Ok i know how to combine meshes. There is one problem though, i really dont what joints to assign (i know where to go to assign them i just dont know which ones to assign) Well im combining pants to a fullbody mesh so i deleted the lower part (just about at the hips down) Then i imported the obj. pants, now i dont know what to assign and select. Can someone help please.

Erm, well, you CAN cut off the top of a body, import the bottom as an obj, and then reassign every vertex in the bottom by looking at the original bottoms, each and every vertex, and duplicate the exact bone assignments from them, one by one, but man, that seems like a boring way to spend an evening.

What would seem to make more sense to me is importing the first body with the pants you want to use eventually as a GMDC - cut off the top, then re-export as a GMDC. Open the second body with the top you want to use, and cut off the bottom. Then import the GMDC that just includes the pants. It should ask you if you want to import a second skeleton - tell it NO. You don't want a duplicate skeleton.

That should retain the bone assignments in the bottom and the top, and then at that point, you should have both in a single file, bone assignments the same as they were originally on everything. Fix any seam between the two, fix uv mapping, weld any vertices if necessary, regroup, fix comments, export, and that SHOULD work. I don't work a lot with bodies (mostly hair/accessories - the assignments are soooo much easier) so I'm not 100% sure, but if I was going to do what you describe, that's what I'd try first before spending a looooooong time redoing each and every bone assignment in the bottoms.

ok thankyou . I will try it. i hate assinging the stupid joints and stuff its so annyoing.

OH and i have a question about welding....well why when i try to weld it doesnt work? I was using a shoe mesh someone had available for download and it said to weld if there was a line and when i tried to weld nothing happened.

Well, in order to weld (combine two vertices to make them one vertex) the vertices must first be in the same place. First snap the two vertices together, and then try welding them. You'll have to do it all the way around a seam - just welding one but not welding the adjacent ones, you'll still see a seam. I'd recommend fixing your uv mapping first - I'm not sure, but it seems like it might be more difficult to fix after welding if necessary.

ok thanks.

HP's advice is correct, I have done several combination of meshes by simply importing a second GMDC with UniMesh. No need to re-assign anything, which is a major pain on body meshes.

But be careful about welding! It can mess up your uv_mapping and/or normals. I have seen the tutorial you are using, they made a mistake. It should say "snap together", NOT "Weld together"

There is really no need to weld the vertices, just make sure they are in the exact same place and have the same assignments, uv_mapping, and normals. Use the extended manual edit tool for this, welding won't correct the uv_mapping anyway, and it won't change the normals unless you have "autosmooth" on - which you should not do with Sims2 meshes. You could also use "snap together" and use the Extended Manual Edit tool afterwards to correct the uv_mapping and normals, I've done it both ways with good results.

Leave them unwelded.

D'oh. My apologies - I've never had the issues Dr Pixel describes with welding parts - but then, as I said, I don't do a huge amount with bodies, mostly hair/accessories which don't really have the same normals issues. Good to know, though.

ok thanks guys ...mabey i will try to make the mesh tomorrow.

OK, to be technically accurate - you really can get away with welding vertices together IF:

* you use the Extended Manual Edit tool first to make sure the locations (x,y,z) are all the same, and that the uv_map co-ordinates and normals are the same too. (Because once you weld them, you can no longer edit the uv_co-ordinates and normals separately, the separate vertices become one vertice, you're stuck with what you got)

* you have "autosmooth" un-checkmarked (or you will most likely get unwanted shadows)

* and, you make sure NOT to weld the "seam" vertices where the front and the back sides of the mesh join together. (again, uv_mapping and normals problems)

But that comes down to too many "if's", "ands", and "buts" for me - I make enough mistakes already - and they work just fine unwelded, so I leave them alone.

Hey

I want to combine two meshes, too and I followed instructions given by Paroxysm

But it don't ask me if I want to import a second skeleton - message is: "Do you want to exclude additional bone definitions?"

If I tell "OK", normal number of bones is shown in the joints tab.
If I tell "Cancel", double number of bones is shown.
In both cases assignments are right.

What should I do?

So, I have to edit my post

I tried to use normal number of bones and everything is okay.
I regrouped and add comments but when exporting it tells me the following: "Normal/Morph model count mismatch detected
Check for proper MorphRefNum: values in model comments"

I understand what it means, but how can I find out, which number is correct?
I used a mesh with coat and jeans and deleted the arms and replaced them with naked arms.
So I used the comment from the old coat mesh which says "MorphRefNum: 2", the other mesh I used the naked arms from says "MorphRefNum: 0"

What's the right number?

You don't change the morphnum, you need to replace the morph mesh (also in your editing session) with a copy of your new finished mesh, and then give it the same comments as the existing morph mesh, the same name, AND change it to match the morph (like fat, it should look like a typical 'fat' morph). Then you can export.

You can change either the comment, or the name of the morph group - the important thing is both numbers must match.

To make the "fat" morph, you can do as Tiggerypum suggests and make a duplicate of the normal body, then move the vertices to make it fat.

I find it easier to keep the original "fat" morph, and make the exact same edits to it as I do to the normal body - this works too, so take your choice here.

I have had some meshes 'blow up' in fat mode when I went to do identical edits (the edits did involve me adding a piece with grouping, I have no idea if that caused it). But yeah, I've found that with complex edits that I'm best off getting my mesh working totally right in fit mode only, then going back and adding a fat morph later and just distorting the mesh to be fat.

Yeah - the fat mesh had a 0 and not a 2 in the group name, so I changed the comment - thanks for your help

What am I doing wrong?

I tried to combine a top and shorts, just like that, I didn't change the morphnumber, only the comments and the names. Not working. It says the same like in Lueppi's comment, on and on and on.
So what's the matter? :o

One problem could be that a top mesh will have the main group named "top", the bottom mesh will be named "bottom"

A whole-body mesh will be named "body"

The comments inside the morph groups also are different in a whole body, and in a separate top/bottom.

If you are trying to combine a separate top mesh with a separate bottom mesh, you will have to clone a third mesh - a whole body mesh - to make the original MESH .package file, then combine the top/bottom meshes, regroup and rename them and comment them the same as the whole-body mesh, then get rid of the original whole-body mesh.

If you want to combine parts to make a new mesh.

MAKE SURE AUTOSMOOTH IS OFF. DO NOT USE 'SMOOTH ALL'
Use 'snap to' to align pairs of vertices perfectly, or demon's extended edit tools (top of forum in the stickies). Use demon's align normals (after selecting the vertices in that area) to smooth over any spots that need it. You also need to check the UV MAP and zoom in there and might need to realign some of the vertices to meet perfectly on seams where your parts join. (end edit)

1) Load in a base mesh (even if you're not using any of it) that is of the proper final form. For instance, if your final mesh is going to be a full body outfit for a woman, you must load in _some_ full body outfit for a woman, make it similar to your final goal. The names and comments of those groups are going to be the names and comments you should have for your final mesh. If you're going to do a very complex edit, load it in without morphs to start with. *use the proper gender and age*

2) Then you can import in however many other gmdc-meshes (do not read in the bones/skeletons) They will come in with their bone assignments, but you don't want to add more skeletons to the projects.

2a) As you are doing these major edits, save your file in milkshape format at various points, and up the version number with each save -- that way you _might_ be able to go back to a previous version if you decide you don't like some of your edits.

3) chop, delete, make sure everything is aligned perfectly - and regroup things such that you have the *same number of groups* in your new mesh as the 'base' mesh. Usually that means one group. Copy the comments from the base mesh group(s) to the new ones. Rename the new ones to match the base mesh names. NOW delete your base mesh groups.

4) Test in game. Make the sim sit on couches and chairs, dance, jump on a bed or couch. Make sure the mesh works as you expected. I usually have several rounds of edits at this point just to clean up little bits of bone assignments that don't match up, adjusting textures or other things.

5) Assuming this was a complex edit, _now_ is the time I'd add back in the fat morph. Start milkshape with 'new' and import the gmdc of the original base mesh you used in step 1, and read in the morphs. Hide the original body and the morphs (on the display)

6) Import your final gmdc. Go to the 'body' group of the first mesh, copy its comments. Put those comments on your new 'body'. Delete the original body and move your new body up into place.

7) Now select the entire body and say 'duplicate'.
Hide the original body. Just to be sure you only have the duplicate showing, 'hide' it and then click hide again to make it show. This is going to be your new fat morph. Make the original fat morph visible, and hide and show it as needed. Now use 'scale' and 'move' and make your new morph close the the shape of the original fat morph.

8) Once you're done, copy the fat morphs comments and name to the duplicate - and delete the original fat morph.

9) Now you're ready to test again. You _must_ test the mesh in CAS and make sure that when you flip your sim between fit and fat that the mesh looks fine.

Thanks for the mini-tutorial.

Yes, really THANK YOU.

Um, when i import the second gmdc i dont get the option to not import the skeleton, it just says create blend groups? and thats about all it asks me.

do you have the LATEST unimesh? That feature was added recently.

mmm...i dont know, let me check.
EDIT: Wow im really slow. OK i found it. thankyou.

I Wanna Learn This..!!

Okay... then, um, read the thread? It tells you what you need to know. This is not a beginner-type project, though, so if you're not experienced already in modifying bodies, you'll probably find this too challenging. If that's the case, try smaller, simpler edits to bodies before attempting a very complex project of this sort.

Do You Have To Import The Skeletos Of Every Part Of The New Mesh??