? The Selachii - Shark Race

[Blaze69]

5 minutes ago, NightroModzz said:

As for seamless, remember what we did with the head fins? So long as your fine with mandatory normal maps we can do the same and bake normal maps that has a portion of the butt with both the tail and body, then you can blend it with an existing body normal map(s). 

The thing is, while the head was always going to have the same shape and keep the exact same placement with respect to the fins (because they were both weighted to the head bone with the same value and no TRIs touched that area), this doesn't apply to the body.

 

Each body shape will meet the tail in a different spot and in a different shape, tail animations don't keep the connection point static with respect to the body (because Beth never intended for the tails to be seamless), and there's several boneweights in that area of the body that would need to be added to the tail too to keep them even remotely in sync and it would take a weightpainting wizard (which I'm not) to do that right, if it's even possible.

[NightroModzz]

hmm... well thickness can easily be adjusted, so well see what I come up with first. I just want to clarify that I do plan to avoid infusing it too much with the butt.

[D C]

dude , my deathclaw race mod's body's tail is blended with the body but that's fallout 4 only and was done by xarna mod author

and that same thing with body physics and tail physics was ported by camey_gamer (youtuber) for skyrim

[D C]

also why not apply cloak physics on the blended tail

that's how darklynxx was able to make the xarna body

[Blaze69]

8 minutes ago, D C said:

dude , my deathclaw race mod's body's tail is blended with the body but that's fallout 4 only and was done by xarna mod author

Maybe, but as a result of that setup it requires ALL gear to be converted for use with that special body in order for her to be able to equip it, which would be a nightmare. No thanks.

5 minutes ago, D C said:

also why not apply cloak physics on the blended tail

that's how darklynxx was able to make the xarna body

Because unlike Fallout 4, Skyrim does not have built-in cloth physics to rig it to, and even if it did, chances are it would look like crap. And even if Skyrim had them and they didn't look like crap, see above for why body meshes with built-in tails are not an option.

[D C]

Ok

Then elbow blades but added with fin .nif

[MadMansGun]

7 hours ago, Blaze69 said:

I'd say adding the anus on the tail, while a great idea, would only work out if we could actually blend the tail with the body in a 100% seamless way, something which is impossible without a custom body mesh with a built-in tail (and even then I don't think Skyrim's tail animations and placement would allow for it). Better to just leave it on the body instead.

that's one of the many problems that effected my horribly failed sergal attempt.

(but i'm also a bit better at weightpainting now then i was back then)

 

3 hours ago, D C said:

Ok

Then elbow blades but added with fin .nif

do we have any body slots left for that?

[D C]

2 hours ago, MadMansGun said:

that's one of the many problems that effected my horribly failed sergal attempt.

(but i'm also a bit better at weightpainting now then i was back then)

 

do we have any body slots left for that?

i have no idea about that sir

[ASlySpyDuo]

How would you feel about overlay that covers the lighter areas so that you can color them individually?

 

This is what I have so far as glowmap demonstration:

Spoiler

I'd probably need to look into Mudbox if I want to fix the neck, you'd need to be some kind of zen master to align them perfectly by just eyeballing.

 

Far from perfect though (see: hips for example) but hey, it'd be more options. Though if by any chance the original textures were made with layers instead of directly painting to the texture and the source .psd or similar is still somewhere, I could turn those differences into RM overlay pretty easily.

[Blaze69]

13 minutes ago, ASlySpyDuo said:

How would you feel about overlay that covers the lighter areas so that you can color them individually?

This is what I have so far as glowmap demonstration:

Ooh, that looks good! I hadn't really thought of that before, but it sounds promising. If it works out, I'd be happy to pack them with the main mod (or alternatively as an extra plugin, but I'd say I can just add the quest and script to the main mod and save up on one plugin slot since RaceMenu is a requirement for the race mod itself anyway).

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I'd probably need to look into Mudbox if I want to fix the neck, you'd need to be some kind of zen master to align them perfectly by just eyeballing.

Yeah, I could take care of the seam blending myself if you wanted to skip it, but if you want to work on creating (or editing) more overlays and tints and such, it does really come in handy for that.

 

For example doing the face stripes would have been much easier, specially if you just create the template or "stencil" and projection-paint it on the head exactly the way you want it.

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Far from perfect though (see: hips for example)

To be fair, some blending on Mudbox should take care of that just fine, so I wouldn't count that as a real problem.

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Though if by any chance the original textures were made with layers instead of directly painting to the texture and the source .psd or similar is still somewhere, I could turn those differences into RM overlay pretty easily.

Nope, unfortunately. I think I simply used the Texture Upgrader GIMP Plugin to transfer the colors from the original Sharkmer textures onto the Fair Skin diffuses, and them blended them a bit and tweaked some areas (most notably adding back flesh-colored bits and nipples). Same goes for males and SOS textures.

 

I guess you could try using the Sharkmer originals as a base since they are simple enough that making a "mask" out of them shouldn't be hard, but chances are they won't match these anymore. Might as well just keep on doing what you've done so far and add Mudbox (or any other software that allows 3D on-mesh texture painting, Mudbox is just the one I use) to the pipeline for seam blending and direct mesh painting where required.

[ASlySpyDuo]

46 minutes ago, Blaze69 said:

Yeah, I could take care of the seam blending myself if you wanted to skip it, but if you want to work on creating (or editing) more overlays and tints and such, it does really come in handy for that.

 

For example doing the face stripes would have been much easier, specially if you just create the template or "stencil" and projection-paint it on the head exactly the way you want it.

I've been thinking of few things, such as stripes that extend around more near the belly since right now they are mostly confined to the back and making them wrap around by painting the texture itself is next to impossible without some 3D reference. Also stripes for hips, same thing due to how the UNP UVs are set up. All of these should be way easier to do with it.

 

Also specifically Mudbox because I have actually known about it for a good while when I was looking into how to make RM overlays and it shows a lot as recommended tool.

 

50 minutes ago, Blaze69 said:

Nope, unfortunately. I think I simply used the Texture Upgrader GIMP Plugin to transfer the colors from the original Sharkmer textures onto the Fair Skin diffuses, and them blended them a bit and tweaked some areas (most notably adding back flesh-colored bits and nipples). Same goes for males and SOS textures.

I figured it was something like that, ah well. I made the whites by just painting over the texture in Photoshop.

 

I'll see what I can do. If all else fails, I just post the .psds in case someone else wants to pick them up from where I left.

[ASlySpyDuo]

Progress so far.

Spoiler

 

Not sure if I should keep the overlay over nipples. It kinda works with darker colors (like black here) but if someone decides to use green instead, that would probably look kinda weird. Especially since I don't cover the vagina and flesh color is something that should be consistent I think.

[TheLastKhajiit]

3 minutes ago, ASlySpyDuo said:

Progress so far.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Not sure if I should keep the overlay over nipples. It kinda works with darker colors (like black here) but if someone decides to use green instead, that would probably look kinda weird. Especially since I don't cover the vagina and flesh color is something that should be consistent I think.

Nice!

[ASlySpyDuo]

 

I think this is as good as it gets so here you go, Shark Overlays V2.

SharkOverlaysV2.7z

 

The new overlays are named Shark Whites and fit only females. The face one could use a bit more work on the edges I reckon but I spent enough time on this already, I might return to it later to do that.

 

I also included "no nipple" body version but I don't think that turned out well.

 

Do note that since face paints are weird, they will show a bit off color in racemenu but as long as you have the exact same color value on both body and face, it will correct itself and blend seamlessly when you exit RM.

 

No warpaint version for these since you really can't match the colors that way.

 

Now you can create some very funky colored sharks.

Spoiler

 

[Blaze69]

24 minutes ago, ASlySpyDuo said:

I think this is as good as it gets so here you go, Shark Overlays V2.

The new overlays are named Shark Whites and fit only females. The face one could use a bit more work on the edges I reckon but I spent enough time on this already, I might return to it later to do that.

I also included "no nipple" body version but I don't think that turned out well.

Do note that since face paints are weird, they will show a bit off color in racemenu but as long as you have the exact same color value on both body and face, it will correct itself and blend seamlessly when you exit RM.

Alright, I'll check them out and add them to the mod for the next update if you don't mind. No idea when it will drop, though, so your file will have to do in the meantime.

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Now you can create some very funky colored sharks.

Sparkledogssharks for everybody! ?

[ASlySpyDuo]

16 minutes ago, Blaze69 said:

Alright, I'll check them out and add them to the mod for the next update if you don't mind.

If you think they are good enough, sure, go ahead.

 

16 minutes ago, Blaze69 said:

Sparkledogssharks for everybody! ?

[TheLastKhajiit]

@ASlySpyDuoI assume your going to do males at some point too, right?

[ASlySpyDuo]

14 minutes ago, TheLastKhajiit said:

I assume your going to do males at some point too, right?

Sure, if you can convince expired6978 to add overlay support for exotic parts aka schlongs. Without that you will get major color mismatch on dicks and that's just not good and I don't think I will bother.

[TheLastKhajiit]

Oh yeah that's right, that's always irritated me about overlays

[Kuroyami]

31 minutes ago, ASlySpyDuo said:

Sure, if you can convince expired6978 to add overlay support for exotic parts aka schlongs. Without that you will get major color mismatch on dicks and that's just not good and I don't think I will bother.

Well, even for females that problem exists already, given the options this mod offers. As well as the tail being an issue too, given the white parts on the underside.

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Magic. Don't ask, just think of it as magic.

 

Yep. Not to noticeable in this shot, but the collision is working here.  

 

 

Could not resist. Anyway, it looks like there is one thing missing - something for the white parts on the palms, and the feet. Also might go for a lighter grey, and change the other overlays a bit.

 

Also, a thought I had concerned the feet. Would a RaceMenu slider be able to change the Armor/ArmorAddon used by the player, so they could use either the beast or human feet?

[ASlySpyDuo]

21 minutes ago, Kuroyami said:

Well, even for females that problem exists already, given the options this mod offers.

Well yes but that the thing - it's an option. If all the females of the race had schlongs, I wouldn't have bothered either because that would just look dreadful.

 

22 minutes ago, Kuroyami said:

As well as the tail being an issue too, given the white parts on the underside.

And that one goes in same box as the stripes. I'd love to add stripe overlay for tail too but RM doesn't support that and I'm not hacker enough to reverse engineer the SKSE plugin and add that option.

 

23 minutes ago, Kuroyami said:

Anyway, it looks like there is one thing missing - something for the white parts on the palms, and the feet.

Palms I actually completely forgot, I'll have to do those too later. As for feet, there's not white there, is there? Unless you mean the old humanoid feet.

 

--- --- --- --- ---

 

I tried to make straight stripes for the nose ridge too but uh, the output .psd is weird and doesn't seem to properly save alpha channel which results in the texture being just a black box.

 

So before I get to add these, I have to crack that nut, but here's a preview. Might get rid of the forehead stripe though.

[Blaze69]

2 hours ago, Kuroyami said:

Also, a thought I had concerned the feet. Would a RaceMenu slider be able to change the Armor/ArmorAddon used by the player, so they could use either the beast or human feet?

Nope, that feature is only available for LooksMenu in Fallout 4, and even then it's pretty buggy as evidenced by my failure to get the "black belly" alternate skin to work. You can have specific NPCs using custom skins pointing to human feet meshes or whatever, but not the player

1 hour ago, ASlySpyDuo said:

I tried to make straight stripes for the nose ridge too but uh, the output .psd is weird and doesn't seem to properly save alpha channel which results in the texture being just a black box.

Assuming you imported a texture, save the whole thing as a Mudbox Project/Scene and that should create a new folder in the same place as the project file called "ProjectName-files", with all the textures inside as PNGs (I assume, maybe they are saved in whatever format you imported them on).

 

Otherwise, I don't think I've ever created a texture from scratch but I see no reason for it not to do the same in that case. I'll check in case I can figure it out, though. Maybe try painting them white? Can use color selection to get rid of the black-that-should-be-alpha, and then invert colors to get the black stripes.

[ASlySpyDuo]

 

Right, so here are the hands and 3rd nose stripes and very slightly tweaked head.

SharkOverlaysHands.7z

 

I don't think the hands are ever going to look very good since the texture itself is 2048x1024 rectangle but the overlay has to be 2048x2048 square and the texture stretched there but better than nothing I suppose.

 

10 hours ago, Blaze69 said:

Assuming you imported a texture, save the whole thing as a Mudbox Project/Scene and that should create a new folder in the same place as the project file called "ProjectName-files", with all the textures inside as PNGs (I assume, maybe they are saved in whatever format you imported them on).

Turns out my photoshop just suddenly decided to not export DirectDraw textures correctly for some bizarre reason, the alpha channel is always solid no matter what I do which is weird since anything else with alpha works (aka png and gif) but not textures. I can still work with PS but have to use GIMP for exporting.

[D C]

2 hours ago, ASlySpyDuo said:

 

Right, so here are the hands and 3rd nose stripes and very slightly tweaked head.

SharkOverlaysHands.7z 200.91 kB · 4 downloads

 

I don't think the hands are ever going to look very good since the texture itself is 2048x1024 rectangle but the overlay has to be 2048x2048 square and the texture stretched there but better than nothing I suppose.

 

Turns out my photoshop just suddenly decided to not export DirectDraw textures correctly for some bizarre reason, the alpha channel is always solid no matter what I do which is weird since anything else with alpha works (aka png and gif) but not textures. I can still work with PS but have to use GIMP for exporting.

can you share your preset please?

[ASlySpyDuo]

I didn't save the sparkleshark abominations for obvious reasons since the clashing colors were just to show where the overlays are. Besides, it's just one of these with different hair, colors and minor tweaks to face.