Jmtmom,

the meshes won't be included in the sim package, people will have to download them separately.

Hi,

Good tutorial, i was looking for this last time I did some meshing!

One thing though, if i want to re-skin the skintone after modifyng the skintone package file, I have to re-import in Body Shop and re-do all the package modding. That's pretty much work when there's that many different 3D ID references. Any way around this?

Thanks.

Edit: Found a solution...

First of all, Marvine, thank you so much for this tutorial and all the incredible meshes you have made. I LOVE them, and look forward to more from the ju-beos team.

Now for the problem: I may be crazy, but I am hoping to link some of AllenABQ's beautiful hairy skintones to the bodybuilder mesh. I have tried several times to link just one of the skintones (black hair, light skin, hair pattern #1) to the mesh, but each time my Sim gets wimpy in the shower. :banghead:

I don't know if there is a reason why AllenABQ's skintones would not work with this technique - I followed your tut exactly; I don't think I goofed it up.

Do you have any clues?

Thanks again!



OOPS!!! I was not opening the right skintone file - I opened the one in the "projects" folder, not the "saved sims" folder! :dunce: Now my guy stays hairy AND muscular in the shower! Only 54 more skintones to go... Thanks again!

marvine,

Thank you so much for the tutorial, I got very confused and annoyed at first but I could be able to complete it. I downloaded a package that allows you to view Sims in bodyshop naked (it belongs to Targa, I believe), maybe that can help you. My problem is, what I applied at your tutorial didnt appear in the bodyshop, the mesh that I imported to the bodyshop is still skinless in the extra parts. I am going to enter the game and make sure if I am right or wrong. Thanks anyway!

update: I think that the mesh I got isnt split in two, so its not working. I did everything right I believe, but I had to use one mesh for both top and bottom. I knew there was something wrong in the beginning. Now, to stick my nose into MilkShape...or not to stick? :skull:

I am trying to use this method to link the child mesh found here http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=122477 to a custom skintone. The mesh is linked correctly and shows up correctly in-game, but the problem is that the body texture is displaying as green-and-black, so the child appears to have green skin from the neck down while naked (and he is definitely not an alien!) I don't know anything about meshing, I was trying to use a mesh someone else created. I think the problem is that the mesh I am trying to use is a full-body mesh. Is it possible to link a texture to this mesh, or to my custom skintone, so that it will show up correctly in game? If so, how exactly? I have tried everything I can think of, nothing works.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Karen

Xburc, Karenh3,

For now I didn't find a way to link skintones to full-body meshes - in fact I didn't take the time to look into that seriously. For now, when using full-body meshes, you'll get the green and black look which happens when the game tries to display two meshes at the same time. Theoritically, it should be possible to edit the skintone files so that they need only full-body meshes, but Maxis must have used tops and bottoms for a reason and I'd like to figure it out...

Anyway, even if it is possible, it seems to me that editing the skintone packages to that end would be much more work than separating a full-body mesh into top and bottom. If you know how to build a mesh package (and there are great meshing tutorials on this section), Wes-h's Unimesh plugins for Milkshape make this really quick and easy - when I have some time I may put up a quick tutorial for this, but all the needed information is available on the body-meshing tutorials and the Unimesh plugins thread.

marvine,

I really want this child mesh made into nude default. Can I change that child mesh into a child nude default in simpe? Here is this child mesh. I hope I can do that myself.

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=122477

Pfish,

There's no reason it shouldn't work, if you want to make it a default you need in this case to make it override the default male child nude; this means NOT fixing integrity when you build your replacement packages from the game default nude mesh files. Of course you will still need to have a top and a bottom - even if a full body nude mesh exists in the game files, I'm not sure what it is used for.

Can you point me to a specific thread anywhere that gives step by step instructions on how to split a full-body mesh into top and bottom using Milkshape? I just downloaded Milkshape and the latest version of the Unimesh plugins. I tried looking at the Unimesh thread but it is way over my head. It might be "quick and easy" to you but I have never done anything with meshing before and I need help.

Karen

Karenh3,

I didn't meant to be rude in any way; this tutorial was first intended for body meshers, but I tend to forget that other people would like to give it a try - which is very brave.

You'll find information on Tiggerypum's meshing tutorial for beginners HERE; it explains how to do some basic editing, but it's very well done.
From 8) to 20) it explains how to build mesh packages and link them to the textures.

Now, about the Unimesh plugins, first you'll have to read carefully the user manual to avoid mistakes; but essentially, you have to import your body mesh gmdc using the Unimesh plugin, click "yes" when asked "create blend groups" if you want to keep the fat and pregnant morphs, select and delete the faces from the body half you don't need (for all the groups one by one, main and morphmods, hiding the other groups in the groups tab) and rename the main group "top" or "bottom"; then import in another window the maxis nude top or bottom gmdc, and copy the needed group comments in your new mesh. Then export with the Unimesh export plugin, open your mesh package in SimPE and replace the gmdc, commit, save - you're done, repeat the process for the other half.

*Sigh* I realise this may not look so easy, but once you understand the process it takes just a few minutes - I hope this helps, you can PM me if you need more help.

I just wanted to express my sincere thank you for this tutorial. At first glance it seemed complicated but it was quite easy to follow and I got my new bodymesh to work like a charm,in and out of the shower. Thank you!

Thanks a lot, for this very usefull and interesting tuto, it opens so much possibilies to modders.

As usual you made a great job !!!

Wow I needed this for the bodybuiler mesh. I always wanted to do this! Thank you so much!! ^_^

Supergoku,

Are you aware that there already are linked skintones for the bodybuilder? You can find the Maxis skintones here, and there are plenty others on our section or on Wirelessguy's at InSIMenator.net (link in my sig)... And if you don't find the skintone you need, you don't have to go through the whole linking process; just clone an already bodybuilder linked skintone in Bodyshop and replace the textures, it's much much faster and easier.

yes I was aware. I just wanted to link some other skintones I was stuck on e.) # 4 anyway I'll try that instead. thank you!! ^_^

Edit: OMG I got it to work!! It took me a whole day but it was worth it!! Thank you Marvine!!

Hi Marvine,

I used your tutorial in my SimPE version .58.2.20950 and got very confused because of the differences between my version and the one you wrote the tutorial for. The newer version is a little most user friendly and doesn't require as many steps. I wrote a tutoral for this updated version but I am not allowed to post it on this site. I posted it at the Inseminator.com site under Warlokk's HI RES bodyshape project in answer to another's request.
http://www.insimenator.net/showthread.php?t=22957s

If you would like to use some of it to update your tutoral please feel free. Also if you notice anything wrong with it please tell me. I am a big fan of your creations.
Thanks

JWilson, not allowed to post it here? Not by our rules. Anyone may offer a tutorial. You need to post it in a regular thread in the main bodyshop-meshing area, and a staff member will move it to the tutorials area. All you had to do was ask/offer.

Hi tiggerypum

When I attempted to start a new thread I received this message:

Jwilson5, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account from accessing this area.


I did not want to put a another tutorial inside of Marvine's tutorial so I just put it on another site and left a link for her or anyone else who wanted it.
Perhaps I misunderstood how to post a new thread. I have never done it here before.

Jwilson,

I just checked your tutorial and there's nothing wrong with it - but in fact the only difference I can find between our methods is that I propose to use the instance filter to find the 3D ID referencing files, which isn't really needed (I don't do that anymore myself)... All the steps are the same: find the meshes, extract the resource node and shape, then link them to the right 3D ID referencing files. But if there is a difference for you, then maybe yours may suit some people better; I found out that it's always interesting to compare different approaches when it comes to tutorials.

Now I guess I should update my screenshots with a new version of SimPE!

Hi Marvine,
Yeah, thats the difference between the tutorials. It was easier for me to just look up the instances in the window in the upper right corner because I could not figure out how to use the instance filters you mentioned. Thats where I kept getting stuck until I found the same info was available in the overall list. Thats why I thought that maybe this newer SimPE version was a bit different than the one you wrote the original tutorial for. Thanks for your input.

Jwilson5, you can't post a new thread inside the _tutorial_ area, no one can. That's what I said about the staff moving things into this section. (otherwise people would post questions, requests, and all sorts of stuff here, too)

You can post a new thread in the main bodyshop meshing discussion area, over here: http://www.modthesims2.com/forumdisplay.php?f=34

Sorry I was not more clear. Just make a new thread there and I'll move it into the tutorials section for you.

Thanks for explaining the process for me. I will not be posting my tutorial as Marvine's is fine. It was just confusing in some areas for me and I thought maybe it was because she wrote it for an older version of SIMPE. Also some of her images were different from what I was seeing. However, the different in the tutorials appears to be different approaches to gathering the same information (instance info).

is there a tutorial to split a mesh into a top and a bottom?

If you understand how to work with body meshes and have done all 3 unimesh tutorials, then it should not be that hard to figure out what to do next. Start with a maxis top or bottom, read in the mesh you want the parts from, split it. Rename, copy comments, it's all the same stuff over and over.

I figured a lot of it out myself but still....my sim would not show up the right way.
Then i read in the tut. there are 2 ambottomnaked files(argh)
Works great know!!!
Thank you so much Marvine