools.

 

This way, you can import/ export the geom directly to Blender. I really only export geoms for teen female, as the geom export has a seam fix. I usually export adult as object for a cleaner mesh, then use Mesh Tool Kit to convert to geom, etc, as I think I explained earlier. Seam fix for teen female does not work on the MTK that I have, so export tf mesh as geom is necessary for me.

 

I understand that Milkshape can export as .wso, but as MTK can do the conversion, I do not need MS at all. So for me, for project would go as this...

Spoiler

 

TSRW

Open af bottom briefs

Save workshop file

Save package (label as "parts")

 

S3pe

Export geoms from "parts" package

 

Blender

Import L1 geom

Modify as wanted

Import af bottom nude mesh (I have an entire Workshop of my template parts for af, tf, am, female shoes, .wsos, and many other things)

Modify and fit briefs to better fit af nude mesh and use "join"

Set normals and export as object

Then export as geom (used as bone reference in MTK, but not on all projects)

 

MTK

(Option 1)

Convert object to geom

Transfer bones from reference geom to work geom

Use seam fixer on work geom

Convert to TSRW .wso

Add morphs from Preg .wso reference

(Option 2)

Convert object to geom

Convert geom to .wso

Transfer bones from Preg .wso reference

Use seam fixer

Add morphs from Preg .wso reference

 

TSRW

Open briefs workshop file

Import new L1 .wso

Replace multiplier, and all other textures as necessary

Change categories if you want

Save work

Export package

 

No s3oc or Milkshape needed

 

 

FYI, I think that Preg morph .wso is one I downloaded a while ago, so it really isn't mine. That's why it isn't labeled as "LS_PREGwhole.wso". )))

 

Another FYI, TSRW can also export as object (and fbx). You must click the drop down during export when it presets as .wso, and change that. But, I usually do not need this.

[TheLadysGhost]

@Brisbane Australia, finally found time to look at your shorts. Not bad. ))) The biggest thing I found is my fault. Your seams had gaps. That was from using shrink/flatten, and I forgot to tell you that you must merge vertices by distance before using shrink/flatten. So, that was on me! 

 

Be careful as to how close you get the shorts in area between legs. Bone weight transfer to custom meshes can be imprecise, and weight from opposites legs will "bleed" onto the wrong leg, which causes distortion during motion and morphs. Often to shrink/flatten to -0.002. This gives okay distance at waist. Then deselect the top row of vertices, and shrink/flatten a little more, as looks good to you, but again, do not let the mesh touch in the area between legs. )

 

For you to better see your work, you really need to move the UV, and make a temporary multiplier. The multiplier does not need to be detailed in any way, only to show color in TSRW. I find that resizing the UV by .8 on x and y is sufficient that it will fit in the area to the right of the legs. There are 2 ways to position the shorts UV. 1 is to rotate 90 degrees. Other is to split the UV and stack front and back. I use both methods, depending on what I am doing.

Spoiler

 

Question... How are you applying bone transfer? You see in the pics how the left thigh clips the shorts. When I looked at bone weights, I found the shorts were 100% spine 0.

 

Nevermind! I just reread your step by step. Do not use "replace empty bones". Use "replace all bone assignments". )))

 

Spoiler

So basically, they move 100% with the waist. And yes, they will accept morphs that way. Morphs are positional instruction to the vertices for the 4 morph stages (fat, fit, special and thin) from the base mesh. Bones are how the mesh moves.

 

Summary... Move your UV and make a test multiplier so you can see your work. Merge vertices by distance before using shrink/flatten. Avoid mesh being too close in area between legs. Use replace all bone assignments. )))

 

[Brisbane Australia]

 

? Okay well it took ages but with thanks to your help I've managed to build a complete pair of briefs in Blender from start to finish.  Although I've used all the things you've pointed in previous attempts these one's were more simple to just get the project going, I did use however, sharp edges, merge vertices, solidify and normal's.

 

I now know why it's taking a long time for me to do this it's because I'm running into all the small 'learning' steps which once you know you don't get stuck on, but I'm learning every one.  But I thought I'll point out some of the fun (not so fun) parts I got stuck on if you wanted a bit of a laugh:

 

 

 

Smug Tomato's GEOM importer works on Blender 2.8 so I had to stick in another version of Blender.

 

Smug's GEOM export wouldn't export the GEOM back out, kept getting errors, and I tried ages to get past this and ended up using old Blender to build and export to obj, it was only when I saw your post of sending it back out as .obj did that get past it so I rebuilt the project using 2.8 again.

 

obj built in old Blender would not import into MTK without lots of vertex errors, I thought it was because I used the wrong delete/dissolve to build the briefs so had to go back and test and export every step to see the error point, turns out it was just the old version (which I use for animations) so solved using 2.8.

 

I screwed up the UV mesh and didn't know how to fix it so I had to rebuild the whole mesh again, I'll figure the Blender UV at a later date but I did the UV in Milkshape instead because Milk's one is pretty basic and easy to use.

 

In Blender kept exporting briefs with legs attached, had to figure out Blender had a export only selected item for just the briefs only.

 

Briefs kept building in TSRW now without legs ?, solved using GEOM's frankenmesh.

 

Texture I usually modify with S3PE this time I used TSRW and kept getting texture over the legs and I know exactly where the locations are and tried moving it etc... found a quick tutorial online and found I was using the wrong texture option in TSRW.

 

So yeah these are newbie mistakes and once you figure them out you don't make the same mistakes.  Very similar to building animations I had a lot of basic errors when starting out but now I can just go in and make the thing, very similar like how you can just build the clothes without hitting the basic mistakes, but all these little bits take time and they all need to be learned to go forward.

 

This has been the biggest TS3 project I've done since learning animations and I remember in the beginning when I just couldn't do it, but now I can pick the direction and know if it needs GEOM bones added or should I convert the Morphs manually etc and it's all thanks to you, so thanks LS!

 

I used your steps but modified them a bit to suit what I was trying to do, this is the steps of what I did:

 

Spoiler

1 Extract nude base legs from .package

 

2 Import to Blender using Smug Tomato's Importer

 

3 Edit mesh

 

4 Export as OBJ

 

5 Convert OBJ to GEOM and add bones

 

6 Run Seam Fixer

 

7 Import to Milkshape, rename as "group_base" and do UV placement, export as GEOM.

 

8 Frankenmesh the GEOM briefs and Nude legs.

 

9 Convert to WSO

 

10 Combine with the morphs you gave me.

 

11 Import meshes into TSRW

 

12 Add Textures

 

TSRW-BasicBlenderBriefs.package

 

The final package is big because the dds isn't compressed, but it works.

 

 

 

 

 

Your Sharp Edges has really helped the top.

 

 

[TheLadysGhost]

Sorry... just now saw your post. I downloaded and will look at it. Internet is running very slow right now, so shutting off.

[TheLadysGhost]

My fault, as I am not a good teacher! Biggest thing I find is that there is a very bad seam in the garment on right side, which is the UV body seam. This is because I forgot to tell you, that you MUST merge vertices by distance before using shrink/flatten and/ or solidify.

 

Shrink/flatten increases mesh size in all directions. If the last row of vertices is an edge, it will move that edge in proportion to the size increase. This causes two adjacent, unjoined or unmerged edges of the garment to be pushed passed each other and overlap.

 

Solidify creates end faces and a backface, that automatically has the normals pointing in same direction as the base mesh. If the edge row is not connected, it will create end faces on that edge, and then backface.

 

With solidify, and a garment such as panties, or any garment, you can adjust the thickness to be much thinner than the basic Blender setting. When you click to shrink/flatten, then left click the mouse and a box pops-up. You can adjust thickness here. For a garment as this, I would use -0.002. Reason, I will then solidify the garment to 0.001. This creates a thin gap between body and garment, and increases 3d effect.

 

Spoiler

Many pics are self-explanatory. All are in Blender 2.80...

 

Here, I just deleted the top row of faces.

 

 

When you click to shrink/flatten, left click the mouse again, and the box pops up to adjust size. Again, for this, I use -0.002.

 

 

Next, solidify. There are other things that can be done, but to stick to this for now, until you are comfortable with process. Ignore the shrink/flatten box in next pic. It is just there from the previous step.

 

 

So, I set thickness to 0.001

 

 

I think that his thickness creates a nice 3d effect, as the garment is not directly against the body.

 

 

You see some vertices clipping at the crotch. This in part, because I used one of my custom meshes for demonstration. If using standard EA meshes, this is less likely to happen. But, if it does, simply adjust the vetices as necessary. Remember... you now work with a doubled mesh! So, I will use the UV map side to be certain that I grab both overlapping vertices.

 

Here, you see a shadow effect at the bottom edge of the panties/ shorts. Often, setting normals to average face area will fix this. Otherwise, you may need to make the leg opening, as well as the waist as a sharp. I can cover sharps later.

 

 

Next, resize the UV so it will fit the area EA gives. For this, I use 0.800 on x and y.

 

 

Rotate 90 degrees, and move to the bottom right area. The numbers on the box for move, do not matter so much, only that you are in the allowed area.

 

 

To be sure of position, I will next import a top mesh, as it has the arms and hands, and your UV cannot overlap them. When you make your multiplier to fit the garment, the garment texture will show on the fingers!

 

Click on either mesh, hold shift key and click the other... then back to edit mode.

 

 

If you wish, you can also hold shift, and include the legs. It may be necessary to also show their position for some garments. Also, with the legs included, you can export that as your UV map for referencing your textures. OR go back to object mode, deselect the top, select the legs, and make your UV map...

 

I join legs and garment in Blender where I can see them.

 

 

Because the garment was made directly from these legs, and shrink/flatten increase is more or less proportional and maintains the vertices relavitve positions, all of your bones should be aligned. This reduces clipping... A LOT. Not always completely though, but that is for another day!

 

 

NOTE: With a double layer garment, you must be carful when using merge by distance, and use a setting that is less than the thickness of the garment. If you do not, you may accidentally merge the inner and outer faces of the garment. If that happens, and you catch it, use the undo button (my best friend). Otherwise, fixing it is a PITA, and I would end up shutting down, go have a drink and make the whole thing from beginning the nexxt day! ))) Reason is, and I did not make a pic, the merged faces may show opposing normals, and it's a mess at that point. 

 

 

You can export the project as object, which you know how to do. Also, you can export as geom. Use the rename, clean, split, recalculate (in that order, bottom to top) skip morphs and export geom. On the export geom screen, are seam fix options, including the LOD 1, 2 or 3.

 

 

I will often only use this mesh as a bone reference for MTK, as it contains the exact bones for a custom mesh. Also, I use this export for teen, as MTK seam fix for teen gives me errors. The geom exported can be directly converted in MTK to .wso. This project does not really need a bone reference mesh, and the bones from the .wso that I gave you will work, as the vertices are basically close enough to the EA standard.

 

 All that said, I am still not sure about how you are replacing the textures in TSRW? I cannot see them in my TSRW, and have blacked out images with no texture on the model.

 

There is no need to use Milkshape for any of the things you listed. I can take an object from Blender, do conversion in MTK, add bones, fix seams (except teens for some reason), and add morphs without ever using MS. The .wso created in MTK works fine. Also, with the mesh joined in Blender, no need to use frankenmesh tool. I use it for other things, but not a project like this. Blender to MTK to TSRW. ))))

 

Looking at the spoiler, I realize that JoshQ would have made a nice and tidy 1 minute video and explained it all better.

Edited June 4, 2022 by TheLadysGhost

[JoshQ]

2 hours ago, TheLadysGhost said:

1 minute video

Make it 3.

 

Nothing wrong with your explanation, this is just how I would do it:

 

Select the faces for the briefs and press ‘p’ to separate them to a new ‘mesh group’. Why? Because it will be easier to manipulate down the road. (This modifies the shading on the legs a little bit, fix it using ‘data transfer’ like I explained on that other thread).

 

Select any sharp (blue line) with the ‘edge selection’ tool and press ‘shift+g’ and then select ‘sharpness’, this will select all the sharps in the mesh. I noticed the original EA mesh has sharps on the buttcrack, just deselect those.

 

Clear the sharps and convert them to seams. Why? Keep reading. Press ‘a’ to select the whole mesh and then ‘m’, then select ‘by distance’. This will merge all the double vertices and that’s necessary to avoid problems with ‘solidify’.*

 

The shading will look “odd” when using ‘solidify”, to avoid it select the whole mesh, press ‘i’ to make an ‘inset’ and then press “.002” as the thickness. Don’t go bigger or we’ll have problems when using Meshtoolkit to generate weights and morphs.

 

Now use solidify and select a thickness between .002 and .005, if you go bigger Meshtoolkit will have problems. Also check the offset is set as “1.00000” instead of any negative value. Finally down below click on the ‘only rim’ box. Apply the modifier.

 

One thing ‘inset’ and ‘solidify’ don’t do is to extend the seams. Select the corresponding edges and convert them to seam. If you don’t the UV will be fucking mess when exporting.

 

Almost there. Ok, solidify created new faces but those aren’t represented on the UV map, you could let it pass but for this example I’ll unwrap them. Go to the ‘uv editing’ workspace, select the new faces using ‘alt+crtl+click’, press ‘crtl+i’ to invert the selection. On the left window select all the vertices and press ‘p’ to pin them so they won't move. Now move to the right window and press ‘a’ to select everything and then unwrap the mesh, select all the vertices on the left windows and press ‘alt+p’ to unpin them.

 

Now move the island to the position TheLadysGhost showed you . You could also leave it there, just scale it down a little so the briefs doesn’t touch the legs (also the texture you’re going to use doesn’t have to touch the legs).

 

Export as .obj with the ‘obj objects’ selected so blender merges briefs and legs, use Meshtoolkit with the original legs as reference to generate the bone paint and morphs, everything should work pertect or close to it.

 

*You can almost get away with merging seams for garments if you’re going to convert your mesh from a .obj to .wso and use TSRWorkshop.

 

[TheLadysGhost]

On 6/4/2022 at 2:39 PM, JoshQ said:

 

Nothing wrong with your explanation, this is just how I would do it:

I would do similar way, though not exactly since I am not so proficient with some tools you use. For this, I might use area extrude. But, I think @Brisbane Australia is not that advanced in Blender (yet), so we take small steps. ) His first mesh was only one layer mesh, now he does solidify, and who knows what is next? 

On 6/4/2022 at 2:39 PM, JoshQ said:

Press ‘a’ to select the whole mesh and then ‘m’, then select ‘by distance’.

OY! You forget! 2.80 uses alt/ m! ))) I am learning some hotkeys in both 2.80 and 2.93. )) But only a few of them so far.

Edited June 7, 2022 by TheLadysGhost

[Brisbane Australia]

Hey LS Josh!  The help in screenshots and the video is really good - Thanks!?,  I haven't been on LL for a few days but I'll give it a go.

 

LS your teaching is good enough to get me this far, I'm just making all the usual mistakes that happen when leaning something complex and new, every major project I've been successful at I fall over lots in the beginning just like this.  But I haven't had time to just 'play' and experiment with clothing items yet which is how I figure a lot of stuff out too.  I'm still at the testing of moving things between formats and getting it just to appear correctly in the game.

 

Yes I'm very much a beginner to meshing in Blender, previously all the body meshing I've done has been in Milkshape which is basic and easy to understand but at the same time a little too basic.  Milk is useful for when I need to do or check something quickly as many things in Blender are not intuitive and I find I need a web tutorial just to find a setting or change something simple.

 

I got Blender for animating which I knew zero about, but I learned from tutorials and experimenting, and after a few months I'm pretty comfortable with making animations now, but meshing is new for me so it's slow but my learning method is still similar with some rapid accelerated help from you's here?.

 

For the TSRW textures I extract the base texture from S3PE, open it in Gimp add my image which in that case was a plain grey box, erase everything else then merge everything and export it back out again as dds.  In TSRW I went to Mask and imported the dds.

 

 

[TheLadysGhost]

1 hour ago, Brisbane Australia said:

For the TSRW textures I extract the base texture from S3PE, open it in Gimp add my image which in that case was a plain grey box, erase everything else then merge everything and export it back out again as dds.  In TSRW I went to Mask and imported the dds.

As I said befor, I fail a lot... things no one sees except me, and maybe Josh. I just archived a few hundred GB of old workshops to clear space on my harddrive!!! As long as you learn something from a fail, it really wasn't a fail. )))

 

I still do not understand why you extract textures from s3pe? All textures for garments are in TSRW when you open the project. Simply export each texture from there to your work folder. Inside my main work folder, I have several sub-folders... "imgs", "wsos", "geoms and objs", "blend files", etc. Inside of the "imgs" folder, I make another sub-folder "originals". Even if the multiplier you need is completely different from the one for TSRW clone, I open it in GIMP, box select the entire texture and delete it. Now, I have a blank 1024 x 1024. Of course, you can resize if necessary.

 

I make whatever changes are needed to this blank, then export twice. 1st, I export as uncompressed. That becomes the base that I make all changes, as when you compress to dxt5, artifacts can develop, and detail can be lost. If you continuously open a dxt5, rework it, export, open again and again, you will loss much over all the clones of clones. Took me a while to figure that out! Then, I also export as dxt5, which I import to TSRW.

 

You can do this with any of the textures that you export from TSRW, so s3pe is not needed.

 

First, always click off the prechecked box for import mipmaps. They make a mes in the work select area, and not necessary. Now, your GIMP export settings... 

 This is GIMP 2.10

Prior to this pic, you choose a new name for the export, so not to overwrite the original texture. Plan ahead, as you will export 2 of the same textures, but use different compressions. I may use mu 1 raw. Raw tells me it is uncompressed. Click Mipmaps arrow, and select generate mipmaps. These are the hidden textures that show on your mesh as you pull back in game and the LOD changes from 1 to 2 to 3. Export as compression none. Next, export again, choose different name, perhaps "mu 1 dxt5", and in this window, click compression arrow and select bc3/ dxt5... export.

 

NOTE: A simple gray box can be dxt1. Speculars are usually dxt1. A 3 color rgb mask can be dxt1 IF it is only square boxes (no detail edges to separate color on the texture), otherwise, dxxt5. A 4 color rgba mask MUST be dxt5 or uncompressed if highly detailed. Detailed areas are best as the alpha channel. Normals map MUST be dxt5. Rare that uncompressed is needed for that. An uncompressed texture will create a much bigger package.

 

Now, you can import your texture directly back to TSRW, and s3oc and/ or s3pe is not needed at all for textures. Which brings me to the big problem I see, and a bit of confusion... You have the texture in "mask". That is where the rgb (3) or rgba (4) color mask goes. You can choose between 3 or 4 by using the channel select above where it says "textures, depending on your project needs. You need to put your gray scale texture where it says "Multiplier" (Missing Texture). I do not know how the texture even showed on your mesh to make screenshots?

 

Scroll down, and you see Specular, which is generally a dark image with black background. This helps create light reflection and depth in game. Too bright, and the garment will be very shiny! That texture can usually be dxt1.

 

If you are making more than one preset, right click just to the right of the texture image... a box opens to choose either "copy to all presets", or "reset to default". Choose copy to all. If making only one preset, click the arrow next to af bottom breifs, and a drop down shows all of the presets. Choose the preset you don't want. To right is a tiny down arrow. Click that to open new box, and select delete to remove that preset. You can delete all of the presets except one if you wish. 

 

I can go over other images found inside of mesh tab later. Most important one there is the normal map. If the normal map does not match to your project multiplier, you can have shadow textures. I could not find it, but it was eith ErinC or CHBoom that had this problem. I know, as I had this problem several years ago, and had to ask on MTS!

 

My last question is, what version of TSRW are you using? It's odd that the texture box says "Missing Texture". Usually, the default texture is shown, or if none, a blank texture is shown.

[Brisbane Australia]

Whoa this took a while but I've managed to sort out the seam problem, for you guys it's pretty easy like Josh can just make it quickly in the video and LS you know exactly what to do after a lot of building projects.

 

I kept getting the seam issue so I broke it down and went back though each part on it's own, the problem was using Milkshape to rename as group_base which I've also learned is an unnecessary step and .obj meshes will work without it so I don't need that step anymore and so for this build there was no Milkshape and no S3PE used as you've been suggesting, also I did the UV mesh without messing it up in Blender this time thanks to your screenshots which were a big help!

 

In the sample images/package I've also used your sharp edges which I think works really well.

Another new part was including the actual legs in the mesh as I didn't do before because I was getting strange results with extra legs possibly from an issue with multiple or the same objects but it's working fine now .

 

My TSRW is 2.2.104.0, when I did the texture in the last briefs I tried everything because nothing was working at all and Mask was the only section which made it go in the game so I used that.  This time around I've followed as you said and compressed it as dxt1 as I only had a grey box and exported the dds from TSRW, I've also used an empty image for the rest of the images this time around as I'm still learning to use TSRW.  I used to use S3PE before because that's how I always extracted the .dds files but this time it was done using just TSRW.

 

So even this was the same briefs again I'm learning... a lot!

 

Also I though it was pretty funny to see you've made a whole folder called "brisbane tutorial" specially for me!  Well I have one specially for learning to make clothes too called "TS3 clothes meshing".
Actually this whole thread could be saved and used as a basic tutorial on building clothing meshes from zero to something that actually works - and it's all thanks to yours and Joshes help, and your teaching is just fine - you just were landed with a slow student.

 

 

Briefs-NoSeams.package

 

 

 

[TheLadysGhost]

44 minutes ago, Brisbane Australia said:

you just were landed with a slow student.

No one can be as dense or slow as I!!!!! ? There have been things that Josh tried to teach me, I never understood, continued to try every so often, and had face slap moments... 3 or 6 months later when I finally got it!!! It didn't take quite 3 months, but using sharps is just one of many things Josh taught me... I am just passing it on. )))

 

From pics, it looks great! And how things appear in game is 99.99% of it. )))

 

So, I took a quick look in Blender, and TSRW. Your mesh looks clean! And your UV map is also clean!!! There is a bit to show you regarding texture image replacements in TSRW, that will make your final package cleaner. I am still a bit confused about your set up. I will link a few tutorials on setting game paths in TSRW when I return.

 

Also, I think that for a garment as this last shorts, area extrude will ultimately work best. I mentioned it before, but basic mesh was step one. Again, when I return, I will elaborate more. )

 

And again, your mesh looks great!