Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 20th Nov 2005 at 9:47 PM Last edited by tiggerypum : 29th Mar 2006 at 10:41 PM.
Default Tutorial: Basic Clothing Mesh Tutorial Bodychop/Milkshape
This tutorial is outdated, and the bodychop plugin is no longer available - it has been replaced by the Unimesh plugin, it remains for information and for those who are still choosing to use the old plugin, but is now unsupported.

See this tutorial for using the Milkshape Unimesh Plugin:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=142305

Btw, if you do follow this tutorial, be sure to NOTE the bone assignments made on the morph before deleting it, and reassign them or your sim will have sharp shoulders and some animations will be less smooth.

--- end edit ---

Several people have asked me how to make a clothing mesh, so I decided to make a Basic Clothing Mesh Tutorial.
This Tutorial is meant for the beginner who has never made a clothing mesh before. However, basic knowledge of BodyShop, SimPE and Milkshape would help greatly!

I will be using:

1) The newest graphical version of SimPE (as of 11/20/2005)
http://sims.ambertation.de/

2) Milkshape
http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/

3) WesH's Bodychop Milkshape Plugin
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=50219

WesH's Plugin allows us to remove and add vertices to our mesh, as opposed to the Meshtool which is limited in that it only allows us to move vertices around.
WesH's Plugin allows us to assign/reassaign vertices to joints, the meshtool doesn't
WesH's Plugin allows us to edit the different bodygroups, fit/fat/pregnant, which the Meshtool doesn't.

And, thanks to Numenor, I have used the most up-to-date information available to correctly create a working package.

My goal is to introduce you to Body Mesh Creation. How far you would like to go with it is up to you. I intend to show you the way that I alter a mesh, move vertices etc. There are other tools and other ways to go about this. This is just one way and one set of tools. But I wanted to share with everyone the way I do it, so here it is!


I hope it helps some of you on the road to making Sims2 Body Meshes!

Suzy
Attached files:
File Type: zip  Sims2 Basic Clothing Mesh Tutorial.zip (2.63 MB, 5680 downloads) - View custom content
The ModFather
retired moderator
#2 Old 22nd Nov 2005 at 5:30 PM
Thank you NeptuneSuzy for this well-explained and easy-to-follow tutorial!

(Thread moved to Tutorial forum)

I've finally started my Journal. Information only, no questions.

My latest activity: CEP 9.2.0! - AnyGameStarter 2.1.1 (UPD) - Scriptorium v.2.2f - Photo & Plaques hide with walls - Magazine Rack (UPD) - Animated Windows Hack (UPD) - Custom Instrument Hack (UPD) - Drivable Cars Without Nightlife (UPD) - Courtesy Lights (FIX) - Custom Fence-Arches - Painting-TV - Smarter Lights (UPD)


I *DON'T* accept requests, sorry.
Lab Assistant
#3 Old 23rd Nov 2005 at 9:18 PM
Wow! Excellent congratualtions. Its about time we have an upto date Clothing Tutorial. The BriAnna tutorial is starting to become old now.
Admin of Randomness
retired moderator
#4 Old 23rd Nov 2005 at 10:59 PM
This tutorial is not a replacement for Brianna's though. This one is a bodychop tutorial, whereas Brianna's is basic meshtool. It is well put together from what I could tell at first read.
Lab Assistant
#5 Old 28th Nov 2005 at 6:45 AM
does it work only for females? I tried it on a child swimming shorts mesh, but ended up with blue lines all over the place in milkshape...
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 2nd Dec 2005 at 7:21 PM
It works on all clothing meshes
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 12:52 AM
Much thanks susie this is just what i was trying to find, something for someone who has no clue at this point where or how to start lol Thx.:P

When a girl hates you; the way she hates you, she really likes you.... That's basic "KiNDERGARTEN PSYCHOLOGY"
Test Subject
#8 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 4:57 PM
This is a wonderful tutorial but...I'm having some problems.

One, I'm confused about Step 2. It says "Open SimPe, Go to File, Open and navigate to the Saved Sims folder to open the temp texture from bodyshop.

How did Temp Texture end up in Saved Sims? I'm guessing when it was imported in body shop but I'm not finding any Pants.package (I'm editing the NL bottom wide jeans) in the Saved Sims folder. I only have Pants.package in my Projects > Pants folder. Clarification on that part would help.

Second, I complete the tutorial, go to check my project in bodyshop and there is no change. I suspect it has something to do with what I mentioned above. I've gone through this tutorial numerous times now to get the same result. My preview of the mesh that's shown in SimPE is perfectAny help is appreciated.
Test Subject
#9 Old 4th Dec 2005 at 9:54 PM
Nevermind, I figured it out. :P
Test Subject
#10 Old 6th Dec 2005 at 9:12 AM
Thank you so much!! i tried many times to make meshes and i never get any result.. with your tutorial i made my first mesh at the first attempt!
Lab Assistant
#11 Old 6th Dec 2005 at 7:47 PM
Quote: Originally posted by amel213
Thank you so much!! i tried many times to make meshes and i never get any result.. with your tutorial i made my first mesh at the first attempt!


Same here. I tried over and over again w/ Brianna's tutorial and was unsuccessful. I had the dreaded exploded mesh, the one where a totally different dress showed up and I did EVERY step correctly. But, my first mesh turned out completely awesome with this tutorial Thank you!
Test Subject
#12 Old 7th Dec 2005 at 9:39 AM
Ok, I was able to follow the tutorial and it all worked. So I figured I would do something based off a shirt. It only had two peices to it. The top part and then BODYMOD.1. So, it saying that if the vert count isn't the same, then it wouldn't export. So I created for both of them, regrouped and rename, but when I go to export, it says the the morph for bodymod.1 is missing? When you create a new face it makes a new object and you have to regroup and rename, or is there another way of doing it that I'm missing?

SimAlot.com - Guess who's back! :>
Field Researcher
#13 Old 9th Dec 2005 at 9:17 PM
Default Can't Import Meshes...
I can't seem to Import the mesh I created when using the tutorial. I downloaded WesH's Bodychop Plugin for Milkshape but when I click on File Import, Milkshape automatically closes. Could the problem be caused because I have only downloaded a trial version of MilkShape and have not registered it? I can't import anything nor can I open anything without MilkShape closing on me. Any suggestions/solutions?

Thanks,
Amber
Mad Poster
#14 Old 11th Dec 2005 at 10:32 PM
OK. I have read through this tutorial and it seems easy to follow but I have not tried it yet as I don't have the sims2 on this computer. I was just wondering. What would I do different if I wanted to replace a mesh instead of creating a new one?
(thanks for this. I'll let you know how it goes when I manage to try it)

My deviantART, MTS Yearbook Origin ID = Alistu
Test Subject
#15 Old 15th Dec 2005 at 2:54 AM
Where do you download Sim PE? I tried the link on one of the other tutorials but the Download section didn't work...
The ModFather
retired moderator
#16 Old 15th Dec 2005 at 8:46 AM
Lab Assistant
#17 Old 15th Dec 2005 at 9:32 AM Last edited by Xianah : 15th Dec 2005 at 9:40 AM.
I tried this as after a year I had never been able to follow other tuts (anyway with the newer versions of SimPe, I see no 'export to OBJ' anyway). I did finally edit a mesh in a very basic way - I just edited the bodyshape of the basic bikini mesh. It turned out well, the meshes chest jointing is a teenzy bit off I noticed in the game, I was carful not to move the chest out of jointing zone - and the overall mesh its not as smooth as the original esp around the shoulders ( i didn't export the LO version).
I think from making meshing for other things *non sims* editing 'human' meshing in a zero-pose (arms up legs slightly apart) can produce jointing probs when the mesh is animated or moved back to a normal pose, anyhoo - but I was very very pleased I had actually done it!! I really miss meshing *grin*

Then I tried one of the UNI adult trumpet dress and I don't know what I did wrong but it kinda exploded... I had all these juts and spikes from the mesh very odd.

Oh for the day when some bright spark invents a plug-in that does the million fiddley steps to get the mesh into Milkshape and back in the game for you!!... LOL

Also i'd love further advise on how to add verts, like ading new boots and what I would do as far as assigning the new parts joints and what area is best to move. I had been meshing for TS1 for years so I know how the jointing works on them and how far I can push things before things totally disort. I would probably want to add new boots, so i would love to know how to do this as far as jointing ( i know you should never move sims knees) and what to do about adding new mesh parts. As I am totally cluless how this works for TS2 meshing.

Thanks Neptune Suzy & MTS2
-Xianah-
xXx
Screenshots
Test Subject
#18 Old 15th Dec 2005 at 11:40 AM
Default Thanks!
Thank you Susy for this wonderful tutorial! It helps a lot...
But it doesn´t seem you visit this thread anymore.

@Xianah:
When you follow this tutorial there is no need to use the SimPE Export button. If you want to attach more vertices to a mesh you must use the milkshape plug-ins made by Wes_h (the "Body Chop" ones).

Anyway, the Export Button is still there: Highlight the GMDC of your Mesh in SimPE and, down in the bottom area, choose the tab "3D Mesh". There you will see the Export, but also an Import-, Previewbutton and some more useful checkboxes.

I followed the links in Suzy´s Tutorial and found more interesting tutorials.
Another good one was written by "Dr Pixel":
http://drpixel.noneto.com/Al_tut.htm

Always look out for Dr Pixel, he´s a guy who know much about meshing and such stuff

Have nice meshing everybody...
Test Subject
Original Poster
#19 Old 16th Dec 2005 at 12:44 PM Last edited by NeptuneSuzy : 16th Dec 2005 at 12:59 PM.
h-Master, I was just about to post DrPixels' Tutorial!

Doc is my body meshing Guru! LOL!

When it it comes to adding parts etc, I'm still no expert!

Anyway, I've been really busy at work the last few weeks......but I'm still here!


amberandcarlos33......when it comes to Milkshaping closing/crashing, I don't have much of an answer, but I don't think it's because you have a trial version
You could try to re-install it.....
Or, Maybe someone else out there knows why it closes on you when you hiy import.


Kristos_Kazare..........I've never regrouped and renamed the bodymorphs......I've always edite dthem as they are and left them named accordingly, so I'm not really sure how this would work.......
I hope to have time this wekend to look into some of these things....I'm very curious


Thanks to all for your comments!

Mad Poster
#20 Old 19th Dec 2005 at 12:11 AM
I said I'd let you know how things went once I had managed to have a go so here goes; I found it VERY easy to follow and managed to get a new mesh successfully into the game on my first attempt! It had a few holes in it were I had stretched points too far away from the "seam" but I know what to do in future. I suppose I made things more difficult for myself though because I went straight to a mesh I wanted to change and didn't bother with the dress. If anyone can tell me how to replace meshes now then I will be a very happy bunny! Thanks for the brilliant tutorial.

My deviantART, MTS Yearbook Origin ID = Alistu
Mad Poster
#21 Old 19th Dec 2005 at 7:47 PM
Ok. Through trial and error I have now managed to successfully replace a mesh! but with a slight problem...
The mesh I was editing was the unisex child mesh. The change that I made and wanted to only effect males also effects the girls as well!!! Does anyone know how I can get the file to only override males?
If nobody knows I'm going to keep trying to sort it myself anyway.

My deviantART, MTS Yearbook Origin ID = Alistu
Admin of Randomness
retired moderator
#22 Old 20th Dec 2005 at 5:43 AM
Sounds to me like you skipped the fix integrity part when you were first building your mesh. The changed mesh should not replace any meshes in the game.
Test Subject
#23 Old 20th Dec 2005 at 2:28 PM
I just want to say thank you. This is a fantastic tutorial! I've been able to follow it so far with zero problems. GREAT work! I'm not done with my mesh yet so we'll see how it turns out. I just couldn't resist the urge to drop back in this thread and say something.
Lab Assistant
#24 Old 23rd Dec 2005 at 4:25 AM
Default Help With Tutorial
I have gotten as far as importing the mesh created using this tutorial into Milkshape. I am using Milkshape version 1.7.6 which is the latest one. It is registered. When I use the Bodychop to import this is the way it loads.

Someone stated that it is surpose to be this way, but if that is the case how do you see to edit the mesh.

Need some help with this.

Thanks
Screenshots
Test Subject
Original Poster
#25 Old 23rd Dec 2005 at 5:39 AM
ladydrb58....Those blue lines are the joints. For some reason the default size is huge! But it's no problem, all you have to do is go to the "File" menu, pick "Preferences"..............In "Preferences" click the "Misc" tab. Where it says "Joint Size" change the value to .01

Now they should be very small blue circles.

You can go to the upper right area and click on the "Joints" tab, then uncheck "show skeleton" and the blue joints will disappear making it easier to work with the mesh.

I attached a picture

Hope this helps
Sue
Screenshots

~ Sue ~

My Site: http://www.ts2creations.com - Free Sims2 Downloads since December 2005
Locked thread | Locked by: tiggerypum Reason: outdated, replacement tutorial posted
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