Mesh Repairs

[Captain Spectacular]

I've been wanting to get into meshing and skinning for sometime, but I am technician by training and understand things better when I am trying to figure out how things work and how they break; so, I want to start repairing many of the non-working meshes I have.

I have several meshes where I cannot either find the keyframes or I don't like the ones available.  For the first case, how easy would be for me to create my own keyframes and how would be the best way of going about it.

Other issues are that meshes show up as a cube.  I know that sometimes this is because the mesh was intended for FF2, but is this always the case, and can they be redone so as to work in FF1.

Another issue is that I have some meshes that have technicolor obstructions covering the the skin making it look like a Picasso painting.  Is there anyway of fixing this?

Thanks ahead of time.

[spydermann93]

I'm afraid that I cannot help you with the first two issues (the keyframe request and the cube conundrum), but about the "Picasso Painting" puzzle,  is it that your characters are pink in color or have white splotches all over them?

If it's the pink coloring, then I'm guessing that this issue is taking place in .  All you have to do is convert the skin's files into .dds format and you'll be good to go.  Alternatively, it could be that you're missing some x_refl or x_lightmap files, where 'x' is the standard name for the skin file (e.g. male_basic would be 'x' for male_basic_refl).

If it's white splotches, then you are definitely missing the _refl or _lightmap files.

[Captain Spectacular]

 I don't even own FF2; so, I have no idea what troubles that game has.  As far as the Picasso issue, everything seems to work out fine accept for the way it looks.  The keys function normally, and you can see the original mesh beneath the technicolor bits.  Maybe, I should provide a screenshot when I get get back to the house.

[Cyber Burn]

Another issue is that I have some meshes that have technicolor obstructions covering the the skin making it look like a Picasso painting.  Is there anyway of fixing this?

Are you referring to how some Meshes in FF1 have like a Green piece hanging out of one leg, and maybe a Blue piece hanging out of the other, and possibly a Red piece hanging out of an arm, or something to that effect?

I have several meshes where I cannot either find the keyframes or I don't like the ones available.  For the first case, how easy would be for me to create my own keyframes and how would be the best way of going about it.

Keyframes aren't really my thing, but I would start with M25's Keyframe tool. While you can't create Keyframes from scratch with it. You can take certain animations from similar Meshes (Like from one "Male_Basic" to another) and mix and match them to get something close to what you want.

Look for M25's Keyframe Tool here: http://ezscript.wikispaces.com/Mod+Tools

[daglob]

I have a folder of "Standard Bits", consisting of subfolders named Female Basic, Male Basic, Male Basic Cape Anything, Male Cape, Taskmaster, and so on,  each filled with "black" versions of the refl, lightmap, glow, and portrait file for each of the meshes (actually, the portrait file has a question mark on it). I just copy these to skins that a missing textures, and tell Windows to "skip" those that are already there. This will often eliminate the pinkness, and works on .TGA or .DDS (I have both types for FFv3R).

The colored peices hanging out may be the "skeleton" of the mesh. I have some meshes that the 'bones" are supposed to be alpha-ed out, but my computer hates alpha channels, so I have had to go in and hide all these pieces with Nifscope.

In addition to CB's suggestions, there exist more than one set of keyframes for Male/Female Basic and a lot of the others. Tommyboy has some at his site:

http://tommyboymeshes.freedomforceforever.com/index.html

There were others at a site called NPI, but last I heard it was down. A quick trip to the Requests forum, and you can ask for alternative keyframes for whichever ones you need.

[Captain Spectacular]

To Cyber Burn, for the first question, yes.  That is precisely what I am talking about.  I notice it more in older meshes than newer ones; so, I assumed it had something to do with older meshing techniques that have been over come already by other meshers.  For the second issue, thanks!  I will look for that tool.

To daglob, Thanks!  Those ideas look handy.

[Cyber Burn]

To Cyber Burn, for the first question, yes.  That is precisely what I am talking about.  I notice it more in older meshes than newer ones; so, I assumed it had something to do with older meshing techniques that have been over come already by other meshers.

For the Irrational based in-game Meshes like "Minute Man", I'm not quite sure how to fix that, but for other Meshes, such as Ink's "Classic_Iceman":



A simple "Body Swap" with NifSkope should fix your problem. If you're not sure how to do that, here is a quick Tutorial, courtesy of Podmark:

Basic Body Swapping:

1.) First open the SPIDER-MAN Mesh in NifSkope.

2.) Then go to "File", and then to "New Window".

3.) In that new window, open the Mesh with the body that you want, in this case: MALE_FULLMASK_TM.

4.) In the viewer, click on the body. On the side pane where it lists all the parts of the Mesh, the body's "NiTriShape" will be highlighted.

5.) Click one above the "NiTriShape", usually it will be called MALE_BASIC.

6.) Right click on it, go to "Block", and then to "Copy Branch".

7.) Return to the original window with the SPIDER-MAN Mesh. Click on its body. Look two nodes up from the body's "NiTriShape". By this I mean the enclosing nodes, so each of the two will be indented left from the "NiTriShape".

Normally this will be "NiNode 0": The "Scene Root".

8.) Right Click that node, go to "Block", then to "Paste Branch". The new body should appear and you can then hide or delete the original.


Just substitute the Meshes in the Tutorial for whatever Meshes you're having issues with.

[spydermann93]

I just went into NifSkope and deleted the bits

Crude, but I haven't had an issue, yet!

[Captain Spectacular]

Thanks, Cyber!  I downloaded NifSkope and copied those instructions and will try it when I get home.

[hoss20]

Guys, those pieces that are showing are from the mesh skeleton (underneath the Handle or Bip01 node). They are usually hidden.

Captain Spectacular, if you get to learning your way around Nifskope:
   1. Click on the offending part
   2. Go to the Block list on the left to the highlighted line and right click
   3. Click on the line that says, "Flags"
   4. There will be a box with the word "Hidden" next to it (it will be unchecked and that's why that piece is showing)
   5. Check this box and you will see the piece disappear
   6. Do this to all of the other pieces you are having a problem with and then save the Nif

Cyber, the problem isn't with the male_basic editable mesh. Your method will result in the same problem as the initial skeleton (handle) is still present.

Spydermann93, I would be a little worried that deleting these parts will mess up your mesh or, at a minimum, make it not work with your keyframes. Since the keyframes and each animation use the NiNode names and data from the skeleton (Bip 01 Spine, Bip 01 L Thigh, etc.) in order to move, I would think deleting any portion of them would make the keyframes useless. You mentioned that haven't had an issue yet, so I can't argue with that; I'm just a bit surprised that you haven't.

[Captain Spectacular]

Thanks, hoss!

[hoss20]

I'm hoping this means you got things to work. If so, I'm glad to hear it and happy to help.