Bone assignment question

[nikkidanielle]

I've been trying to redo the RenGal multimesh with new shoe options and all morphs. When I choose each recolor, it and the morphs show but not the shoes I added. I've gone over it and gone over it and I think it might be the bone assignments. I pull up the mesh in Milkshape and both the shoes and morphs are there.

So you're supposed to add the shoes below the knee, which means you're actually adding shoes at the calf, correct?

If so, then am I supposed to assign the right calf to the right leg or am I supposed assign the right calf to itself? I'm using a tutorial carefully at MTS2 so I'm sure I'm not confusing the right side with the left side when assigning, but at this point I don't know what else it could be.

[Theraven]

The joined verts in the seams of both the halves must have the exact same bone assignments, otherwise you'll get a gap there when the sim is walking. I assume that was what you meant?

Right calf (most of it) you have to assign to the calf joint. If you're unsure, it's an idea to look at the assignments of another, similar mesh.

As far as I've understood (I'm still new to bodymeshing myself), it's best to add the shoes or mesh parts to the main mesh, and clone the entire mesh for morphs when it's done. Adding shoes to the existing morphs might screw up things. Not sure if the tutorial says something different, though.

Left and right can be a bit confusing, but I (with my sometimes strange ways to do things) tend to picture myself standing behind the back of the mesh model, and judge left and right from there. Helps me, at least. Also, I assume you operate in 4 views. If so, you'll see in front view which parts are marked (with red) when you make selections in left/right view.
You can also check the "Draw vertices with bone colors" box under the joints tab. The vertices will be rainbow colored (marked vertices won't show as red with this checked, but will go back to normal if you uncheck it again), and if you compare it to another model, you'll see much easier if and where you've done wrong. You can also mark vertices and click "show" under the joints tab, to show which assignments are given.

[nikkidanielle]

Yes Theraven, that's exactly what I was talking about! I was using another tutorial as far as adding shoes to a multimesh so I may have gotten the directions from both tutorials confused.

I had added the shoes first then cloned the mesh and made the morphs, which is why I was confused when the shoes on the mesh didn't show but the moprhs did. I'll try opening another mesh (don't know why I didn't think of it in the first place ) to see how the assignments are done. If that don't work, I'm going back to splitting the meshes up and making individual alpha meshes

Thanks!

[BlooM]

The multimeshes i made use a diffrent setup as the normal maxis stuff.
I seperated the mesh in a top/bottom/alphasleeves/alphaskirt/alphapants etc
I also seperated the shoes from the bottom as a new meshgroup so i could add more then one pair of shoes to the meshfile
Not sure on the Rengal(as it was one of the first) but those shoe meshgroups i named after the design of the shoe(sandals/slipper/boot) so i also changed the subsetnames(links to the meshgroups)
So if you clone the Rengal multimesh make sure you give each new shoemesh the same meshgroupname as i original did.

Forgot how many shoes there are in the that multimesh but you need to clone all the Rengal multioutfits as the outfits each are linked to a diffrent shoe.
Hope this makes sence......

In other words:
Clone a multioutfit with bsettheels and attache your new meshfile to it
Use the exact same meshgroupnames as i did in the mesh(meaning you name your new shoemeshgroup ''bsettheels'')
Clone the multioutfit with the slipper and attache your new meshfile to it.
Name your custom shoe ''slipper''
And so on.


you can give the shoes a unique new name but then you need to also change the subset in the outfit file.(and thats why i think they dont show up)
I can imagine you want to do that as the texture files generated by bodyshop use those subset names.
Ill explain how to do that if you like.

Oh, the morphs are linked to the bodyfiles but the shoes are not part of the body and have no morph.
So the shoe(and calve) is always the same but the bottom/top and alpha's change when a sim is fat/pregnant

[nikkidanielle]

OK Bloom so:

First, I take the multimesh, clone, rename it, fix integrity, and exoprt the gmdc as a .objx file, correct?

Second, I delete the original shoes but make sure to note the mesh name and info for each shoe mesh, correct?

Third, I add the preg morph and fat morph. Then I add my first set of new shoe meshes (in this case it is Bsett's Heels but with sexy feet not the block feet) and make sure my new shoe mesh has the same name and info as the old Bsett heels, correct?

Fourth, I do the same with each new shoe mesh until I'm finished linking all new shoe meshes and then import the gmdc.objx file, correct?


And lastly, all I have to do is link the multimesh recolors to the appropriate mesh? Now how do I change the subset in the texture file and would I also have to change the subset in the mesh file if I was trying to redo the Rengal multimesh as individual multialpha meshes (similar to what you did with Marvine skirt and heels and Fashion model where the heels are apart of the body mesh and not a separate mesh, does that make sense?)

[BlooM]

You got it all correct! (just am a bit confused about the objx format, extracting the gmdc gives you a 5gd format file, not objx)

Forget the subset story if you are keeping the original meshgroupnames, no need to change anything to the outfit(recolor) files then.
You only want to change the subset name if you change the existing shoe to a completly diffrent design, like going from bsettheels to a high boot or a sneaker.
The subsetname controls wat parts it uses from the meshfile and the name(characters) are used in the texturefiles(the BMP's when exporting from bodyshop)

[nikkidanielle]

Sorry I meant to say import the gmdc file into Milkshape as a .objx file because if I try to import the gmdc as is, Milkshape says it has too many implements or something like that and won't let me import it.


So far the only way I've been able to get a multimesh to show up is to delete most of the shoe meshes in SimPe then import the gmdc into MS as is. That's why I also asked about just breaking up the Rengal multimesh to make individual multialpha outfits with one shoe option each like one mesh will have the boots only, the next will have Bsett only, and so on

By the way do you have a tutorial on making alpha meshes? I know there is one on MTS2 but I'm having a hard time. I was thinking of adding a alpha top to the Rengal multimesh! Thanks!

[BlooM]

Yes, thats the only way to get the mesh in Milkshape as it has to many meshgroups when you try to import it back.
However you can export the mesh with more then one shoe, reimport aint possible then so you have to work with a saved Ms3d file.


As you have seen the alpha's are split up in 14 diffrent meshgroups, its is done to cut down the bleeding from the parts.
You can however regroup them all together just keep the outside and inside faces seperate but you do need to change some material settings and transparancy can not be used then.
Cutting away parts of the alpha layer using the texture files is still possible then.(but no transparancy.)
You have to regroup them anyway if you are going to add morphs as you will exceed the ammount of meshgroups when trying to export.

Here is the Ms3d file with all the seperate parts named, its easier to work with, do wat you like with it.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2L36ZAGH
Altho all meshgroups have diffrent names, those will not be used
The ones used are the names in the comment box of each meshgroup.
Just replace the shoe meshes with the ones you like.

I dont want to discourage you but this is prolly the most complicated sims 2 mesh arround(except a 34Ax34 mesh i made wich also has splitted up morphs for the fat and pregnant state.....)