Clothes mesh extractor automator now completed and released

[Inge Jones]

This is to extract the 4 mesh parts when making a new clothes mesh, without having to use the finder and extract them manually. This phase of testing is for people who use the QA version of SimPe only. If that tests well we can try to make a .58 plugin too.

*** INCLUDED IN LATEST SIMPE RELEASE as of a a couple of years ago.***

[Nouk]

I allmost did a backflip! This sounds very promising! You'll make alot of people very happy with this! :)
will it work for hairmeshes as well?

[Inge Jones]

It seemed to begin to work for a hairmesh, but the bodyshop file had all ages in it, and Peter put in a protective feature that means it only uses the first Property Set it finds in a file. We are discussing allowing the tool to carry on and extract all the relevant matches.

[tiggerypum]

Inge each hair mesh has to be built separately by age. Does this automatic thing grab the name from the bodyshop project? (didn't go look, I guess I'll go try and see if I can get into the simpe forum.)

[OwaizooDE]

its awesome..been waiting for something like this
thankies.

[Inge Jones]

Tiggerypum: yes it actually looks up the details from the Propertyset and uses that to find the parts. Currently, as neither of us are experienced bodypart meshers, Peter designed it to assume there was some sort of error if it found more than one Propertyset in a package so it only uses the first one it finds. However, it seems to me that a typical hair made by Bodyshop will have 5 (or 6?) one for each age. If he changes it to get all the parts for all of them, it might very well be able to do hair as well. It's quick and easy to delete the parts you don't want afterwards, compared with getting them in the first place.

What I would also like to understand is, with the clothes, is it important to collect the mesh parts in a separate file in order to fix integrity, or could it be done just as easily by importing straight into the bodyshop file you already made for those clothes? In fact this tool does allow you to be *in* a package already, and in that case it will simply import those same parts into your open file.

[HystericalParoxysm]

The standard method of creating clothing/hair/accessories is to have the mesh file with its four parts completely separate from the recolour file. A few creators very early in creating Body Shop content were including the mesh files with a recolour, similar to how an object mesh is done, but it's not necessary to do that way, and while I haven't tested it yet, I *think* combining the recolour and mesh files into one .package that way is how meshes sometimes end up uploaded with full sims to the Exchange. That, and if it's done that way and, in-game, a user goes and deletes, say, the blonde recolour, which is in the same .package as the mesh, they lose the mesh entirely. Probably better to do 'em separately.

I want so much to try it out but don't have the QA version. Oh, woe is me. :cry:

[Inge Jones]

Lol don't cry! I asked Peter to make a .58 version today, and if all goes well there might be something finished by the end of our day.

He's also going to change it so it will extract for up to 10 Propertysets in a file without question, and only ask "are you sure" if it finds more than that. That should cover all uses fairly well, including hair.

Can you tell me, when a new clothes or hair mesh is completed, is it at all EP-dependent for the downloader?

[HystericalParoxysm]

YAY, shiny new thingies to play with! *dancedance*

The only EP dependency we've seemed to run into with Body Shop content is, of course, needing meshes for recolours from certain EPs, and with body meshes cloned from Nightlife or later, there's often a 4th bone assignment on the hands (and with a couple Glamour Life meshes, elsewhere) that have to be reassigned in order to display right - but that's a matter of the creator needing to go in and fix that on their mesh before distributing if they want it to be compatible with games pre-NL. That's only been for body meshes though - hair and accessories seem to be fine. Other than that, we seem to be completely EP/base game compatible by default.

[tiggerypum]

Inge, if it's extracting multiple meshes, will it name the files with human readable names? Simpe saves them out with numbers - which is fine when there is one gmdc, gmnd, cres and shpe, but will be a mess with hair meshes if the name is not the filename.

[Inge Jones]

The various resources pulled from the sims0x files keep exactly the same names as they had in the sims0x files. So they will be as recognisable to you as they would have been if you used Finder and imported them manually.

With multiple meshes, for example a hair package for all ages, they usually start "pu" or "am" etc so you can tell them apart like that. If you pull in multiple meshes when you didn't really want to (if you forgot to kill the unwanted age Propertysets, for example) it's quite quick and easy to delete the unwanted imports.

The tool extracts and imports into your open file (empty to start with if you just did File/New) and you don't have to get them in yourself from weird numbered extracts. Obviously then you fix integrity and save the file to a name of your own choice.

[Inge Jones]

Ok the .58 version is now available at the same link. As I said over there, the first person to say "this is working for me" gets a bene :P

[HystericalParoxysm]

*dribbles* Inge, Peter, I could kiss you guys, I really could. Come over here and pucker up, willya?

I just tried it with .58 on a base game body mesh and it works perfectly! Where's my bene? :D

[Inge Jones]

Lol! Thanks, I'll have to enable karma at simlogical and give you one there :)

[flyingpigeon]

YAY! Thank you so much. I'm off to see how it works out. Thanks again.

[Inge Jones]

They have been updated again to be glamour pack aware - provided you have a SimPe that is glamour pack aware.

[Nouk]

*CLUNK*

I did a back flip! I wonder why my neck is all scrunched up like that, though.
Thank you! :D

[Dupli]

I always got the message: be aware that not all ressources were added to the current package. What to do??

[Inge Jones]

Did you? What file were you choosing to make your new package from? I must ask Peter what that means, but I guess you were clicking on some huge file? Are you very experienced in clothes meshing?

[Dupli]

Yes. I were choosing an new mesh from glamour. I exported it in bs and tried to open the package file in the saved sims folder. It doesn´t work. With Maxi Meshes it works fine!

[HystericalParoxysm]

Dupli, read Carrigon's post on this thread: http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=187521

Until SimPE is updated, ya kinda gotta "fool it" into seeing the Glamour Life meshes. I've also heard that some GLS meshes have additional 4th bone assignments (more than just the hand that we've seen in the past) including ones in the torso, so make sure you go through and find any 4th bone assignments and fix 'em before you release your mesh.

[tiggerypum]

Inge, hair mesh files are usually built individually. As in, one mesh file contains the 4 mesh parts for only one age hair. Some people at the end recombine them, but for sanity's sake, working on only one mesh in a file is pretty important.
This might be handled already, I'll have to look at what you've got going. Hair meshes actually use the _same_ mesh for ya, adult, and elder. But there are toddler, child, and teen meshes also. (many of which as the ages get younger are shared between different styles)

[Inge Jones]

I asked Peter about the error message and he says it means his tool couldn't find some of the parts - ie it's the message you can expect if you're looking for something from Glamour (or the xmas holiday pack which he still isn't handling yet). I suggested he changed it to say he couldn't find the parts instead of what it does say.

[Inge Jones]

The Glamour-aware public SimPe has just been released, so that should take care of this. Peter has yet to pick up the holiday pack.

It looks like hair mesh extraction works exactly the same, and can anyone confirm the same applies to accessories and other types of things that are made in bodyshop?

[Dr Pixel]

This plugin is great - so much faster!

I did run into a problem with a hairmesh, however -

I tried the "barette" hair mesh (original game) but it failed to extract all the parts.

I'm sure it is because the Property Set in the BodyShop .package has the name as "CASIE_afhairbarrette_blond" - but the actual files are named "afhairbarrette_"

I know there are several more hair and clothing files that also start with "CASIE_" in the property set, but the real parts don't have "CASIE_" in their names.

Maybe you can fix it by having it ignore any "CASIE_" references?

==========================

Accessories (glasses) fail with a "No Property Sets Found" message - which is correct, they do not have any.

Instead, glasses use "Mesh Overlay XML" files, which seem to have all the same information in them that a Property Set does....

[Inge Jones]

Thanks, I replied to you on the forum at simlogical.

[tiggerypum]

Wow, amazing. And a zillion times faster than 'find'... I assume because it only searches the files it needs to.

[Inge Jones]

Yes, Peter made the program "do the tutorial" lol

[Inge Jones]

There is a new (and hopefully final) release up at http://simlogical.com/SMF/index.php?topic=894.0 now. That should complete the extractor tool for now, and the linker is in the pipeline.

[HystericalParoxysm]

I just wanted to say THANK YOU! again, Inge and Peter. I'd tested it briefly just to ensure it was working, but I used it last night with a hair mesh I was actually creating and it makes it a -breeze-. Even gathering all the parts for all the ages, it really is quite easy to just sort it by name and delete everything I don't want. You've eliminated one of the most "Ugh, booooring!" parts of meshing for me. Thank you so very very much!

[Inge Jones]

A slight snag to the proposed linking part of this tool is we might need to revise the existing 3IDR plugin. Can someone tell me what that square box is for, just to the right of the Up, Down and Commit buttons? It's empty for me. It's just I don't want to set Peter onto tampering with some essential part of the whole process and break it :D

[tiggerypum]

Hmm, it's empty for me too, but there's a similar large box where we can type in new values, at least when editing the matd. It's usually empty until something is selected that then causes the existing value to appear there. So for our basic purposes we've never used it, but it must have a use... I wouldn't think they'd have a space holder there. Ask at SimPE site? Or maybe someone here who has done less typical edits might have used the box, I never have.

[Inge Jones]

Well, the version with the linking added is now available for download. Some people might not like the way the linking works, but it's there for those who do :)

As soon as you're sure it's working ok, I will give the download a permanent home you can point people to in your tutorial.

[tiggerypum]

Okay thanks Inge, I will look at this within a few days, kinda busy schedule right now. :) If there's a 'grab my mesh bits' and there's one that will link, that would be ideal, in terms of letting people get the most potential use of the tools :)

[Inge Jones]

Anyway we released this now, details updated in first post.

[tiggerypum]

thank you, I must find my round-tuits, danged it!

[mininessie]

thanks ,inclusive if i only can use with clothes mesh
i´m very grateful for this
thanks very much

[Inge Jones]

It does hair and accessories too.

[mininessie]

It does hair and accessories too.
yes,i had tryed the past night and i had made a hair mesh.
thanks you,thanks you again. :lovestruc
is very,very helpfull :bunny: :gjob:

[phoenix42793]

This seems really helpful for body meshing, it will help me get through the most boring part of meshing simpe lol. I have a question though, it says it works for SimPE 058, I have simpe 56, and I went to the site and noticed 58 was glamour life, I dont have GL so I was wondering if I could download it anyway just to get this tool without conflict. thanks

[tiggerypum]

The newer simpe's have various fixes and additions to them, in addition to handling the new eps. They are not _limited_ to only working for the new ep. I believe you can upgrade your simpe, it will work with the older files just fine.

[phoenix42793]

The newer simpe's have various fixes and additions to them, in addition to handling the new eps. They are not _limited_ to only working for the new ep. I believe you can upgrade your simpe, it will work with the older files just fine.

Thanks for replying, Im glad it will, this program will be useful to gather my files quicker. Also thanks to the person who posted this :)

[Inge Jones]

This tool is now included with the SimPE distributions from 0.60 onwards. You will find it under Tools|PJSE|Body Mesh Tool and there is some help for it under Help|Topics|PJ Body Mesg Tool

I am sure you can help each other with it here too, as Peter and I actually don't do clothes and hair, and we relied on Tiggerypum and Dr Pixel and other experienced skinners for advice while making it.

Please let me know if there are further developments that could be made to it, eg for pets.

[porkypine]

Thank you for making this! I really appreciate it. :0)

[Inge Jones]

You're welcome, Porkypine :)

[porkypine]

Inge and Peter.. I want to say that you have made a beginning meshers life SOoooo much easier! That was one of the hardest parts to get straight in my head, which part went into which folder and was swapped out with which other part... I'm an IT tech by trade, not a programmer and we're notorious for putting things together on sight and only when we run into a wall and can't figure it out, do we read the directions. :deal:

I'd recommend that this tool be added to the beginners tutorial - replacing what is there and move the tutorial parts your tool replaces into a more advanced tutorial. Perhaps we'd get more people into learning how to mesh if they didn't run into that confusing extraction wall right off.

Here's 5 bene llamas for you. :0) :llama: :llama: :llama: :llama: :llama:

[Inge Jones]

Benes!!! Thanks I think I only had about 3 benes in my life :D

[.Hanna.Webster.]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I can´t describe how happy I am now :D

[t2suggas]

Absolutely great.

I used this for the first time today and it's Mastercard - beyond priceless.

Thankyou.

[Reyn]

I'm so glad I found this after going through the tutorials the last day or so. Now I can do it the easy way, but if there is a problem I can go do it the hard way again.

[SofaLofa95]

I need help on norwegian! :cry:

Heeeeeeeelp

I cant upload things to Downloads :cry:

[Inge Jones]

That sounds like a bit of a problem :(

[DOEreoh]

wow!!!

i read the first two pages & must say...

your all insanely brilliant! lol :)

thanks for the inspiration!

[loopy_lintu]

just a quick question, will this run on the new SimPE version 0.62?

[Jasana_BugBreeder]

Yes - and it's included in it (you don't need to download and install it additionally). It's great thing :)

[loopy_lintu]

thanks :) just wanted to make sure before i downloaded it

[SparkleSim]

Wow! i have had this tool for a while now and it has seriously helped so much! I can't even begin to describe how nice and convienient this tool is. Without it, meshes would be the biggest tedium on earth. Thanks so much, Inge for making this tool, it saves so much trouble! :D

[fakepeeps7]

The links don't seem to be working. Is there anywhere else I can download this?

[Inge Jones]

It's included with each SimPE distribution now. Just get the latest SimPE and it will be there.

[fakepeeps7]

Ahh, okay. Thanks!

[SharonSims2]

If its included in SimPE where to find it and is there a tutorial?!

[Inge Jones]

Tools/PJSE/BodyMeshTool

I don't know if anyone ever wrote a tutorial, but we made a brief help page for it which is also distributed with SimPE. Somewhere under the Help menu :)

[hellosexy]

Woot! :) thanks a bunch !

[Mesh-man]

Hi, none of those links are working! Could you please find a way of uploading it?

[Inge Jones]

Don't you have SimPE?

[bella123]

The Link Dose Not Work It Says Page Not Found

[Inge Jones]

Don't you have SimPE?

[xxSmexiEmoxx3mo]

the links are broken :( could someone help? im trying to make a boob mesh for my sims 2 kids and i need that extractor someone reply asap thanks!

[Inge Jones]

Do you have SimPE?

[Paulicaa]

I have SimPe and the links are broken! where can I download clothes mesh extractor automator? I have the latest version

[Inge Jones]

It's in SimPE, or should be.

[Binhminh]

The LInk Dosen't Work :S

[Inge Jones]

I have edited the first post.