How to make a custom body mesh?

[Bromm83]

I have been using bodyslide and such to make custom bodies for a while, but I really want to know how I can make a custom body in 3ds Max. 

And my google skills have completely failed here... 

Anyone know of a good tutorial?

[Vioxsis]

By "make a custom body in 3ds Max" do you mean from scratch?

[Bromm83]

By "make a custom body in 3ds Max" do you mean from scratch?

From scratch or, more likely, modify one of the existing bodytypes more to my liking.

[Vioxsis]

And how much experience have you got working with max? and nifs?

[Bromm83]

And how much experience have you got working with max? and nifs?

Not much, I have edited some armors.

I have gone through most of nightasy's tutorials, but that's a while since now (going through them again now to see what I forgot).

I have made a few simple armors/clothes from scratch. 

[Vioxsis]

Nice, i was dreading the 'i have none' answer.

 

Well working on a body is very much like doing armour.

Editing an existing one is strait forward, the only parts you will want to leave in place are the edge verts at the arms, legs and neck.

so that they line up with there other mesh counter part. But other than that its very much the same.

 

Making one from nothing comes down to your knowledge of anatomy and your skills as an artist.

 

 

[Bromm83]

Okey, that's good. Thanks! 

But in nightasy's tutorials they always delete the body in nifscope and copy in a new one saying that 3ds max does funny things to the body when exporting.. 

And the skin wrapping part, do I just import another body and use that as source?

And the BDSthingie, I guess I should not choose Skyrim, Main Body here since that's armor? What is the one I should choose for a body?

Are there other things I should be aware of as a novice in this? Especially if it is done in any other way than creating armor.. 

[Vioxsis]

But in nightasy's tutorials they always delete the body in nifscope and copy in a new one saying that 3ds max does funny things to the body when exporting..

What? that's not true if you have the exporter setup properly and know what you are doing there's no reason the body would export wrong. It is just polygons like any armour or weapon.

 

And the skin wrapping part, do I just import another body and use that as source?

Yes, the only parts that would need the extra attention would be the edges where the body meets the hand, feet and head they would need matching weights.

 

And the BDSthingie, I guess I should not choose Skyrim, Main Body here since that's armor? What is the one I should choose for a body?

SBP_32_BODY is the BSD for anything using slot 32 including the body itself.

 

Are there other things I should be aware of as a novice in this? Especially if it is done in any other way than creating armor..

No not really... Well none that come to mind.