Object Connection in new Milkshape mesh

[ayshala]

Gah, I'm pulling out my hair, but I'm trying to mesh again.
I've been thru a bunch of tutorials, but I'm still having problems. Sorry, but i cant find my specific questions and I cant bear to read another hour worth of threads. I know its probably obviouse, but when you have three thousand threads and tutorials to pick from, its sometimes hard to find the right one.

So any help, or any suggestions of tutorials or threads would be wonderful!

I decided to make a simple little perfume bottle. A square bottle with a round ball lid. So I made a cylinder and ball. Looks good. I did the uv map (sort of) too. Went into the game, and only the cylinder is there, the top is missing. I was wondering about that when I was making it. How do I connect the top and body? I wanted it to be two seperate pieces, so when I textured it, the lid would be a little corner of the texture, and therefor possible to color something different than the bottle (gold lid and light blue bottle). Do I need to learn about this jointing thing?

Also, I made my perfume bottle from that wooden man sculpture. When i went into my game, my man sculpture now has five extra textures that kinda look like the ones I was playing with for the bottle. But I never saved them and I have no idea where these extra sculptures/textures came from!

[IgnorantBliss]

First, if you want to have two separate mesh parts (subsets) in your object, either you have to clone an object that already has two subsets, or add one properly. It's not enough to just add the mesh, it has to be connected to the Materials Definitions and textures in the package, and if you want it to be recolorable, it needs a Material Override, too. For your bottle it would make sense to have them as separate subsets if, for example, you want one part to be translucent and the other solid. However, if the parts are very similar but you just want them to have different colors, there is no need for separate subsets, you can combine them into one (this is explained in the JWoods Object Tutorial (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=104795) , you select the groups you want to combine and select Regroup. Then you also have to make sure you give your mesh the same name the original mesh had, otherwise your whole mesh will be invisible in game.) You can easily have one mesh where different areas have different colors. It's all up to uv-mapping, then: You have to make one part use a different part of the texture than the other. This article by Numenor (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=79954) explains some of the basics of uv-mapping.

If your original sculpture now has textures from your clones, it probably means you didn't update the MMATs properly. I really recommend you go through the JWoods object tutorial above, it explains all the important things about object making, including updating MMATs properly.

[ayshala]

Thank you, I downloaded both parts and read it tonight. I'll try to follow it tomorrow. I tried a little tonight, but somehow I messed up. When I went to see the "fixed" object in my game, it was still the same as before. And yes, I did remember to copy it into my download folder. :P

But here's the new problem,....I took the object I made outta my game. Then I started the game again and went to check on that sculpture. It still has five extra textures! I figured if I removed my item, whatever was screwed up would change. But it didnt and now Im confused. What do I do? Is the sculptue thing some unrelated problem that I just didnt notice til now?

[IgnorantBliss]

Are you sure you don't have multiple copies of your clone in your game? If not, then it's probably caused by some other clone.

When you tested your object after the changes, did you actually place it on a lot or did you just look at the catalog image? Because the catalog thumbnail is not automatically updated, and it would still show part of the mesh invisible even if it really isn't anymore.

[ayshala]

I can't find any other copies, though I'll go thru my folder a few more times just to be sure.
Yup, I did buy the "fixed" object and put it on a counter. But I'm betting with all the confusion that I somehow missed a save or something in Milkshape. So I'm getting rid of all those files and starting from scratch.

I'm just worried about those extra textures on the sculpture.

[IgnorantBliss]

Well, whatever causes those extra textures is not permanent. As soon as you remove the files that's affecting the sculpture and remove it, the sculpture should be back to normal.

[ayshala]

thank you. New problem though......

I made some perfume bottles (again). They showed up in my game and I bought them and put em on a counter. But they were ugly, so I went back and redid the texture. Then I went into SimPE and did the "recolor" option. I imported a new texture, committed, and saved. Then I went and put the file in my downloads. When i started the game up again, the bottles were missing.

So I went back , did the retexture again, and checked my game. It was there, but still looked yucky, so I went to change the texture again. Went into my game, it isn't there. I checked the catalogue and it isnt anywhere. So I went out and tried to do the texture thing for a third time, but now my object just wont show up??

[IgnorantBliss]

Can you please attach both the mesh and a recolor file here to take a look at? It will be difficult to say otherwise what's wrong.

[ayshala]

I think I know what I did. I went to recolor that perfume and I replaced the original file with the recolor. Which would make it not show, right? I'm scared to try to fix anything retroactively. I'm still confused, so if I don't do it step by step from the tut you mentioned, then im lost again. So I just keep making something, messing up, and starting over. At least till I get a better feeling for all this.

So with the new makeup display Im working on, I did a recolor and named it "Makeupdisplay1" instead of "MakeupDisplay". So now I have the original makeup and my recolor showing in my game. But how do I fix the original? It has the texture of the UV map, so it really needs my new texture.

And speaking of textures, I read that tut on UVmaps. Are there anymore out there explaining about texture, UV maps, and issues? Like I cloned the vase, with a texture map size of 128x128. But my makeup display is detailed and everything keeps stretching and smearing wrong. Did I need to keep that 128x128 size, or could I have changed it to something a little bigger?

Also, what causes "smears"? I know to "import" using that "DXT" (or whatever) option. Because before I was just importing, and my texture would get distorted. But now even using the special option, I'm getting a little smear of the wrong color.

Can this be caused by placing two parts of the UVmap too close together? They have about two little lines of space between them.