Hi, when I export and then re-import my meshes into milkshape any changes made to normals on the morphs seem to disappear?



It's as if the importer is copying the normal data from the "body" and applying it to the morphs? I have tried both milkshape 3.1.4 and 3.1.5 beta 1 and the problem persists. Any help or insight would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Topaz

Have you tried 1.8.5 Beta 2? (Don't know if there is a 3.1.5?)

Which format are you using? .simpe or .5GD?
Is Autosmooth ticked off (just as a precaution)?

Are you changing the normal info in Milkshape or in a different program? If you're changing it in for instance Blender, Milkshape can't always read that info, depending on how you've added it.

Only changes applied directly to the mesh are applied, and not something that only the program reads, so smoothing groups (in Milkshape) or edge modifiers like sharp/smooth edges (from Blender) won't be read.

Smoothing aplied directly to the mesh will in most cases be read by Unimesh, even where there are split edges, so "align normals" and "Cat's normal smoother" work fine.

Thank you for your reply,

I've just tried 1.8.5 beta 2 and the problem persists. I've only edited the mesh in milkshape and only used align normals. I've tried exporting as .5gd and .simpe with the same result. Autosmooth is off.

Edit: Okay, it seems the importer/exporter doesn't like morph names starting with ~00 so I changed it to ~01 and exported then re-imported and it now shows the changes to the normals. However, on the re-import it renamed the morphs to ~00. I had a similar problem earlier when I had them named ~00MORPHMOD.0 (fat) and ~00MORPHMOD.1 (preg) and it was ruining my fat morphs so if anyone faces similar morph problems they must end in 1 for fat and 2 for preg.

Thanks,
Topaz

Could be that, yes. Always make sure you name the morphs appropriately, and also that the comments are correct.

If you import a mesh with morphs over another mesh with morphs, the importer usually changes the morph names of the last imported mesh in Milkshape. Can get quite confusing if there are several parts to keep track of.

The number in front is the group number the morphs belong to, so 00 is the base group, 01 is the next (if you have multiple groups), and so on.

An example - but only put in as many groups you actually need:

Part 1
body/top/bottom (the full mesh, parts of a mesh, skin parts...)
~00MORPHMOD.1 (fat)
~00MORPHMOD.2 (preg)

Part 2
shirt (for a 4t2/3t2 conversion, for instance)
~01MORPHMOD.1 (fat)
~01MORPHMOD.2 (preg)

Part 3
pants (if you're putting together two meshes that would otherwise overlap)
~02MORPHMOD.1 (fat)
~02MORPHMOD.2 (preg)

Part 4
Shoes
(won't need morphs)

(multiple editable groups are used for conversions, for putting together meshes that have overlapping UVs, for alpha-editable meshes, sometimes hairs, and a few other reasons).

I have found the real problem, it had "NoMorphNorms:" in the body comments for some reason and of course that comment does what it says lol

Thanks,
Topaz

Strange... if it's a conversion, maybe it was left over from the original?

Morph comments for the main mesh group should be something like this:

ModelName: body (or other name)
Opacity: -1 (number varies with opacity layer)
HasTangentArray:
NumSkinWgts: 3
MorphRefNum: 0 (number of morph, corresponds to number at the front of the morph name).

Fat/pregmorphs should usually only have one line each in the comments, corresponding to which morph type (fat/preg) and clothing type (top or bottom/fullbody) it is.

Just a maxis mesh from Family Fun Stuff, I have now noticed some meshes from Happy Holiday Stuff are the same so now I'll be looking out for it.

Thanks,
Topaz