Hi!
I am new to meshing, making hairs and stuff. I've watched some tutorials but I still cant make a combination of two hairstyles ex. I want a bangs from one hairstyle and add them to other hairstyle. How do I do that? I tried to make something similar but it ended working but in a wrong way. Can someone explain it to me step by step? Thank you so much!

I'm not sure if there's a spesific tutorial for this, but there are some you can combine - what you're after is referred to as "frankensteining" two meshes together, which is similar to how you'd do it for clothes.

You essentially need to pull out the parts from each mesh you want into the same file, then edit the UVmap(s), make sure the mesh groups are properly layered and named (use the naming from the mesh/recolor you decide to use as the base for your hair), and from there you can pretty much follow along with a regular hair tutorial.

Hairs are a bit different from clothes, in that they usually have more layers (unless you're working on a 4t2 "clay" hair conversion), so you'll need to keep those in mind when setting up the mesh. The hair groups need to be layered properly, or there will be some weirdness in the mesh, with parts of the mesh bleeding through, or other issues. I'd think this part is covered in at least one of the hair tutorials (and if not, just ask again).

UVs for hair can overlap. If the hairs can use the same texture, you can usually combine the UVs into the same UVmap without having to edit it too much. If there's enough difference between the hairs and there's no extra roomin the original UVmap, you may have to use two different ones (but avoid it if you can, more maps = bigger filesize, but often also more annoying to recolor).

Basic hair tutorial:
https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=158048

Some more info on hairs:
https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=139819

UV edits (on outfit)
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?ti..._and_UV_Mapping

Combine mesh parts (on outfit)
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?ti..._-_wiki_version

There are also a bunch of other useful tutorials on CAS meshing here:
https://ts2tutorialdatabase.tumblr.com/Meshing

thank you so so much!

I have one more question, is a mesh problem or something else?
I mean the lines under hairline

https://i.imgur.com/Uz4Oh9A.png

(sorry for link, but I have problems with uploading a image lol)

It's a mesh issue. Comes from non-aligned normals.

If it happened after you edited the hair, it could be caused by having "Autosmooth" ticked under "Groups" in Milkshape. Make sure that one is unticked before importing anything.

The "easiest" is to extract a bald head for the right age/gender (age/gender prefix + "hairbald", YA/A/E uses adult mesh), and use the "Extended manual edit" to copy the normals from the edge. You can use the "Unimesh Normal Data Merge" tool, but you need to layer the mesh groups properly for the correct one to pick up the new normals (can be abit of a trial and failure process). Personally I prefer having the extracted faces there, too (easier to see the result).

I think I came across a tutorial that showed how to fix this, but can't remember who made it (will add it below if I can find it), but in the meantime, here's some info:
https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=131412 (info)
https://modthesims.info/article.php?t=225607 (info)
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?ti..._-_wiki_version (Extended manual edit)

(I've got a folder with extracted base bodyparts in various useful formats, here: https://simfileshare.net/download/1455543/ - Faces are in Obj format, so import those after whichever mesh you're editing, and make sure to delete them before exporting your finished mesh).

Hmm, I am making mesh in blender and after that im exporting it to Milkshape, maybe it could be reason why its happening? I couldn't find auto smooth in blender (im using 2.79 version)

Blender tends to mess up the normals, especially in seamed areas. No idea if there's a solution to this (I don't use Blender for CAS meshing). It's possible the newer plugins help, but not sure.

Blender doesn't have the same autosmooth function, but it does seem to autosmooth/separate existing seams for any meshes you import, even if the normals were fine.

2.80++
https://modthesims.info/d/656032/th...ender-2-80.html

Simnopke also has one for the 4.1+ versions:
https://simnopke.tumblr.com/post/75...-for-blender-41

If you're using a "head" group without any hair texture and you're not making any edits to that part, you can do all your editing on the rest of the mesh, import it as usual to Milkshape, and then replace the "head" with a "head" group that hasn't been through Blender (I included all ages in the folder above).

If the "head" part has edits + texture, you'll have to fix it in Milkshape.

I tried to make something with the Extended manual edit but I don't think I understand what I should do tbh. It's to complicated for me, I guess I should look for tutorial but for hairstyles

You need two overlapping mesh groups, one with the proper normals and the one you want to fix. It can also be done with the head and a face mesh. If you use a face mesh, you need to make sure you copy the edge of the face normals over to the head, or it won't work.

You choose two overlapping vertices, open the Extended Manual Edit, make sure only "Normals" is marked at the top, and copy each of the "Norm X/Y/Z" values to the value directly vertical to it (X to X, Y to Y, Z to Z), and click "Accept". Which values are correct depends on the layering, so sometimes you have to do a test run o see if you have to copy the top numbers to the bottom, or opposite (one mesh is supposed to be above the other in Groups, but I can never remember which one). You only need to check with a couple vertices, as it will be the same "top to bottom" or "bottom to top" copy pattern for the whole group.

(Sometimes, values for 4 vertices will show. If the values are identical for 2+2 sets, you follow the copy pattern and copy the ones from either the top or bottom, depending on your mesh).

It's a tedious process, unfortunately.

You can try the "Unimesh Normal data merge" tool, but then you need to make absolutely sure the meshes are layered properly, or the normals will copy over wrong. You still have to choose two overlapping vertices, and it's still a bit tedious, but it's faster.

So I tried following your instructions but in bot ways its the same result - invisible head (https://i.imgur.com/LtQAIm0.png). Should I only mark normals around the face (like on the photo) or all "hair" layer? (im not talking about the alphas)

Just around the edge of the head + face, and just two vertices at a time (overlapping ones - one on the mesh you're fixing, one on the mesh that has the correct normals). You're copying the info from one vertex over to the other.

If you do all in one, it causes weird results. The rest of the vertices usually don't need fixing, just the ones around the edges.

If you mark vertices from the side view, keep in mind these also overlap left and right. If it's difficult to know what you're selecting, you can mark and then hide one side of both meshes temporarily (Marking and then hiding while in Vertex mode "freezes" the vertices so they can't be selected, but they're still visible. Marking/hiding in Face mode hides the selected part. Both have their uses).

OMG it finally worked! Thank you so so much, I admire your patience fr, again thank you!

Okay, I ran into another problem, so I am following this tutorial: https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=213184 and when I am adding a material definition to a toddler group suddenly my elder group dissapears. Linking went good and everything was fine, but when i started adding groups its no longer visible in bodyshop. Can it be connected to this? https://i.imgur.com/sNZ9Gq0.png I didn't edit it.

If you're going by the description at the bottom in the 3DIR to figure out which is the correct 3DIR/PropertySet match - don't do that! It's more often than not showing the wrong info.
ALWAYS pair up the 3DIR/PropertySet via the Instance numbers (1 to 1, 2 to 2, etc.) for hairs (and for accessories, but those have slightly different numbers). For figuring out the correct age or gender, you have to look at the "age" and "gender" lines in the PropertySet with the matching Instance.

My guess is that you've edited the elder hair instead of the toddler hair.

If you add Mat defs to a group, add them to the bottom in the 3DIR, don't move them up. If you move the lines up, it messes with all the other references below it in the 3DIR. When you make a recolor later, Bodyshop usually fixes the order (I tend to consider my first file a "working file", and any irregularities will be fixed with the recolors).

Rented-Space has a neat way (slightly cheaty, but much easier) of adding groups to CAS items, here, which i personally use quite a bit.
https://rented-space.tumblr.com/pos...groups-in-simpe

The problem was in moving Mat defs and wrong lines in PropertySet, anyway thank you!

So it's me again haha I’ve created a custom hair mesh and texture for toddler, but I’d like it to automatically switch to a specific Maxis base game hairstyle (e.g. "afHairPigtails") when the Sim ages up to a teen, adult, or elder.

Is there a way to link a custom hair to a specific Maxis hairstyle for older age groups (without setting it to default replacements)

I’m not looking to make a full multi-age conversion of my custom mesh – I’d just like the game to assign a base game hair automatically when the Sim grows up.

To be more specific, I would like to do something like this person did:

https://modthesims.info/d/268719/me...-as-add-on.html

Sure - you make the hair as usual, but link the texture in the Material Definition ("stdMatBaseTextureName" line, use the texture names of the TXTRs), and make the hair use the original mesh in the 3DIR.

The easiest way for the 3DIRs is to clone the hair you want to use for the other ages, so they're already linked to the correct hair. Then most of the work is already done. If you have to work the other way around, extract the meshes you want to use, and link them via the 3DIR like you'd do for a normal hair (just extract the meshes one by one and save the file - DON'T do "fix integrity" for those! - then link them to the 3DIRs for your file).

I suggest you take a look at the files you linked to - they're set up in a very similar way you'd have to do it.

For the toddler(?) hair, you'd add a texture and link + add a mesh file as per usual.