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Author Topic: Terrible Mistake  (Read 6490 times)
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XPTL297
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« on: April 04, 2011, 02:18:25 pm »

I downloaded some animation meshes today and got very interested to create a special toddler doll. Unfortunately I forgot to check the UV Map of the original mesh before I finished positioning the doll. Result is that the UV Map is a tragedy and I'm not that good to change UV Maps. Is it possible for someone with more know how than me to correct it - or should I simply scrap it?


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caffeinated.joy
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« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2011, 02:33:04 pm »

You'll get more feedback if this is posted in the Content Creation and Recoloring help section, so I'm going to go ahead and move this there for you. Smiley
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MissBubbles
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« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2011, 02:48:58 pm »

If you cloned Theraven's deco baby, then ask her for a UV map.
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« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2011, 02:58:10 pm »

I like the idea, but here are a few things which could need fixing.

First of all, you'll need different mapping entirely, since you're missing the back of the head from the texture and UV. The best would be an 1024x1024 map, with body, face and head in each corner (and maybe the last corner to hair or whatever else you might come up with) - take a look at my baby meshes if you're unsure what I mean. Recoloring would be easier, too.

Second, the normals are wrong. If the top of the mesh shows up black in milkshape, the shading will be wrong ingame. Often happens if the mesh is rotated or moved. I had the same problem on my baby meshes. Align normals might correct it quickly, but can cause distortion elsewhere.

Third, the neck could need some more work, as there's a big chunk where it is shaped wrong (you see it best from the left angle). The arms/shoulders are a bit too much out from the body, too. Also, if you want a proper clothing look, I'd use the actual mesh which belongs to that texture. Right now it looks kinda weird with a butt crack.

And Bubbles - the babies and toddlers are mapped differently. Head/face are mapped the same (mesh shape is different, unfortunately) but not the body.
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MissBubbles
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« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2011, 03:00:47 pm »

Oh....
Never mind my advice then.

I am rather interested in the toddler dolls, though. it looks good so far.
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XPTL297
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« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2011, 02:21:29 am »

I could start from scratch again and import the meshes self. I used the mesh I downloaded from MTS2 and forgot simply that they joined the parts and didn't correct the UVMap. Normally I UVMap the separated parts before I start positioning them. I think that the uvmap is more important than the mesh because it is what I use for base when recoloring. I save the bitmap and use it as first layer to position the colors on. On the case of this mesh, only the front of the head is available and is underlying the rest of the body. When you have two separated parts, it is very easy to move the lines in the uvmap by selecting from categories, but when it is only one part you don't even know what is part of what. The downloaded meshes was a good idea, but turned out to be completely unuseful. People that places special meshes for download I suppose should care that a proper UVmap is available.
Right now I don't have any fun to remake the toddler positioning. It took me a lot of work to come out with this special position. I would need a little bit more learning on "normals" and mesh structure because I'm not exactly expert on such stuffs. If you can correct it Theraven I would be much more happy to be just a downloader. Thanks.
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Theraven
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« Reply #6 on: April 05, 2011, 07:03:51 am »

The UV map was a bit messy. I can't correct it in Milkshape, unfortunately. The UV mapper there only confuses me, especially if parts layer over each other (I'm more used to the 3D max one...).

The best is to map each part of the mesh before you collapse the layers to one mesh. 

It might be best to start over, especially since the face mapping is scaled wrong (only on one axis) and combined with the body mapping placed so, will be difficult to recolor. If you see the UV mapping I did of the deco babies, there are full textures (all are 512 maps, positioined on a 1024 map). This way can be transferred to toddlers, as they too use 512 maps for the body. Then there are the other things I mentioned above...

The shadowing thing is very annoying ingame, as objects go dark when they're not supposed to. I really wish there was a quick and easy fix for this, but the "align normals" is pretty much the only one...
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XPTL297
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« Reply #7 on: April 06, 2011, 02:47:17 am »

Oh boy! I tried to buy 3D Max once, a long ago, and they asked Nkr 32K for it. I wouldn't pay so much to save my life. I use a small free program named UVMapper, I also downloaded the one suggested at MS site (Lithunwrap)  but never used or understood it. I sometimes distribute the maps into 1024 canvas but I don't like to use so big textures, first they are not necessary (at least for me) as I play the game windowed and so much details are not needed. I see game objects that are mapped 128x128 and look perfect, so I suppose that it is the mesh self that decides the quality. Yep I shrink the maps so that I can have everything in one sheet and this is the reason it sees so borked. Yep, the maps for your babies look perfect but you could agree with me that to use so much resources on something that is so small that you cannot even zoom in near enough, is not the ideal for someone like me that use the game to play it. It is very possible that soon I want just to sit and enjoy my game and stop all the messing up crap I'm doing now. There's very little left that I'm not that satisfied. Also yes, I have things in my game that I KNOW that is completely wrong, but for game-play it is not important at all. All I'm proud of, is that my game either crashed or hung for about 2 years (isn't it this long EA is away? yep, thanks for leaving!  rolleyes  Cheesy
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Theraven
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« Reply #8 on: April 06, 2011, 03:16:38 am »

Actually, I often use the baby objects and the "real" babies close-up, so for me it is important to have the normal-sized textures (I use the regular sized skintone files on an 1024 map), as I don't want them to look blurry. I (like you) mostly make objects for my own entertainment, and upload if people wants it. If people don't like big textures, then they can go ahead and downscale the textures for their own game. I, however, like some detail in my objects.

They're not as resource-demanding as many other objects, as there is only one set of recolors and all meshes are slaved to one master mesh. The files are also compressed, and the mesh detail level is nearly as low poly as possible while still being detailed. When I model meshes entirely from scratch, I usually model them as low poly as possible. I refuse to believe they can be a lot more resource draining than the original babies (which are animated on top of everything). They're also meant to be easy to recolor (at least the skintone), which is much easier when it's click-and-drag than when you've got to scale things up and down and need an UVmap to make things look proper.

I've put 30-something of the babies on a heavy lot, and my computer barely complains a little (mostly because of the rest on that lot, I suspect). To compare, I've had downloaded high poly objects with only one or two textures suddenly flashing purple because they were draining my computer a little bit too much, and my game crashed (while also having snow on the lot, which was mainly causing the flashing purple graphic thingy - but I pinpointed one of the objects which was making things even worse, since when choosing it from the buy mode it flashed purple at once, while other objects didn't).

Besides - the baby objects are meant mostly for the people who do storytelling with pictures (like me) and want close-ups. Boblishman's babies (from MTS) or low quality textures just don't work for it. If you only play the game, you won't really need them since they use a bit of resources... Then I'd almost recommend Boblishman's deco babies, as those look OK from a distance and are lower poly, with smaller and less detailed textures.
« Last Edit: April 06, 2011, 08:08:32 am by Theraven » Logged

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XPTL297
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« Reply #9 on: April 06, 2011, 12:21:40 pm »

The reason I'm making some deco dolls is that I make them always viewable from the hood view (or better say, from the neighbor lot). It is nice when I turn the camera around I see details from the neighbor house. I'm just intended to use some of the dolls to be placed on the corners of the lot, maybe leaning on a fence or mowing the lawn or just sit on a bench with babies laying on the sand or something alike. It is necessary to make huge objects if you make them just a hood deco and you never have a real sense for dimensions. So, I prefer to fake neighbors now. I have also some lots that are built not to be populated, like the deco houses. It makes a really full hood without any extra sims. Most of my sims are townies (my own townies, not created by the game). You know, I remember that in TS1 we had some small traces of custom anims where you could use some 3 or 4 framed textures to simulate small movements. I remember also that I downloaded a Swam (or duck, not sure) that could swim on the lake for a short distance. You know too that animals, mainly caged ones or on the surface of a lake, don't need a lot of animation, just some small movements to simulate life. This is basically what I'm very interested on. To say the truth, when I requested so eagerly for Pets in TS2, I was not at all meaning what we got. I wanted only a dog that greeted the owner the way they did in TS2 and barked a little when some passing-by were near. The crap we got with Pets going to job was disappointing. Cats do nothing in real life anyway. You should see Pal's cat, he thinks he is a mink and all he does is to lay down on Pal's neck.   Cheesy
I'm going to start again a new toddler as soon as my patience returns. It will be just a prop (like you say) but I have use for it. This time I'm going to start it from scratch and I'm also going to sculpture his face to be the way I like.
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