Questions about texturing

[Dullahan]

So I have been racking my brain over this for a while, so I figured I'd just ask since you guys seem helpful. 
A while back I modified some meshes from JSRF and made them for sims 2. Well, I used UV mapper to make the new textures, and since the mesh is weird, the texture ends up unusable (Parts of the texture overlap like the face and legs, etc) so if I color one part, a part I don't want colored also gets colored.
So I had a few questions about that.
1) Is there a different way to texture that could help me with this.
2) I know that some objects(IE: glasses) have two parts to the mesh, therefore a different texture for each part. So if I were to make, like, the head and body separate pieces, how would(or can I) make textures for each piece?

Thanks in advance.

[Theraven]

Overlapping parts in a UV-map will share the same texture. The only ways to hinder this is to either map the parts so they don't overlap and aren't placed where they interfere with skinparts, or to make the mesh alpha editable.  

Alpha editable meshes, or meshes with alpha editable parts is mostly a mesh editing thing, so you would have to be a bit comfortable with body meshing, SimPE, and whatever mesh program you use (most tutorials use Milkshape, as most tools concentrate on this program). I've just started doing this myself, and it's not the easiest part of bodymeshing.

Some links to tutorials:
http://stonegod.org/sims2/tutorial/alpha%20skirt%20tutorial/index.html
http://www.insimenator.org/index.php/topic,51352.0.html
http://www.thesimsresource.com/tutorials/view/category//id/2589/adding-an-alpha-part-to-a-body-mesh

[Dullahan]

Okay, thank you, I will take a look. ^_^

[miros1]

I'm very confused... the head and body are supposed to be separate parts.  But I'm sure you'll figure this out from the tutorials Theraven sent you to.

[Dullahan]

It is an object mesh, and it is all one mesh, not separate meshes.
The tutorials are very confusing, but I am working on it.

[XPTL297]

If what you are doing is not clothing or hairs (I'm null on them), but an object like a doll for example, there are some easy things you can do. You talk about separating meshes (head and body) that seems to be together. If you are using Milkshape and is dealing with .obj, identify one of the parts (the head for example) and check if you can separate it from the body completely. If you can and nothing is deformed, delete the head and save the body with another name in a temporary folder (rename it and save). Then undo everything so that you have back the mesh the way it was before and this time invert the selection, so that you have now only the body selected. Delete the body and rename and save the head on the same folder you saved the body. Open UVmapper and uvmap both head and body separated but on a way that they are positioned not to overlap each other when together. Start new in Milkshape and import both uvmapped parts. You will have one object that you can recolor as two parts or if it is to be only one set, regroup it, when you extract the new uvmap, it will be already separated and won't overlap. If it helps.

[Theraven]

So you're trying to make an object mesh (with head and everything else included) from another game into a clothing mesh for sims 2?

Good luck with that one... Converting object meshes into objects is what I'd call easy, but bodymeshes needs joint assigning which takes it to a whole different level. If the polyflow is similar to sims 2 meshes it might not be too hard a job, but if the polyflow is totally different, then I strongly advice you to lay the project on ice until you're more experienced in bodymeshing.

[Dullahan]

No, I am turning an object from another game into a decorative object in sims 2.
This part I have already done, I just wanted to texture then correctly.

[Theraven]

Ah. That's usually easy enough. It might involve a bit of UV-remapping, though. Did the object come in one part? If not, were there several textures that belongs to the same mesh?

[Dullahan]

It was all one mesh, but it has two parts to the texturing. One texture for the head, and one for the body.
Should I attach the files to show?