THIS IS AN ADVANCED TUTORIAL

I STRONGLY suggest that, if you are NEW AT MESHING!!! that you start with body meshing. It is MUCH easier and learning that first would be a good (good!!) idea!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE UNIMESH TUTORIAL AND LEARN BASICS

And then do the other 2 Unimesh Tutorials, you will need to know things from them, also

and a Beginner's Unimesh Hair Tutorial with Pictures


this tutorial is now over a year old, and might contain methods that are not optimal - please use the other tutorial above for up to date info



This tutorial primiarly covers the DIFFERENCES between editing a body mesh and editing hair meshes.

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I'm attempting to redo this with a bit of an update. Tig, if there's anything I missed that you see, hopefully it won't be too bad, or you could fix it. Thanks.

How To Make a Hair Mesh

Programs Needed:
-SimPE http://sims.ambertation.de/
-Milkshape 3d http://chumbalum.swissquake.ch/

You also need the wes_h Milkshape plugins. http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=122399

Make sure that the plugins are installed in the directory folder where Milkshape is installed on your computer.

1. Open Bodyshop. Decide which hair you would like to edit and export that as a project file.

2. Do any editing that you would like to do on the textures before reimporting it. Then import it into the game.

3. Close bodyshop.

4. Open your Sims 2 directory on your hard drive. This is not in the same place as where your neighborhood data is. This contains all the base information needed for any user to play the game. On my computer it is C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2

5. Go to EA GAMES --> The Sims 2 --> TSData --> Res --> Sims3D. Open Sims03. This contains all of the original game's GMDC files. These are the ones that you will be editing. I usually export a lot of them at a time, so I don't have to keep going back into that package file to find more hair meshes.
*If you had exported a hair from either Nightlife or University, then you will need to open those directories instead. The folder 3D for the expansions is the same as Sims3D for the original game.
(University: EA GAMES --> The Sims 2 University --> TSData --> Res --> 3D. and Nightlife: EA GAMES --> The Sims 2 Nightlife --> TSData --> Res --> 3D)

6. I don't really know how to tell you to find the right mesh for the hairstyle you chose, although I'm sure that there is a way. I scan through all of the names to see which one seems like it would be that particular mesh. It helps if you have one of the newest forms of SimPE because you won't have to use the name map to find the instance to find the right mesh. Make sure you export the right age group/gender for your mesh. A= Adult T = Teen C= Child P= Toddler E= Elder F= Female M= Male.

The age and gender will becombined to make the beginning of the name of the mesh. (Example: af = adult female)

There's not any hair meshes for elders, because the adult meshes fit their head, so by editing an adult mesh, then you are actualy making a mesh for adults and elders. (If you have University then the same mesh will fit the Young Adult as well )

Once you find the mesh(es) that you want, then left click on them and export them. I usually keep all of them that I export in organized folders. It is good to do so, because then you can go back and edit them again if you'd like. You can do whatever you'd like but it makes it easier to edit that mesh if you save them by their name. Example: afHairLongSimple, I would save as: aflongsimplegmdc. This way, if I choose to edit the mesh later, I will know which one it is.

7. Open Sims04 and export the GMND file that corresponds in name with the GMDC file you exported. After you do that, do the same for Sims05 (SHPE files) and Sims06 (CRES files) I usually name the files the same as the name that I called the gmdc file, but instead of gmdc at the end, it would be the right four letters for whatever file type it is.

8. Now you can edit your mesh. Use the wes_h plugins to import one of the gmdc files into Milkshape. Milkshape is fairly easy to use, so hopefully you can figure out how to edit your mesh. Since I'm not doing a sepcific example, I can't exactly tell you what to do. It's up to you do make it how you'd like.

When you are done editing your mesh, MAKE SURE that all the vertices are assigned to a joint. It WILL NOT work if they are not all assigned. To do this, click on the tab label "Joints" on the left side of the screen. (or where ever you have the menu thing)

Now, with the new Milkshape plugins, you can do multiple assignments for one joint. This makes it MUCH better animated and flow easier than if vertices are only assigned to one joint.

I'm still sort of figuring how to use these well myself, but if you get a balance between the joints it should flow very well in the game. For hair meshes, I find that I usually only use the "head," "neck" and "spine2" joints. The neck and head joints are fairly self-explanatory for their location, but the spine2 joint refers to the area around the shoulders. Depending on the location of the vertice, you need to come up with the right percentages for the joint assignments. Hopefully this makes sense.

The vertices on the head need to be assigned to the head joint. I always assign them 100% to the head. As you go down, the spot that the neck joint actually assigns to is a little bit above where the neck actually is, so as you move down on the mesh, lower the percentage of the head assignment, and raise it for the neck joint. By the time I get to where the neck actually is, I start adding in the spine2 joint. When it's in the general middle neck area, I tend to keep it at percentages close to 45 for the neck, 20 for the spine2 and 35 for the head, but as you go down on the mesh, the percentages would change. If you just play around with it a little, you can get what you're hoping for.

That was only for long hair meshes. If you make short meshes, you usually don't need the spine 2 joint, because hair won't need to be stuck to the shoulders. I still find it useful though. For short hair meshes you'd only really need the neck and the head joints.

Hopefully that makes sense and you can understand better how to assign joints. That was difficult to write.

If you click on a joint then it will appear red. DO NOT move these. It will affect how your mesh looks and it usually doesn't come out very well. Assign any vertices surrounding the joint to it. This will affect the animation and how it moves when the Sims turns their head.

For the back few vertices, I have found that I usually have to lower it by just a little bit. Where I had originally said that you need to assign the vertices to the neck joint, now, with the new UniMesh Plugins and the new Milkshape, you can assign multiple vertices to one joint. For most meshes, the vertices on the back of the neck are usually 50/50 for the neck and the head joints. This seems to work well.

If you'd like to animate, then you can check here.

I suggest you DEFINATELY wait until you can successfully make hair meshes before even attempting something like that.

Export your finished product.

9. Once you have all four files (GMDC, GMND, SHPE, and CRES) and your new mesh file, you are ready to make the new pacakge file containing your mesh.

Open SimPE. Make a new package. Add your four extracted files to the package. Click on the GMDC file. You will be replacing this file with yoru new mesh. First though, you will want to copy the name of it. Then, replace it. Fix the name so that it is EXACTLY how it was before you imported it.

10. Fix integrity. You can do this by going to (at the top): Tools --> Object Tools --> Fix Integrity.
This is when I give my new mesh a name. Under ModelName I always type in my name, followed by the age, and then the name of the mesh. For my adult Willow mesh, I put djafwillow. You can put in whatever you want I guess but make sure it has your name on it. I usually put it that way so that it is the same as the name of the actual mesh itself. Click Update, then Okay.

11. I save all my meshes in one format. To do it the way I do you would save your mesh as MESH_YourNameAgeNameDate.
And example of this is my Willow mesh for adults. I saved it as MESH_djafWillow122405.

You don't have to include the age, but I always do because most of my meshes are for more than one age group.

Save this in your "Downloads" folder.

12. While still in your mesh package file, export your new CRES and SHPE files. I usually save them as, AgeNameFileType. (Example: afWillowshpe or afWillowcres) It does not matter what you name these as long as you know what they are. I keep them all in one folder, so that if I choose to apply the mesh to a different hair .package, then I won't have to go back into the mesh .package to get them.

13. The fun part : Applying your mesh to the bodyshop package.

Open the package you made in bodyshop. It will be in the SavedSims Folder. Add the CRES and SHPE files you extracted from your new mesh to this package.

In the Resource Tree, click on 3D ID Referencing File.
If you don't have expansions, then there will be 6 Files. If you do have expansions, then there will be 7. These are usually in order of age group going down. The first one would be toddler, second child, third teenager, fourth adult, and fifth elder. With expansion packs the order is the same except that Young Adult comes in between Teens and Adults. I'm not sure what the last one is, but you don't edit it, so leave it alone.

Click on the age group that corresponds with the mesh that you made. As I said before, the adult mesh will work for Young Adults, Adults AND Elders, so you will have to edit those too.

Sometimes the 3d ID files are out of order, so check to make sure that the adult and elder (and Young adult) age groups have the same resource node and shape numbers before going in and editing it.

Click "Package" A PackageSlectorForm will appear. Find the resource node and shape that you added and drag them to the 3D Id editor. Delete the resource node and shpe that are already in it and are at the top. Move your CRES and SHPE to the top in replace of those. The resource node must always be at the top. Click COMMIT!

Go back and delete the files you added to the package. SAVE!

Close.

14. You're Done!! Good Job! I hope you like your new mesh! Open Bodyshop or the game and check for errors or things you want to change. Good Job!


I hope this helps! Good Luck Everyone!!

Wootles! heheh. Thanks.

You are brilliant! :D

When in doubt, here's how to find the exact mesh used:
In BodyShop, start a new project, and pick out the one you want to modify.
Export the project, then exit (remember what you called it).
In the My Documents\EAGames\The Sims 2\Projects there will be a directory that was made for your project. BodyShop told you this was where the files were.
In the directory are a bunch of "*.bmp" files, and one "*.package" file.
Open the .package file with SimPE and find the 3DID reference files.
Write down all the numbers on the line that starts with "Shape:"
You may find several 3DID files, some with the same shape values, some with different numbers. If you have several sets of numbers, you will need several sets of meshes to complete the project for all the age groups.
Go to "Open" in SimPE and navigate to the game directory, C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2\ (or maybe Nightlife or University) and then continue hunting for TSData\Res\Sims3D (or maybe just 3D in the expansion packs).
Open up the Sims05.package. Find the Shape file(s) listed in the 3DID there by the numbers (the instance filter is a geat help). Select one. In the plugin view of SimPE is an "items" tab, and there should be a reference to a name ending in "_tslocator_gmnd". Write this name down.
Open the Sims04.package and use the name map to find the instance number of the GMND (geometric node) you need. You probably need to write it down (most people can only reliably remember 7 digits at a time, something the phone company discovered a long time ago).
Select the GMND you want, again, the instance filter is a big help.
In Plug-in view, under the "reference" tab will be a line "GEOMETRIC DATA CONTAINER:" followed by 4 numbers. Write these down.
Open the Sims03.package, and the file matching those 4 numbers (actually, just the last 3, the first one is the type, and is always the same for GMDCs.
This is the mesh used by the game to make the hairstyle you selected.
You can now export it by right-clicking on it from the list and choosing "Extract" (for using the MilkShape plugins). Or there is another tab in the plugin view that allows you to export in a choice of files formats (in newer versions of SimPE), or at least in .obj format.
When you "Extract" the file, you need to navigate to where you want to save it to, and depending on the SimPE version, you'll get two files, one ending in .xml and the other ending in either .simpe or .5gd. The .xml file I always delete, because you have to edit it to your new edited filename if you want to import it via the .xml file. So you would end up with the old file, not your edited one.
Often the name part ahead of _tslocator_gmnd is the same as the part of the name ahead of _tslocator_gmdc", but it is not a rule... the numbers from the Geometric Node steer the game to the correct GMDC, no matter what it got named.

<* Wes *>

Thanks for clearing that up for me Wes

Don't we need the recourse node (sims06.package) as well? Or do we just need these three? (shape, geomatric node, geomatric data container)

i got stuck as always! its a great tutorial,its just i cauld never find the right ones in simpe.and when i idi i cauldnt find the export button...i managed it the first time it was just with 4,5 and 6,i cauldnt find export.my eyes are sore now,ill try again tomorow. thankyou for such a great tutorial.

hi! thanks for the tutorial. one question, though. is there any quick-ish way to convert hair from one gender to the other and have it come out right? as in, to take an AF hair (specifically the shortlocs) and make it fit the AM head? i see lots of people make these, but i can't seem to figure it out. help?

thanks,

paige

Sorry, no quick way, almost always they went in and edited/resized the mesh - male and female heads are not the same shape (except maybe kids/toddlers).

You'd need to do a fairly simple change with SimPE to tell it to use the hair on the opposite sex, but you'd also need to rework the mesh(es) (depending on how many ages you want to support) pretty much following the tutorial above.

ah well. thanks. i'll keep trying.

I would really like to make my own hair ... and this tutorial make it sound ... well maybe not easy but possible ... even for me *LOL*

Thanks for making it

Rose

Hello, I have a slight problem...

whenever i've tried to follow this tutorial and i go to see if the mesh has worked in bodyshop it is always just the maxis mesh and not the one i have made... and when i check the .package where you have to change the 3IDR's the CRES and SHPE i added have been replaced by the ones they were before... like bodyshop repairs the file to the way it was?

If anyone could help me i'd appriciate it a lot!

Thanks in advance

~Ian

this part I know from body meshing (and it's worked so far for me with the hair mesh I'm working on)

Make sure you are making a new temp texture and importing it into your game.
Go find that file in your SAVED SIMS (not project) folder.
That is the file you modify with the 'newcres' and 'newshape'
make sure to hit commit after each change
hit save
go into bodyshop, start a NEW project - and your new mesh should show up (the thumbnail will be the old mesh) among the hairstyles to pick (in the custom area)

Thanks, i'll go try it out... and also thanks for the speedy reply! :D

is there any place where i can re-install sims 2 body shop, i have be for i just forgot to save the site. it keeps on freezing like a week after i use it.

okay, so i managed to make the medium locs i've been working on. thanks to you and everyone who has made a hair mesh tutorial or replied to a post in one. one more (hopefully) quick question. now that it's done, how can i attach the hair to the brown hair bin so that it comes up there instead of the custom bin? also (okay so two questions), if i attach it there, in-game CAS sims with this hair, will their kids come be born with the same hair, or will it be the default brown hair?

thanks tons.

and tiggerypum? i love your kacheek icon i was too focused to say so before.

Hey I know I already asked a question just yesterday but i have another, does anyone know what the hair joints relate to? My instinct is to just assign the whole hair the the 'head' and maybe a bit to the 'neck' as i would have done in the sims1 but i wonder what the 'c_hair', 'f_hair' etc. actually mean/do.

Thanks

~Ian

you're tutorial is okay. I tried using it but at a few points it gets a bit confusing. for example
"4. Open your Sims 2 directory on your hard drive. This is not in the same place as where your neighborhood data is. This contains all the base information needed for any user to play the game. On my computer it is C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2

5. Go to EA GAMES --> The Sims 2 --> TSData --> Res --> Sims3D. Open Sims03. This contains all of the original game's GMDC files. These are the ones that you will be editing. I usually export a lot of them at a time, so I don't have to keep going back into that package file to find more hair meshes.
*If you had exported a hair from either Nightlife or University, then you will need to open those directories instead. The folder 3D for the expansions is the same as Sims3D for the original game.
(University: EA GAMES --> The Sims 2 University --> TSData --> Res --> 3D. and Nightlife: EA GAMES --> The Sims 2 Nightlife --> TSData --> Res --> 3D)"
at first that made me think I had to go on to the hard drive and open a file which will not open like that. then I relised you had to go to SimPE to open it. you did a pretty good job on the tutorial but you need to be as specifice as possible. I know this may have sounded mean but I meant it to be help full

do i need both SimPE and milkshape to create hair?

yes mandy

asukakeina- that's directory on my computer that you type in to find all the data that the sims game pulls form to use.

DJMur3 this should really clear up on how to know how to mesh-well done!

MadKidIan youv said "whenever i've tried to follow this tutorial and i go to see if the mesh has worked in bodyshop it is always just the maxis mesh and not the one i have made... " i had that problem before. in the MESH file, i read you shouldnt FixIntegrity. someone explained why.

ariapaige211 : 'now that it's done, how can i attach the hair to the brown hair bin so that it comes up there instead of the custom bin?' you need DatGen for that, datgen.info i think the website is. look in tutourals and it says how to put the hairs in the right bins

I dont have these 3 folders TSData --> Res --> Sims3D

Kitkat, you must or your game would not run at all. You must look in your program files area (try going to my computer, hit your hard drive, then programs, then ea games and so on)

Callum91, thanks tons. i can't seem to get the hair toner plugin to work though. i downloaded the activeX like it said to and everything. i think perhaps i give up on that. thanks a lot for the info and the website and all, though.