Amy, there is good news. You should be able to directly with SimPE and skip the meshtool part to edit smds now. I have not checked if Skankyboy included docs with the new simpe, but I was part of the testing group. A new tutorial is in the works, but it might be a couple weeks or more for it to be finished. Tutorials are a lot of work. Meanwhile, check out this thread, maybe the info in it will be enough for you to get things working with MAX - http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=141597

Oh, thanks! I now see your post on the subject, and after I've attempted to use the new Skankyboy import, I've got some additional questions that I posted there. I hadn't realized the new SimPE was released yet. This IS good news!!!!

Babboo: Hi,I had the same problem,PAF told me you can export files in simPE,click on your gmdc file in SimPE 5.6,plugin view,and then you will see a button with "export" on it..export it as a xsi file and it will work (although my mesh still has weird green things about in in modtool...oh but I read it was the skeleton and its normal). succes.

I had to ask a friend to download the xsi mod tool and the other bits and pieces. I've activated my registration but I had the ValveSource.0105.01.xsiaddon in a folder called XSI_ValveSource_Addon_010105 on the disk I received. I've tried placing the file in different folders where the xsi mod tool extracted itself to but the software isn't seeing it. Please, Tigger, can you tell me which folder it should be in? There is an 'Addons' folder and, obviously, I tried there first with the file by itself and then in that folder (in it's own XSI_ValveSource_Addon_010105 folder). Should it be in Application/Plugins? Somewhere else? Where ever it goes, does it need to stay in it's own little folder? I'm itching to get started!


Sorry, I've got it. The folder needs to go in:

\Softimage\XSI_4.2_ModTool\Application\bin

Then, from within the application you go to File/addons/install and find the file in the bin. Then restart the application!

Got it!

Wow I never knew that the free version of XSI exported to anything usable. I admit its a very strange tool to use at first, but it is nevertheless at least 10x more powerful than milkshape and even cheaper[free]. Is there some reason why so many are using milkshape over this? Now that I think about it, theres even a .smd exporter for GMAX[as far as low-poly modeling it IS 3ds MAX], but I never hear of anyone using it for the sims?

atavera,

Reasons why
* A year ago SMD export from SimPE did not exist
* Meshtool's smd support didn't include things like fat morphs (now a non-issue)
* Some people have had problems getting xsi to install and it's a huge download
* People also found the interface overwhelming, and unfortunately xsi's little movie about the interface went missing, but I just found it's on site again . I did dive in and figure it out enough and documented that here, but it's barely a tutorial, and not good for beginners
* Smd still loses the normals, at least it did in xsi last time I checked, which has slight drawbacks and sometimes requires extra fiddling on the meshes
* Unimesh and the SimPE smd and xsi plugins all came out right about at the same time
* Unimesh supports multiple group meshes in a much more user-friendly way (and I did my first hair immediately after it came out) It also preserves all the transparency settings.
* I was busy creating the bodyshop-meshing area also around that time, and writing 33+ help files, including 4 meshing tutorials and while I was an initial tester of the smd export/import, I haven't gotten to use it since!

At first I just did the 1 basic tutorial for meshing, which is all we were given for a long time and back then meshers had to really figure things out themselves. But we've got a lot more folks who want to learn how to mesh, and thus I ended up doing 3 tutorials to cover all the ground with unimesh. I've got a set of graphics tutorials in the works right now, maybe after that I can go and see if I can make smd versions of the unimesh tutorials. Unless you'd like to? With my blessing and help proofreading

Ok, I can certainly see why there hasn't been much support on this end(I know that my head would surely explode if I tried writing half the tutorials that you did). Well I'm certainly no expert on this strange program(I've only just tried it today), but I'm familiar with most of it's procedures from 3ds max. I'll be experimenting with this for awhile, and if all goes well, maybe I can get a basic armoire tutorial started(although I might need help making it more readable). I did see some video tutorials on the product's homepage here, but I'm not sure if that is the one you had before. From my experiences with milkshape, I think that it would even be worth creating the mesh in XSI if it had to go back through milkshape to use the UniMesh plugins xD I hated meshing until I tried gmax, and eventually 3ds max )

The kicker for me is that honestly, I love editing in xsi (except for the normals issue, and I have to experiment with that some more). I can do things in it, especially the way I can fully control how to add vertices to the mesh, that I cannot do in milkshape. So yeah. Now that the smd/unimesh incompatibility seems to have been solved, I am going to be very happy being able to move between them, if the normals issue doesn't make things difficult with the body meshes. Some issues with body meshing are different than with objects.

About the normals, are they just lost when you import to the mod tool? I know that 3ds max never imports the original normals because it generally uses smoothing groups with an angular threshold to calculate them. Smoothing the mesh is actually easier this way(there is very little manual normal editing involved usually). Or are the normals set in XSI not preserved when you export the mesh?

I think that one of the biggest advantages over milkshape(besides being able to select the vertices that you want) is the UV tools. The only method that I would miss from 3ds is the pelt map. Its really amazing for a free tool.

it loses them coming in I think, at least with the smd importer. but quaxi also wrote an xsi one and I did early testing so I need to get time to test and play around. The normals are preserved going out from what I recall, but sims body meshes have smoothing on them that probably came from an even higher poly mesh or were otherwise generated (a 4 sided finger will look rounded). Wes had something re-written for milkshape and unimesh so that he perfectly preserves the normals, so if you're good and don't touch them where you don't need to, the game quality is preserved.

.........youre Cool......

Hmm yes I see what you mean with the body meshes. Even with the .XSI exporter, the modtool is making it's own normals on import. Since it uses smoothing groups, the immediate problem is the unwelded vertices(they are split like their UV map because of how they're stored in the GMDC) Welding the verts at 0.001 or less will get most of the normals back looking okay. The fingers, I was able to smooth in 3ds max at a threshold of around 60 degrees but I haven't learned to manipulate the smoothing groups/normals in the mod tool yet(only just went through the poly modeling tut). Its possible that the normals are calculated from a high res mesh, I've even done that in max before, and maybe its possible to do that as well in XSI. Even if this isn't easily fixed, this program could still be great for object, hair and accessory meshing.

use a value of 0 and either weld or I give another command in this 'tutorial'. But what I discovered was that even with that - there were other spots (not the seams) with 'bad' normals on my toddler meshes, and my child's knuckles went all triangularly. (I did make several meshes with this tool some time ago, because the bodychop plugins had issues with normals and still required milkshape)

If the fingers will smooth with 60 degrees and we figure it out, that'll be cool. The problem is, we don't _have_ high res meshes, if the sims were originally built with them, so that's not an easy fix anyway

Hair has it's own challenges - multiple groups which are exported and imported only one at a time in smd format (I was going to experiment with how one would get multiple groups in *and* out in some sane fashion). If there's no fairly straightforward way to do that in xsi, then Unimesh for hair makes much more sense, at least for the final assembly. Editing hair in Unimesh is so straightforward, all the pieces are in there, you can hide or show them at will, etc.

>>Edit: There is now SMD import/export options built into SimPE. This means you can skip using meshtool and simply export the smd from SimPE and then import it again when you are done. As this covers mostly the use of XSI Modtool, this tutorial is still helpful, and the only one we have right now<<

How would one do that? I have the latest version of SimPE and I see no SMD import or export.

Nevermind, I found it in the plugin view of the gmdc container.

i clicked on the XSI link, but its saying i must pay to get the XSI mod tool, whats wrong? or it either says its a demo

If you went to the xsi page and looked down the right side (they keep redesigning the site) you would have seen "Get the FREE Modtool" someplace under the free demo thing.

http://www.softimage.com/community/...ol/default.aspx

and get the valve source thing also, that's what reads the smds in and out.

ok, i downloaded it. And the file name is " setup_XSIDEMO_4.2_MSWin32"
so it's still a demo right? i looked everywhere. And everytime i try and install it, it says: The contents of this file cannot be unpacked. The exucutable you are attempting to run has been corrupted. Please obtain another copy of the file, verify its integrity, and try again: thats what it says, so what am i supposed to do? and how do i verify its integrity? and could you upload the download file? or give me a direct link or somthing. Because i can't seem to find a XSI file thats not a demo, Thanks

That is the correct file, it must have been the 'demo' version back at 4.2 - they're now selling 6 something I think. I downloaded it, it opened, gave me an install screen for 'XSI Modtool 4.2'. Unpacked some parts, then went on with having me select a directory and such. Did you get that far? If not, then you have to download again, something happened and part of the file simply didn't make it to your system.

Also, do double check the system requirements. Mine runs fine on XP Home (which is not listed, but it does work)

is that the only free version? it wont let me do alot of stuff because its demo, so is that the free one?

Uhm, it works perfectly fine for editing SMD format, which is why smd (and xsi) format was implemented in SimPE. It's FREE, a free version of a tool that costs hundreds of dollars. It is to be used to edit SMD files. That's what it does. That's how you have to use it. That's what this tutorial is about, that's the only thing that documentation on site has recommended it for.

The editing commands all work, well the ones that would apply to sims 2 meshes anyway. There might be a polygon limit, and maybe there is a command here and there that doesn't work, but all the ones I tried regarding the actual editing of the mesh worked fine. What doesn't work is exporting into other formats. But the valvesource thing works, you can get smds in and out of it. You might not be able do funky lighting or rendering, but we're not using it for rendering. The documentation is complete, I learned how to use it (and have even made polygons in it) by using their docs. It's very powerful and flexible, if you can learn how to edit with it. Which is why I wrote this 'mini tutorial' to help point people in the right direction, so they could find the commands.

hmm, I'm supposed to activate my importer? or exporter? but when i click get activation key. I have to fill out. I just filled it out but i don't really feel secure about revealing my location, It's safe right? and is that what I was supposed to do?

yes you need to activiate it. Figure out how to fill it in with whatever it asks. I don't remember I did it 1.5 years ago. Nothing has happened to me or my accts btw. And you need to get the valvesource thing. And I recommend the documentation. (that is all stated in the beginning of this tutorial)

hi, can anyone please tell me where to put the valve source addon, so that I get the valve source menu, thanks.

Adam

It's on the download page on the site where you got the xsi. Follow links. Get the documentation also.

yes, i've got that and the documentation i've installed that and activated modtool, but I want to know where to put the unzipped 'ValveSource.0105.01.xsiaddon' in order to get the valve ssource menu.