Removing sleeves (Requesting help)

[Whitemane]

Hi there!

I was trying to find a female YA/A top that's basically a collared, short-sleeved buttoned-up blouse with a tie. The ones I came across were either very low-quality or not quite what I was looking for. I pondered how a top so simple could not exist!

However, I then came across this: Formal to a T(ie) (http://store.thesims3.com/productDetail.html?productId=OFB-SIM3:19337&categoryId=11584&scategoryId=11868&pcategoryId=11867&ppcategoryId=11866&gender=female)

It's perfect, except for one problem... the ugly long sleeves! I'm a rather persistent gal, so I decided that I'd try to take my gander at modding the top's sleeves off.

:!: Now, I've never modded or meshed things before, however, I am a quick learner and I think as long as I have the right tools and the right tutorial, I could follow along and get the job done. I don't think this specific task would be too difficult... but I could be very wrong. :!:

I'd really appreciate it if a kind member could point me to the right tools and perhaps the right tutorial that would apply to this task. I looked through the tutorials, but couldn't find anything that was specific to what I'm trying to do.

I'd appreciate it even more if a member would be too kind as to make their own step-by-step mini-tutorial in regarding what I'm trying to do. Or at the very least a general overview.

Thank you for reading and I appreciate any input. <3

Note: I apologize for my noobiness. I figured that instead of sitting around and moping how I can't mod and mesh this, I'd get off my rump and at least try my hand at this!

Edit: I do have CTU, and I know how to open the file in it (thus having access to it's strings and information)... however, I got the top from the set it's included in, and not the top individually.

[CmarNYC]

The best way to do this is probably to Frankenstein the mesh - chop off the sleeves in Milkshape and graft on the arms from a different mesh. Unfortunately this is not a beginner project since you then have to construct all the morphs.

Here's a tutorial on Frankensteining a toddler mesh that should help you get started: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=397088

I have a tool in development to make morphing the new mesh easier - when you get to that stage I can upload it for you.

[Whitemane]

The best way to do this is probably to Frankenstein the mesh - chop off the sleeves in Milkshape and graft on the arms from a different mesh. Unfortunately this is not a beginner project since you then have to construct all the morphs.

Here's a tutorial on Frankensteining a toddler mesh that should help you get started: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=397088

I have a tool in development to make morphing the new mesh easier - when you get to that stage I can upload it for you.

Thank you so much for your reply and suggestion! I'm definitely wanting to check it out, but I have a problem...

Getting the mesh file of the shirt itself extracted. It's a store top, and thus doesn't show in CTU or TSRWorkshop. I got the top from the Fanficul Fashion & Hairstyles (http://store.thesims3.com/setsProductDetails.html?scategoryId=12307&index=0&productId=OFB-SIM3:19273) set and not the top individually...

If I could "dissect" the .Sims3pack somehow to access the shirt file individually, that'd be lovely. D:

[whiterider]

Extract the .package file using Delphy's sims3pack multi-installer. The files themselves may well not work properly in-game, but the meshes should be fine.
Then you have to figure out which .package file contains the top :p You can try opening them all in CTU/TSRW, or opening them in S3PE and looking at the textures until you find the right one. You may also be able to do it using the Sims 3 Dashboard, which is also on Delphy's profile, see previous link. :)

Once you've worked out which file it is, you should be able to export the GEOM resources by right-clicking them in S3PE. There won't be any morph meshes though, so you'll have to do those yourself - but don't worry about that just yet, morphs are a later stage of the process :p .

[Whitemane]

Extract the .package file using Delphy's sims3pack multi-installer. The files themselves may well not work properly in-game, but the meshes should be fine.
Then you have to figure out which .package file contains the top :p You can try opening them all in CTU/TSRW, or opening them in S3PE and looking at the textures until you find the right one. You may also be able to do it using the Sims 3 Dashboard, which is also on Delphy's profile, see previous link. :)

Once you've worked out which file it is, you should be able to export the GEOM resources by right-clicking them in S3PE. There won't be any morph meshes though, so you'll have to do those yourself - but don't worry about that just yet, morphs are a later stage of the process :p .

I managed to find the shirt file by extracting the .Sims3pack with Delphy's extractor, and re-named all of the files it gave me by number (1,2,3,4) so it would be easier to sort through them to find the shirt. Was I not supposed to do this?

Because, once I found the top, I opened it in S3PE, and it gives me a long string of numbers and I'm not sure what to do now. :(

Image (http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/9889/hrngh.png)

[porkypine]

I managed to find the shirt file by extracting the .Sims3pack with Delphy's extractor, and re-named all of the files it gave me by number (1,2,3,4) so it would be easier to sort through them to find the shirt. Was I not supposed to do this?

Because, once I found the top, I opened it in S3PE, and it gives me a long string of numbers and I'm not sure what to do now. :(

Image (http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/9889/hrngh.png)
Hello, I know you are hoping for a quick and dirty way to accomplish your task. but it's a no-go. Right now you are like the kid who stole dad's car and backed it up, full speed into the neighbors house and the engine is still running yet you want to get on the freeway now. BABY steps in a coherent order is on the menu. :p
You need to learn some basics about making clothing meshes before you get to Frankensteining meshes. Please go through the Sims2 beginning mesh tutorials because they cover everything you need to know about manipulating clothing meshes, uv maps, merging parts, making morphs, etc... Once you understand that, then you can apply that to others items and TS3 clothing. The textures for TS3 are different than TS2.
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Main_Page
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Tutorials:Body_Shop_Meshing_Starter_Tutorials

[Whitemane]

Hello, I know you are hoping for a quick and dirty way to accomplish your task. but it's a no-go. Right now you are like the kid who stole dad's car and backed it up, full speed into the neighbors house and the engine is still running yet you want to get on the freeway now. BABY steps in a coherent order is on the menu. :p
You need to learn some basics about making clothing meshes before you get to Frankensteining meshes. Please go through the Sims2 beginning mesh tutorials because they cover everything you need to know about manipulating clothing meshes, uv maps, merging parts, making morphs, etc... Once you understand that, then you can apply that to others items and TS3 clothing. The textures for TS3 are different than TS2.
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Main_Page
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Tutorials:Body_Shop_Meshing_Starter_Tutorials

I don't think your example completely applies to this situation, but I understand what you're saying about baby steps. xD

I guess I thought it'd be an easy task (which I now know it isn't) so I took it upon myself to try and learn, rather than depend on a creator or something. =/ But, if I could find a creator who could do this for me, like a request, that would be wonderful. Otherwise, I want to continue with this project. I appreciate your input, though!

[BloomsBase]

sent me the file and ill see wat i can do

[whiterider]

How do you know you found the top if you can't open it properly in S3PE?

[Whitemane]

How do you know you found the top if you can't open it properly in S3PE?

I opened it in CTU and it revealed itself as "afGothlitetoptie" or something like that. I know it was adult-female and had the word "tie" in it's name. I pretty much went through them all.

Edit: I'm going to try and go through them again, without renaming them.

[whiterider]

Renaming won't have caused the problem. Could you attach a pic of the S3PE problem?

[Whitemane]

Renaming won't have caused the problem. Could you attach a pic of the S3PE problem?

It was in my previous post in a hyper-link, but here's the link: http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/9889/hrngh.png

[whiterider]

Oh - so it was. That's not broken, it's supposed to look like that. :) Just tick the Names and Tags boxes at the bottom to get more human-readable info.

[Whitemane]

Oh - so it was. That's not broken, it's supposed to look like that. :) Just tick the Names and Tags boxes at the bottom to get more human-readable info.

Alright, I got the file again and checked it in TSRW. It loaded up completely fine and is indeed the top I'm looking for.

Afterwards, I opened it in S3PE, and clicked the tags to which now I'm looking it's different sub-files, such as BONE, THUM (which I assume is thumbnails), CASP (CASpart) and ofc GEOM (which there is multiple of). Others too, but I'm not too familiar with them.

I think I'll send the file to Bloom and see what they can do, but I still want to try my own hand at this too.

Now, the GEOM resources I see being listed on S3PE, am I supposed to right-click each one and export them to a location where I can easily find them (like a folder on Desktop, etc)?

[whiterider]

Yup, exactly. Then you can go back to the regular tutorial(s). :)

[BloomsBase]

How many GEOMS are there?
Arround 15?
It wont be easy to identify wat is wat and i can't recall there is a proper tutorial for Store clothing is there?

[Whitemane]

How many GEOMS are there?
Arround 15?
It wont be easy to identify wat is wat and i can't recall there is a proper tutorial for Store clothing is there?

There is 12.

And I'm not honestly sure... doesn't it work the same way a regular top would?

[omegastarr82]

To help figure out which GEOMs are which keep an eye on the file sizes. The largest is of course the high LOD and so forth. Any groupings of three that are the same size will be morphs. The lowest LOD will most likely not have morphs just the high and medium LODS. So ideally you should have 11-ish. When importing into milkshape it will really be a matter of trial and error since morphs must be imported on top of the correct LOD. Once you have a complete set, base, fat, fit and thin, you should export and name accordingly.

[whiterider]

Easiest way to tell what's what, in my experience, is to import them all into Milkshape and then rename the files.

[BloomsBase]

There is 12.

And I'm not honestly sure... doesn't it work the same way a regular top would?

Once you figured out wat is wat then yes.
You can not use TSRW for this method(because it used to have a diffrent joint order on the skeleton when importing with TSRW WSO importer.)

Wouldn't it be much more easier to take the af top shirt short sleeve collared and texture a tie on it? :)

[High Plains Gamer]

Wouldn't it be much more easier to take the af top shirt short sleeve collared and texture a tie on it? :)

Yes, but why do things the easy way when you can complicate and muddle the project to the point where it cannot be done?

[Whitemane]

Once you figured out wat is wat then yes.
You can not use TSRW for this method(because it used to have a diffrent joint order on the skeleton when importing with TSRW WSO importer.)

Wouldn't it be much more easier to take the af top shirt short sleeve collared and texture a tie on it? :)

If by "texture", you mean the tie is flat against the shirt like it's indistinguishable from it, then that's not really what I was going for. D:

But, if you mean to take the tie from this shirt and put it on the base-game one, then I suppose that would work just as fine. :)

[BloomsBase]

The knot is a little 3d, the rest is textured
Maybe you like this one:
http://sims3updates.net/details.php?cat=cas&id=10523

[Whitemane]

The knot is a little 3d, the rest is textured
Maybe you like this one:
http://sims3updates.net/details.php?cat=cas&id=10523

Hmmm, that's nifty! But I'd like to stick to the original project.

If that's okay...

[whiterider]

It's your project, you can do as you please - so long as you're mindful of the fact that you might not manage to finish it. ;)

You'll learn plenty in the process, either way!

[Whitemane]

It's your project, you can do as you please - so long as you're mindful of the fact that you might not manage to finish it. ;)

You'll learn plenty in the process, either way!

Definitely true. :3

EDIT: I'm definitely going to try and crack down on this sometime soon. If I come upon any issues, I'll come here to ask for help/advice.

[BloomsBase]

It is not something for beginners im afraid.
Seen the meshes in Milkshape and building a new package with those files is easy with TSRW/s3PE and Wes his GEOM plugins.
But replacing the sleeves with the naked arms is a pain....
You could just chop of the sleeves and import a set of naked arms with the naked shoulders included.(instead of attaching the arms to the original mesh) That kinda works.

But another problem is that the collar is uvmapped on the spot were the naked arms are usually mapped...
This means you also need to move the collar UV meshcoordinates out of the way and move/update the collar on the multiplier/specular and mask texture.
Ill might finish this, not promising tho.

[Whitemane]

It is not something for beginners im afraid.
Seen the meshes in Milkshape and building a new package with those files is easy with TSRW/s3PE and Wes his GEOM plugins.
But replacing the sleeves with the naked arms is a pain....
You could just chop of the sleeves and import a set of naked arms with the naked shoulders included.(instead of attaching the arms to the original mesh) That kinda works.

But another problem is that the collar is uvmapped on the spot were the naked arms are usually mapped...
This means you also need to move the collar UV meshcoordinates out of the way and move/update the collar on the multiplier/specular and mask texture.
Ill might finish this, not promising tho.

Yeah... I wasn't aware of anything like that at all. I'm really sorry. Probably should've tried something more fitting for a beginner. *sighs* Didn't think the shirt would give you that much trouble.

I really appreciate it that you're still going to try for me. It means a lot :)

[BloomsBase]

Is this for personal use only?
Cos then i skip the medium detail meshes, not used on higher settings.

edit,
Nevermind, here it is: http://www.bloomsbase.net/index.php/downloads/category/6-clothes
@ the bottom

[Whitemane]

Is this for personal use only?
Cos then i skip the medium detail meshes, not used on higher settings.

edit,
Nevermind, here it is: http://www.bloomsbase.net/index.php/downloads/category/6-clothes
@ the bottom

Wow, that's perfect! Thank you so much Bloom!~ *hugs* :gjob:

[BloomsBase]

Your welcome.
I do have to say this top isn't compatible with NL's muscle slider(because i used TSRW)
But you hardly notice

[whiterider]

Huh, does TSRW not currently support bumpmaps? That seems very odd.

[BloomsBase]

It does, but the musclemap doesn't display properly.
You also get the same results on the seam as this: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=461800

[whiterider]

TSRW does that too, as well as wes' GEOM plugin?

I wonder if the issue with TSRW is related to the DXT format used for bumpmaps.

[BloomsBase]

yes, all plugins have that(WSO/GEOM and also the one for Blender if im correct.)

[CmarNYC]

My feeling is that Milkshape and probably Blender recalculate the tangents in some standard way that doesn't work correctly with the LN muscle slider bumpmap for some reason. I don't know enough about mesh mathematics to have any idea about fixing it except to set the tangents back to the originals, which my tools can do.

[whiterider]

They can? How/which tools? Would that stuff up the modified mesh?

[BloomsBase]

no, it can fix unedited meshes
You find it in her thread.

[CmarNYC]

I'm about to post a new and improved version of the tool for beta testing, maybe today or tomorrow. After you edit a mesh in Milkshape, which messes up the tangents, which for whatever reason messes up the muscle normals, as long as you haven't renumbered the mesh you can put the original tangents back from the original mesh. It's a big pain to use when doing any extensive meshing but it works.