Fun with Nifskope:Scales

[panoramac]

Hey, perhaps some of you have done this already, but I just discovered that I could get fairly accurate ideas of scale in visual form
with nifskope and photoshop. Simply open a character.nif and paste it's scene root into another character's scene root and you can compare them visually. Using Photoshop and a reference (Minuteman for instance)  You can create a scale to check the accuracy of the size of your characters without opening the game. (exceptions: Irrational's Chicken) Kinda cool I thought. I've been playing around with it:http://www.flickr.com/photos/52718106@N00/5077340685/ By the way, could anyone help with how I would post photos directly instead just through a link? Thanks

[Outcast]

Hi Panoramac...for posting images...click on the 'the insert image' icon (its the first icon just above the two thumbs up smiley and below the 'Bold' letter icon.) and insert the link to your image between img and /img. Hope that's not confusing.

For other useful posting tips...see
http://freedomreborn.net/forums/index.php?action=help;page=post

[Podmark]

Hmm that's a useful tip. Maybe it'll come in handy one day.

[panoramac]

Here's a look at a newer version of that scale I posted which was created with Nifskope and Photoshop. This one's more accurate. The first was off because of perspective anomalies etc. Each black line represents two feet and from bottom to top it's 30 ft. I used El Diablo as a reference (6 ft.)Thanks for the posting tip by the way Outcast.

[Kenn]

So you paste the one Scene Root on top of the other inside of NifSkope? 

[panoramac]

Exactamundo Kenn

[panoramac]

Problems may arise once you paste one character's scene root into the other--the dds/tga paths aren't always read correctly (I think) and you might havea whited out character with no texture showing. You may have rechoose the texture for that mesh...you may have found that out already. Perhaps I'll do a small picture tutorial so other people can try it at home

[Kenn]

I've never been able to get the original characters (Minute Man, Diablo, etc.) to show up in NifSkope.

[panoramac]

Maybe it's an issue with the meshes from the first game. I did all this with FFvtTR. Hope that helps

[tommyboy]

I've never been able to get the original characters (Minute Man, Diablo, etc.) to show up in NifSkope.

Bearing in mind the original game's meshes had something called "niClod" applied to them, a plug-in in 3ds Max that did something like skin or physique, I think.
The community never got given that plugin with the rest of the modding/meshing tools. So none of the user made meshes have that niClod in them.
And all the nifTools stuff (nifSkope etc) is simply not set up to deal with it, as it was never used in anything else.
So even when the meshes can be loaded, they have these nodes that are un-readable or appear as unknown in nifSkope.
(It's also why Irrational's meshes tended to be better with alpha channels than user-made ones, I believe..)

[Kenn]

Thanks for the info Tommy.   That at least explains the why.

[panoramac]

I always wondered about that myself, I just gave on trying with Irrational meshes. For scaling at least, the second game is just as good I think since basically all the original characters came back. Thanks for the info Tom. Meanwhile, a mk3 version of the scale has been made (it's 60 ft) and has the numbering scheme...

[panoramac]

I think those of you who are more detail oriented and precise about your characters will like the hero scale I did .

[panoramac]

I posted two updated versions of these scales up at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Panoramac_FF/. I included instructions on how I use them to scale skopes and characters to be "just right". Hardcore character creators may find it useful, but you can use them for any kind of scaling really. One tops out at 31 ft. and is a good all-around (not as much zooming in). The other is 60 ft. and encompasses more of the giant type characters and some Mechs you may want to create. I also have a forthcoming 102 ft.version for the real big guys like Red Ronin and Terminus. They're fairly customizable as well. My site is supposed to have more in the way of skopes etc.. but I got a tad bit distracted.  Just go to "new stuff" and you can download them. Ignore the other folders, I have yet to fill them heh heh. Let me know what you think. I thought they could be useful to someone out there.

[Epimethee]

Nice work, Panoramac. Funny how I always thought Sea Urchin and Iron Ox smaller that this.

[panoramac]

Thanks Epimethee. Glad you like it!

[John Jr.]

A very useful tool. I needed to know the exact height of one skope and thanks to your scale I got it.
Thanks for releasing it.