What To Use, What To Know...

[platanillo]

Hi everybody! , I was just wodnering if any experienced modder could please advice me on what software to use to create/modify models for skyrim, like creating custom bodies like slof's or caliente's bodies for example, what tools do they used? are there any good tutorials that you know off? what sofware you recommend and why?

 

I already have "nifskope" and "fallout 3 archive" to extract the meshes and textures from the skyrim data and to turn them to OBJs to import to softwares like maya or 3dsmax, but I don't know what to do from there, I know a little bit of maya but I keep reading that 3dsmax is the way to go, since is simplier to go from 3dsmax to skyrim (or something like that, I don't really understand why...) aren't softwares like maya or 3dsmax better for hard surfaces, is there any better software for organic modelling and such?

 

basically any information you can provide on how to get started in modelling for skyrim would be greatly appreciated, thanks !!!

 

PD: sorry if what I wrote reads kinda wierd, is late here and english is not my native language...)

[Guest Ragna_Rok]

hm... well english aint my native language either.

 

oookay, uhm... you basically have two options to go once you got the stuff exported by fo3archive. its good that you noticed that the meshes need to be exported by nifskope before you can further work on them. for the meshes there are two main-stream-lines of work: you go by 3dsmax, or by blender (if you also work on bones, like bodies, old version 2.49 with a couple of addon scripts does the job old-fashioned, but reliable, about 3dsmax i know jack shit).

 

i said this already a million times, but all moving shit, like bodies, or armor, or bows / crossbows can be very frustrating to mod as a rookie. and also, for the millionth time posted, i always recommend to start with sth easy. the classic is shoving a skull on a warhammer... or a potato on a dagger... or a carrot up a bunnies ass (like i did with my famous "bunny-mace" ).

it helps you to get some routine with import / export of files, smaller texture changings (like when you merge the textures by using ddsconverter to make jpgs from them, then you combine the lets say carrot and bunny into a new jpg and convert them back to dds to have your first "custom texture file" (keep in mind: only jpgs that have a size "power of 2" can be converted to dds, so for example files of the size 512 x 512, 1024 x 1024, and so on...)).

its also a good way to get used to the ck-work.

 

if of course you wanna directly go to body-modding, hey, your choice, im just an old-fart of a gear-modder... i just say that moving shit can get very frustrating for starters. i know awesome 3d-artists that come up with awesome swords, and they cant make a bow or work months on having their first armor working properly...

 

whatever you decide to do, be patient, take yourself some time, most important: have some fun

[Guest Ragna_Rok]

tried to look up links for you... well, heres a good tutorial explaining stuff for armors:

 

http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/topic/5639-creating-skyrim-armor-in-blender-tutorial-series/

 

helped me a lot back in the days.

 

theres also tons of tutorials n stuff online here... just ... well, take it easy dude. some things can be frustrating, and youre best of with looking for several tutorials... proceed like a squirrel... one nut here, one nut there... you know...

[Guest Ragna_Rok]

oh, and there was once this old bastard of a brutal berserk-orc here that made a small tutorial about manual mod installation... will come in handy once you try to relase a mod somewhere, it explains what the several files that get created by the ck do... heres a link:

 

--> <<<CLICK>>>

[platanillo]

thanks a lof for the advices and the links! i didn't expect a reply so soon hehe, Im going to definetly chek them out, and yeah I understand is going to be a long process and that I have to be patient to get it right

[Guest Ragna_Rok]

no worries, itll work out .. just dont surrender, and if you get stuck on a project, try sth else for a while, helps to get your head clear, you know

 

my first bow or armor were examples like that. when i got stuck i simply returned to some brutal badass swords n axes for a while.. take your time

[Zadil]

Since Skyrim relies on nif files for meshes you'll need to include (previous versions of) either 3ds Max or Blender into your workflow as those are the primary 3d software packages for which nif exporters are available. Having said that you can of course create your 3d item inside the application you're most comfortable in (like Maya) and then send it over to Max or Blender purely for the purpose of exporting it as a nif.

 

Creating custom bodies is a fairly complicated affair though, so you may wanna consider starting with something simpler to get warmed up first and become familiar with the whole process.

[Deedlit]

try also : nightasy tutorials  if going use 3ds max student license.