Need Quick Help With Modified Hair Mesh :)

[Guest riserax]

Hello there! ^o^ 

 

I have been trying to get a hair to fit under a jester's hat with minimal clipping, so I have been trying to edit them via 3ds Max to do so. I have been mostly successful on my own, but I am having one issue that I can't seem to find an answer to. It's nit-picky, but after everything, my hair seems to not be as transparent and wispy as the original hair mesh was. Here are some pictures to show what I am talking about. It is very noticeable at the hairline. 

 

http://imgur.com/a/ThuSB

 

I also wondered if it is possible to edit a mesh without it moving once you click on "Editable Mesh" in 3DS Max? It keeps shifting on me when I do! xD Makes it much more difficult than it should be to tuck the hair under the hat, since I have to hide the hat, guesstimate the moves, then put it back and check my progress.. I plan on taking my time with the next try, this was just a rushed effort to see if I could even accomplish it to begin with. 

 

I've attached the nifs, since I am fairly certain this is just a very simple fix, probably something to do with the SLS2s, or NiAlpha issues. 

Any help or guidance as to what I need to fix, or what I did wrong, is greatly appreciated!!! Thank you very much! <3

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the TLDR; part of my process just in case I messed up there. Also, to help anyone trying to learn as well. A little late to the party I guess. xD Do note, these are from a complete n00b, so it's a bit messy. x.x

 

I first imported the .nif of the hair I wanted to edit in 3DS Max, with the skeleton. I then imported the hat as well. I edited the mesh with soft select, much like I learned to edit armor.

I then deleted the hat, deleted skin and bsdismember from the hair mesh (since last time when I didn't do this, it caused texture issues: the hair was blue/purple streaked in Nifskope).  Added a smooth modifier (2), exported without welding vertices.

Then I did something a bit different, and nifmerged the nif I just made with the original hair, then copied that for the HL. It has helped me with editing heads in the past, and makes me feel better. Probably a waste of time!

I opened the original hair nif and the edited one side by side in Nifskope. Copied the BSLighterShaderProperty from the original over to the new one, removed the old BSL branch, highlighted Nitrishape and went down to properties to change the BS Properties from none to 9 to move the branch up. Redid this with the NiAlphaProperty to move it up. I copied this edited nif for the hairline (HL), and tested it in game.

It showed up fine, but had some weird shading issue (the shadows from the background/landscape would show through the hair). I read to check if SLS2 Shader was checked, it already was. Tried BS Num UV 1-4097 with tangent space update, no difference. Disabled SLS2 shader to see what would happen, and hair would glow in shadows instead of using shading. Changed Has Vertex Colors to "No" and disabled the SLS2 vertex and reenabled SLS2 Shader. Hair was now transparent a bit, and you could see the hair from the back of the head through it...

Re-enabled vertex colors/SLS2 Vertex, went to NiAlphaProp and went to Flags, disabled the Blending checkbox. Updated tangent spaces (not sure why), and this left me with what I have now, a thicker hair, with less transparency. It fixed the other issue though! Blech! I've checked everything I can possibly think of, and it all seems to match the original hair nif...

 

 

[Levionte]

Hello there! ^o^ 

 

I have been trying to get a hair to fit under a jester's hat with minimal clipping, so I have been trying to edit them via 3ds Max to do so. I have been mostly successful on my own, but I am having one issue that I can't seem to find an answer to. It's nit-picky, but after everything, my hair seems to not be as transparent and wispy as the original hair mesh was. Here are some pictures to show what I am talking about. It is very noticeable at the hairline. 

 

http://imgur.com/a/ThuSB

 

I also wondered if it is possible to edit a mesh without it moving once you click on "Editable Mesh" in 3DS Max? It keeps shifting on me when I do! xD Makes it much more difficult than it should be to tuck the hair under the hat, since I have to hide the hat, guesstimate the moves, then put it back and check my progress.. I plan on taking my time with the next try, this was just a rushed effort to see if I could even accomplish it to begin with. 

 

I've attached the nifs, since I am fairly certain this is just a very simple fix, probably something to do with the SLS2s, or NiAlpha issues. 

Any help or guidance as to what I need to fix, or what I did wrong, is greatly appreciated!!! Thank you very much! <3

 

Hair Modified.7z

 

 

 

 

Here is the TLDR; part of my process just in case I messed up there. Also, to help anyone trying to learn as well. A little late to the party I guess. xD Do note, these are from a complete n00b, so it's a bit messy. x.x

 

I first imported the .nif of the hair I wanted to edit in 3DS Max, with the skeleton. I then imported the hat as well. I edited the mesh with soft select, much like I learned to edit armor.

I then deleted the hat, deleted skin and bsdismember from the hair mesh (since last time when I didn't do this, it caused texture issues: the hair was blue/purple streaked in Nifskope).  Added a smooth modifier (2), exported without welding vertices.

Then I did something a bit different, and nifmerged the nif I just made with the original hair, then copied that for the HL. It has helped me with editing heads in the past, and makes me feel better. Probably a waste of time!

I opened the original hair nif and the edited one side by side in Nifskope. Copied the BSLighterShaderProperty from the original over to the new one, removed the old BSL branch, highlighted Nitrishape and went down to properties to change the BS Properties from none to 9 to move the branch up. Redid this with the NiAlphaProperty to move it up. I copied this edited nif for the hairline (HL), and tested it in game.

It showed up fine, but had some weird shading issue (the shadows from the background/landscape would show through the hair). I read to check if SLS2 Shader was checked, it already was. Tried BS Num UV 1-4097 with tangent space update, no difference. Disabled SLS2 shader to see what would happen, and hair would glow in shadows instead of using shading. Changed Has Vertex Colors to "No" and disabled the SLS2 vertex and reenabled SLS2 Shader. Hair was now transparent a bit, and you could see the hair from the back of the head through it...

Re-enabled vertex colors/SLS2 Vertex, went to NiAlphaProp and went to Flags, disabled the Blending checkbox. Updated tangent spaces (not sure why), and this left me with what I have now, a thicker hair, with less transparency. It fixed the other issue though! Blech! I've checked everything I can possibly think of, and it all seems to match the original hair nif...

 

 

Hello.

 

Your process is sound, as far as I can tell. I only glanced as your meshes in Nifskope, but I noticed you changed the alpha settings from the originals. If it was me, I'd just trust the original author's numbers given the qualify and size of their package. I should also note, the alpha properties are different on the hair versus the hairline; which is deliberate. I'm talking about the NiAlphaProperty under the NiTriShapeData. Specifically, the Flags and Threshold numbers towards the bottom.

 

Other notes: I'm a big endorser of Nifmerge. It doesn't do anything you can't do manually in Nifskope, but it's just fast and convenient. If you used it on both the Hair and Hairline instead of doing it once and copying it, it probably would have worked fine. But, as you suggested, it's a simple fix.

 

I have noticed the shifting in position 3Ds Max does, that you mentioned. I haven't found a way to prevent it, but I typically align things how I want to and then ignore the shift. I haven't noticed any misalignment from it in the results, and I usually see it on things like eye meshes that really need to be lined up with the head.

[Dillpickle]

Your NiAlphaProperties don't match the originals.

 

Different flags and thresholds will give different results.

 

 

[Guest riserax]

Ahh, you guys are awesome!!! <3 Thank you so much for replying, and for noticing that number was off! I didn't think that meant anything, especially something so important. Also, the fact that HL should have more transparency than the hair.. Derp! I had a feeling assuming both were the same was dumb! Thank you, thank you, thank you! ^o^ Now to edit ALL THE THINGS! \o/