Newb Milkshape question/problem

[admiraljz]

Hey all,

I recently decided to try to get into altering/creating clothing meshes for my Sims. I have pretty decent experience with 2D programs (Photoshop, PSP, etc), and while I haven't used a 3D program yet, I'm fairly comfortable with computers and tend to catch on to things quickly.

I checked out the clothing mesh tutorial and ran through it. I thought I would try to modify an existing short dress by adding a pregnant belly to it. My goal was to create something first that worked, and worry later about making things that look good. Ie, get the mechanics down, then worry about the specifics.

Following the steps in the tutorial and using the latest versions of SimPE and Milkshape, I got the dress mesh imported into Milkshape. I created a sphere to form the basis of the belly and aligned it in the proper location, then moved the appropriate vertices to stretch the dress to the spherical belly and cause it to hang down sheer from the belly rather than following the curvature.

I saved it and exported it back, still following the tutorial to the letter. After running the mesh tool and putting it back into the game, I loaded up Body Shop to check the new mesh out with the default skin. It had looked near perfect in Milkshape, a lot better than I thought it would on my first try, anyway. However, in Body Shop, only the vertices that I had MOVED were visible, not the ones I had created (ie, the sphere). What I had was a dress that stretched properly to where the belly should be, but what was in reality a hollow hole in the model that showed through to the default mesh, dress skin intact. It's as if the sphere never existed.

So I'm curious, being totally new to 3D modelling, why the moved vertices were visible, but the created ones were not. I went back to Milkshape and textured the whole thing, then re-imported it, and nothing changed.

Is the problem with the original default vertices remaining, and overriding the added ones, in which case they need to be deleted? Or am I missing something with the texturing?

Any help would be appreciated. Worked on this problem for several hours last night and could seem to figure it out.

Thanks!

[admiraljz]

Eh, I think I figured it out. Creating the spherical object created a new "model" (mesh tool shows 2 models when I open it), where only 1 model can be used with the tool. Am I right? Close? Any suggestions or tips?

[Rico_Sugar]

I don't know which method you used : simple .obj import > .obj export with MilkShape or you used Wes_h's plugin?

In the case you use the first method, you CAN'T add any new vertice without assign them to the skeleton ( bones assignement is the second method).

You must have only 1 group in Milkshape or it won't work for body meshes, and the only thing you can do is to move the vertices you need.
If you want to add more vertices/faces, you'll need Wes_h's plugin and assign the new vertices to the appropriate bones ( but the result isn't perfect due to some limitations).

Rico

[WesHowe]

Eh, I think I figured it out. Creating the spherical object created a new "model" (mesh tool shows 2 models when I open it), where only 1 model can be used with the tool. Am I right? Close? Any suggestions or tips?

I think you figured that part out.
Clothing and hair meshes are difficult items to start with, as there are special things that require extra attention. But not necessarily prohibitive if you're willing to work through the learning curve.
When you regroup (to combine the groups) you need to make the consolidated group's name the same as the original name.
And for a clothing/body mesh, you need to make sure the new vertices are assigned to the correct bones.
<* Wes *>

[admiraljz]

Thanks for the replies, guys. That's me, always starting in the deep and and working towards the shallows, I guess.

I shall do a search for Wes' plugin and see if I can figure out how to use that. Getting there is half the fun, isn't it?