Milkshape smoothing question.

[scarred811]

Okay, I am a total newbie when it comes to Milkshape. I only got it so I could make objects that have joints. I am very used to Blender. My question is, is it possible to just smooth one part of the mesh in Milkshape? I've read stuff on smoothing groups but how do you seperate this group is smoothed and this one is not? I've tried to search the forum but I get 11 pages of results and I can't seem to find the answer. I'm sorry if this is posted already.

Crossing my fingers it is possible
Thanks for the help
Becka

[WesHowe]

Try the 'Align Normals' plugin in the message posted at:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?p=1110878#post1110878

It does a rework of the normals on selected, unhidden vertices.

While the plugin was originally written (not by me) for body meshing, it should work on object meshes, also, with a caveat. Body meshes generally get smoothed as rounded surfaces, while some objects need to retain sharp edges. If you need sharp edges, you need to make each side of the sharp edge a different smoothing group, or make sure what you select does not touch your edges, or they will appear rounded.

Make sure you have a saved copy in case the results are not what you expected.

<* Wes *>

[IgnorantBliss]

That tool is heaven sent. I didn't learn about it until recently. How much frustration it would have saved with many of my meshes! :lol:

[scarred811]

I actually saw that post yesterday but I don't know if it was my frustration from reading through tons of posts or what but I didn't get it. I'm still a little uncertain about what the normals do but I'll give it another shot.

When you say make sure they aren't touching, do you mean touching by sharing vertices? I'm making an armoire and the only thing I want smooth is the handles and hinges. They don't share any vertices with the actual armoire so I'm hoping that it will work today.

Thanks for the help guys
Becka

[Dr Pixel]

Here is an explaination of smoothing groups and how to use them.
I think this might be helpful:
http://www.modthesims2.com/member/showthread.php?p=1549690#post1549690

[scarred811]

Hello, I tested out the plugin and it worked great. Thanks sooo much.

Dr Pixel, I read through that yesterday and tried it out, but I didn't really like the results on my armoire since it was a small part that needed smoothing and the rest I wanted to not be smoothed at all. I've bookmarked the post just in case though since I can see how useful those smoothing groups might be in future projects.

Thank you again
You all rock!
Becka

[WesHowe]

I am glad you got the issue resolved.

One of the startup issues for object meshing is that any smoothing groups that Maxis used in their original mesh creation do not make their way into the game files, probably because while they are needed for development, they are not needed for rendering the object.

I have a new MilkShape plugin that attempts to recreate smoothing groups for meshes available here:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=229550

It is a programmatic approach to subdivision, and as such it doesn't always get it right. It sometimes makes more smoothing groups than necessary, but they are easy to select and reassign to combine them.

<* Wes *>