The many Nifskoping questions of a noob... *NEW*

The Pwime · March 01, 2007, 02:13:31 PM

I'll just make one big thread for all my stupid questions, because...there'll probably be a lot of them. :doh:

So, first off: can i take a piece from one mesh (ie a pair of goggles from a tommy_versatile mesh) and slap them on a completely different mesh? If so, how would I go about doing this?

If not, then I apologize for making you read the majority of these 70-ish words. --ANSWERED! (and a huge thanks to Ren)

I think this has been covered about a million and a half times, but...pink meshes? Yeah. I'm working on a hex right now, and having tons of problems with pinkness. The visor I slapped on Ren's Major Force fx mesh is turning a solid pink, but even stranger...the cape that is ALREADY a part of the mesh is doing the same thing. When viewing a character in the game, it shows up as the colour it's supposed to be, but with massive blotches of white all over it. When actually playing, the pieces are once again a solid pink.

What do i do!?!?!111?1?/1!? :doh:

Revenant · March 01, 2007, 03:17:19 PM

That's definitely possible and pretty easy once you get the hang of it. You have to try it out to make sure the mesh pieces are compatible. If not, a quick conversion might be needed.
And before you release it, make sure to get permission from all the creators... if you plan to release it, that is! ;)

detourne_me · March 01, 2007, 03:18:52 PM

easily! copy branch one mesh, paste branch on another. read the tutorial at the wiki's, and if you peruse the threads here you'll see different issues people hacve come up with... and answers to them.
good luck

The Pwime · March 01, 2007, 03:22:30 PM

Quote from: Revenant on March 01, 2007, 03:17:19 PM
That's definitely possible and pretty easy once you get the hang of it. You have to try it out to make sure the mesh pieces are compatible. If not, a quick conversion might be needed.
And before you release it, make sure to get permission from all the creators... if you plan to release it, that is! ;)

The creators would be Tommy and Ren, though I've heard that Ren isn't too keen on anything hex-related.

(and besides, the skin is looking pretty bleh at the moment...so I'm not sure if I'll release it.) :P

Thanks for the help, guys!

Revenant · March 01, 2007, 05:15:24 PM

I'm not speaking for him, but I thought Renegade had said something to the effect that anybody can use any FF-related thing that he had released. It would be best to PM him about it... I contacted him about hexing something, and he asked that I let him consider meshing it himself. I wouldn't say he isn't keen on hexing, just protective of his work, and rightly so.

Renegade · March 01, 2007, 06:36:18 PM

Regarding hexing:

I'm of two minds about it. On the one hand, my protective-of-my work nature hates the idea of someone doing whatever the heck they want with something I made. That's a valid feeling. I spend a lot of time planning and executing a mesh and to even contemplate someone monkeying around with my vision without my permission offends the artist in me.

On the other hand, there's nothing I can do about it is there? It's like fighting the tide. I could drive it underground if I wanted to I guess, but why should I? The reality is that I cant mesh everything. If someone figures out a way to make a Mole Man from my Firebrand mesh (just an extreme example, not really gonna happen) then who am I to stand in the way of getting a decent Mole Man mesh out there for folks to play with? Lord knows I've pretty much done the same thing with other folk's meshes, just at the Max Level instead of the Nif level.

The simple fact is that it isn't realistic or even practical for me to oppose nifskoping. Oh, I could be a jerk about it I suppose, but honestly, if it leads to keeping FF alive that much longer isn't it better for everyone if I just stand back and let it happen? I think so.

All I ask is that I be properly credited.

cripp12 · March 02, 2007, 06:19:38 AM

Renegade I am proud of you right now. That is refreshing to hear from someone who has done so much for FF. Keep FF alive!

Carravaggio · March 02, 2007, 08:30:45 AM

Yeah thats a big thing you've done for the community, man. Thank-you.

UnkoMan · March 03, 2007, 08:48:46 AM

Yeah, I've got to definately give you props on being cool with it.

Quite frankly (and I don't want to disregard other meshers' great work or anything) you're probably my favourite mesher hands down. I find your meshes work the best with my cartoony skinning style. Therefore being able to play with them makes my life a treat... even though I hardly have the time to anymore.

The Pwime · March 03, 2007, 05:00:00 PM

Thanks to all who helped me solve my last problem, and a big thanks to Ren for allowing the hexing of his stuff. :)

Unfortunately, I've also encountered another problem. :doh: (see the top of the thread)

UnkoMan · March 03, 2007, 08:52:48 PM

Are you missing any textures at all? All glow and refl files are there?
I had this problem due to that. Make sure they are in the standard skin folder, as well as whatever you are skinning in.

detourne_me · March 04, 2007, 08:35:43 AM

also take a look at the texturing propereties of the object. sometimes refl and glow layers are mapped to different tga files to save on spzce.

The Pwime · March 04, 2007, 08:04:02 PM

thanks for the help guys. ^_^

The Pwime · March 11, 2007, 06:22:36 PM

new question: can I copy the male_basic part of the mesh (the base of it), and enlarge it so it goes over the normal male basic?

See, I want to make a kind of "forcefield" around the character. I know how to enlarge the part in question, and I know how to alpha it out, etc. I just can't figure out how to copy it, and I'm not sure that it will still move with the normal set of kf's if i am able to duplicate it.

Carravaggio · March 11, 2007, 08:11:57 PM

i suppose you could copy a forcefiled from any one of the many GL style meshes out there.

The Pwime · March 11, 2007, 08:32:30 PM

i was thinking of that, but i want the energy to be visible all around the character at all times, not just a coloured outline on the sides, because the textures will likely be animated as if it were fire or electricity, etc.

Symon · March 12, 2007, 11:22:18 AM

Quote from: The Pwime on March 11, 2007, 06:22:36 PM
new question: can I copy the male_basic part of the mesh (the base of it), and enlarge it so it goes over the normal male basic?

See, I want to make a kind of "forcefield" around the character. I know how to enlarge the part in question, and I know how to alpha it out, etc. I just can't figure out how to copy it, and I'm not sure that it will still move with the normal set of kf's if i am able to duplicate it.

This sounds an excellent idea, and should be doable, but will be lots of work:-

You'd have to rename all the 'new enlarged' male basic nodes, and THEN produce a new set of keyframes that moved the 'new male basic' bits as well as male basic. You could do most of the work with cut and paste, but the renaming will be tedious and there will be a lot of it to do. Of course, you know that this sort of work on keyframes takes time to occur even on a fast machine......

The Pwime · March 12, 2007, 01:29:23 PM

so i guess it would be better then to just animate the textures directly on the normal male basic?

There's no way to attach particle emitters to a mesh that does not already have them, right?

JKCarrier · March 12, 2007, 04:08:50 PM

Quote from: The Pwime on March 12, 2007, 01:29:23 PM
There's no way to attach particle emitters to a mesh that does not already have them, right?

I've only played with it a little bit, but it looks like you can copy & paste emitters the same way you do any other mesh piece.

The Pwime · March 12, 2007, 04:44:46 PM

Really?

This could prove interesting... for the Unkos, and future skins as well...

Revenant · March 13, 2007, 05:44:36 PM

Yes I've had success copying and pasting particle emitters, it's a two step process. As always, i'm not at my home PC while typing this and I don't want to give you the wrong information, so I'll go home and look it up. It's a matter of copying the emitter and the particle sprayer to the scene root and the bone of the mesh you are copying to... but I forget the configuration at the moment. I have it saved on my home PC though. ^_^

And as for your idea making a force-field around the character, aren't those male_aura meshes capable of being skinned? I thought you could assign a targa to them like any other object.

If not, there is a mesh for "Shade the Changing Man" which has an aura that I believe is skinned. The aura is a bit stretched, with enlarged hands, but it might serve well as a reference point. I don't know who made it but it might be worth checking out.

Here's a pic of the character:
http://www.ditko.comics.org/ditko/covers/dc/shade01-ditko.jpg

FLASH_22798 · March 13, 2007, 11:04:23 PM

I think it Valandar who made the Shade mesh, check his yahoo groups. You can get the links from NPI.

QuoteYes I've had success copying and pasting particle emitters, it's a two step process. As always, i'm not at my home PC while typing this and I don't want to give you the wrong information, so I'll go home and look it up. It's a matter of copying the emitter and the particle sprayer to the scene root and the bone of the mesh you are copying to... but I forget the configuration at the moment. I have it saved on my home PC though.

As for the particle emitters, I just copy the whole FX mesh onto the new mesh at the "scene_root", then delete the male_basic part of the mesh, leaving the emitters behind. Works for Gren's Male_Basic_FX mesh anyway.

Revenant · March 14, 2007, 12:03:32 PM

Wow, that's a much easier way to go about it! Thanks!

The Pwime · March 14, 2007, 12:11:22 PM

you guys rule. :D

I'll try these out as soon as I can.

FLASH_22798 · March 21, 2007, 03:24:21 PM

Hey Prime, Revenant, did this work alright for you guys? I wasn't sure if I was as clear enough on the directions and I wasn't on my home PC to check it out for myself.

The Pwime · March 21, 2007, 07:03:12 PM

i haven't tried it just yet. it's going to be invaluable for the last of the two Anti-Unkos...they're going to have particles flying off them left right and center.

The Pwime · March 31, 2007, 05:37:45 PM

...okay guys, I have no idea how to do this. -.-;

:lol: