Better mesh building. From Sculptris to SoftImage to Anim8or. - by Phantom
Phantom on 14/5/2013 at 04:04
Obviously this doesn't hold a candle to what PinkDot and others are working on, but I've discovered a better way to create meshes for Thief. This allows a more detailed body shape than building from scratch in Anim8or, at least not the way I do it, as well as creates a mesh with a low enough poly count for Thief/DromEd to handle. Needless to say, I'm sure there are several people around here that are talented enough in 3ds max, maya, etc, that this process will be useless to them! Although this will help some people who may have made simple meshes with too many polys for DromEd to handle, SoftImage can reduce them for you.
But if you aren't very good like me... you can start with a build in Sculptris. In case you aren't familiar, Scultris allows you to "draw" a 3d model starting with a sphere and using brush tools such as draw, inflate, flatten, smooth, etc. Lots of good tutorials on YouTube. This was my first model in Sculptris. I'm still a novice but you can see it's not that hard to pick up on! Export your finished mesh as an .obj file.
Inline Image:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7282/8736459601_855ac93c62_z.jpgOkay great, we have a female mesh (before you ask, yes I do prefer a lady with some curves :laff:), but Sculptris creates highly detailed models, no way you could ever import it like this. Next comes a program made for Half Life 2 modeling, SoftImage XSI 6. This program has since been acquired by AutoDesk, and newer versions do not have the poly reduction tool, so make sure you download version 6, just google it. Import your .obj file from Sculptris into SoftImage.
Inline Image:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7285/8736459597_b157e88477_z.jpgHoly smokes, 171,600 polys, MeshBld crashes around 2000, so this will not work for Thief. Switch SoftImage to pro mode and click poly mesh -> poly reduction. Start with a ratio of 99 and work your way backwards, depending on how detailed your Sculptris model is. When you change the ratio softimage automatically reduces the polys, you'll want the triangle count around 1500 to 1800, maybe less if you plan on adding more polys in anim8or though!
Inline Image:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7285/8736459441_72d730a612_z.jpgAwesome, 1712 polys, now DromEd won't cry when you import this into Thief. You can also select only the faces that you want to reduce the count on, like if you wanted to keep extra detail in the face or hands instead of reducing it all uniformly. Click okay and export your low poly model as a new .obj file. Now you can import this into anim8or or 3ds max and add the joints and limit planes, I won't go into detail on that now, there's a good tut for it on the low poly guild @ cheap thief missions and there's another good one around as well, I'll post the links later. Here's my model in anim8or ready to test in DromEd.
Inline Image:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7287/8736460133_7ddf9e3ef6_z.jpgAnd once again in game mode:
Inline Image:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7282/8736460091_5c56cefb37_z.jpgSuccess, now back to Anim8or for retexturing:
Inline Image:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7288/8736460037_5aeecf10f6_z.jpgAnd again in game mode with the new textures:
Inline Image:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7286/8736460033_40115fee49_z.jpgInline Image:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7288/8736459753_dbd0c500e4_z.jpgObviously I need to shorten the arms and do a lot more texture work for the right look I want, but the process was so much easier and accurate to get where I wanted versus building in Anim8or alone. Especially in areas where the mesh is rounded, very hard to do in anim8or when you start with a box and extrude from there.
Well I hope this helps some of you! Let me know if you have any questions, feel free to PM me. But not at the moment, it's way past my bedtime, cheers!:thumb:
P.S. For the full res images just go to my (
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76975683@N04/) flicker feed!
Ottoj55 on 14/5/2013 at 15:13
i like the poly reduction, but i often build these types of meshes from 5 or 6 sided cylinders and build point to point filling later on filling in the polygons with faces. my ai meshes rebuilt the ttlg meshes almost from scratch in some places that way.
Phantom on 14/5/2013 at 23:34
Quote Posted by Ottoj55
i like the poly reduction, but i often build these types of meshes from 5 or 6 sided cylinders and build point to point filling later on filling in the polygons with faces. my ai meshes rebuilt the ttlg meshes almost from scratch in some places that way.
I see where you're coming from, I just prefer to build mine from absolute scratch. The original models are just so boxy, that coupled with the crude motions makes them ugly. I like what you did with the original meshes though, so that authors have more control over reskinning them to taste, but mine are more or less just for my own mission. I didn't take into account someone might eventually want to reskin them, so each one uses 7 or 8 different textures with multiple UV maps so reskinning may be difficult for some. I'm just showing this method so people can use the same technique for their own work.
LarryG on 27/5/2013 at 00:34
Quote Posted by Phantom
...
Okay great, we have a female mesh (before you ask, yes I do prefer a lady with some curves :laff:), but Sculptris creates highly detailed models, no way you could ever import it like this. Next comes a program made for Half Life 2 modeling, SoftImage XSI 6. This program has since been acquired by AutoDesk, and newer versions do not have the poly reduction tool, so make sure you download version 6, just google it. Import your .obj file from Sculptris into SoftImage.
...
Holy smokes, 171,600 polys, MeshBld crashes around 2000, so this will not work for Thief. Switch SoftImage to pro mode and click poly mesh -> poly reduction. Start with a ratio of 99 and work your way backwards, depending on how detailed your Sculptris model is. When you change the ratio softimage automatically reduces the polys, you'll want the triangle count around 1500 to 1800, maybe less if you plan on adding more polys in anim8or though!
...
Awesome, 1712 polys, now DromEd won't cry when you import this into Thief. You can also select only the faces that you want to reduce the count on, like if you wanted to keep extra detail in the face or hands instead of reducing it all uniformly. Click okay and export your low poly model as a new .obj file. Now you can import this into anim8or or 3ds max and add the joints and limit planes, I won't go into detail on that now, there's a good tut for it on the low poly guild @ cheap thief missions and there's another good one around as well, I'll post the links later. Here's my model in anim8or ready to test in DromEd.
...
I need a DETAILED tutorial on how, exactly to use SoftImage. I can't even figure out how to import the model I want to reduce the polys on. Please, step by step. The SoftImage user interface has my head aching!!
Phantom on 27/5/2013 at 21:57
Quote Posted by LarryG
I need a DETAILED tutorial on how, exactly to use SoftImage. I can't even figure out how to import the model I want to reduce the polys on. Please, step by step. The SoftImage user interface has my head aching!!
No problem Larry.
- Once you get SoftImage open click on File -> Import -> Obj File.
- You'll see a filename box, click the "..." button to the right of it.
- It will open a select file box and starts from within the modtool database. Click the "Up" button to navigate back to your C:/ drive or wherever you have your .obj file stored.
- Select the file from the folder and click OK, then click OK again to import the obj file.
- Once it loads the mesh it will be so large you won't be able to make anything out. Click on the purple box in the top left corner of the view that says "Camera" or it may say "User", and change it to "Front" view. The small button in the top right hand corner of the view changes it from solo view to 4 direction view.
- You should be able to see some of the triangles of your mesh, click on any of the lines to select the object, the lines will highlight white.
- With the object selected press the F key to zoom out and fit the object in the window.
- Make sure you are in XSI Default mode from here on. At the top select Modes -> XSI Default.
- From here you can reduce polys for the whole mesh or select the individual faces you want to reduce. On far right of the window are the select tools. Click "Polygon" and you can drag a box in the view over the faces you want to reduce. Hold Ctrl to select multiple sections of faces.
- With either the whole object still selected or just the faces you want to reduce, go to the Modify menu on the left side of the window.
- Under Modify click Poly. Mesh -> Polygon Reduction. When the window opens you'll be working under the header "Reduction Amount".
- You can change the unit of reduction to Ratio, Vtx Count, and Tri Count, by clicking the arrow next to "Units". I normally just use Ratio.
- Change the Ratio to 99 and hit the Tab key. The polys change in real time so just keep an eye on the Tri Count, you'll want to get it down under 2000. If they are too high at 99 you can do 99.1, 99.245, etc. until you get them low enough.
- No need to click OK or anything from here, when you have the tri count low enough just click the 'x' at the top right of the poly reduction window to close it.
- Now click File -> Export -> Obj File. Click the '...' button and navigate 'Up' to find the folder where you want to save the new file.
- Enter the filename and click OK. Then click OK again to save it.
Hope that helps Larry. Feel free to PM me if you need any more help!
LarryG on 30/5/2013 at 19:11
That helps a lot! I would never have figured that out, thanks.
I take it that the Import process can't preserve the textures applied to the mesh? The OBJ file has that information, but it seems not to come over in the import, or is there something special I need to do?
Phantom on 31/5/2013 at 21:34
Quote Posted by LarryG
That helps a lot! I would never have figured that out, thanks.
I take it that the Import process can't preserve the textures applied to the mesh? The OBJ file has that information, but it seems not to come over in the import, or is there something special I need to do?
I do all my texture mapping in anim8or so I haven't taken that avenue yet, but I'm pretty sure there are some options to preserve uv mapping in softimage. I'll see if I cant figure that out for you.
