This tutorial is for anyone who would like to make shadowmaps, aka, multiplier IMG's using Blender...but it's especially for people who are unfamiliar with it. The new Blender tools make this a simple process even for people who mesh with Milkshape or another editor. Milkshape is not able to create the multiplier for you while, using Blender, you can create a perfect shadow on your object with a few clicks of your keyboard

This mini-tutorial assumes you know how to create objects for S3 using S3OC and s3pe.

What you will need: S3OC - http://dino.drealm.info/den/denforu...php?topic=190.0

S3PE - http://dino.drealm.info/den/denforu...php?topic=189.0

Blender 2.5 S3 Tools - http://www.modthesims.info/d/433882

Blender 3D 2.5+ Save As DDS - http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=458513 get the 2.59 version or the 2.60 version depending on which version of Blender you have.

Your 3D editor of choice

Your image editor of choice

Blender 2.59 or 2.60 - http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/

Install each according to the instructions given in the respective threads

To set up Blender to use the tools follow the instructions here: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=426229 Note: this tutorial, as it is written primarily for Milkshape users, assumes you are not familiar with Blender. If that's the case, you really *do* need to go through this short set-up tutorial to save yourself some headache trying to figure out where things are located.

Make your model in the editor of your choice and convert it to .obj format. In order for it to bake correctly you will need to make sure each face is mapped correctly. This means that parts of the object that require a different shadow are mapped to different parts of the map. For example, the top of a table needs to be mapped in a different place on the map than the bottom of the table since the top of a table has little shadow on it while the bottom has a lot of shadow on it.

You will also find it easier to bake if, once your object is all set, you regroup everything into a single group before saving to .obj. Basically, you're creating a version of your mesh that will be used solely for baking it.

To bake your model:

1. Import your .obj into Blender by choosing File (upper left hand corner) Import, Wavefront (.obj).



2. Set the width and height you want your multiplier to have in the EZ bake menu on the right hand side. Select the method in the third box of that menu. I usually use Raytrace but you can try both and choose the one you like better.



3. Make sure you are in Object Mode and select the group by right clicking on your object. The dark orange line around your .obj will turn a lighter shade of orange.



4. Click the Bake button and wait while Blender creates your multiplier.



5. Now press ALT + Z to see the new multiplier on your image

6. To save the multiplier first click the word Image under the Image Editor box on the left. When the menu pops up choose Save as DDS at the top of the list.



7. In the new screen select the DDS type you want on the left hand side.



8. The image may be too bright and may have small imperfections. Apply it to your MODL in your 3D editor to see if you need to tweak it.

If you have questions please post them in the thread.

Thank you to Cmo for making the tools and teaching me how to use them. I couldn't have written this tutorial (or even gotten my object into Blender) without his help.

OM. Thanks for this. I have started making objects and can find my way around milkshape but was curious about these blender tools.

I'm glad you find it helpful Suzetter As far as meshing things for S3 goes, for any object that isn't solely using an all-over overlay, a shadowmap (aka Multiplier) is a must for the object to look good imo. I haven't found a better or easier way than to make them with Blender...it cuts hours of time off a project and gives a great look. The new tools for Blender make it even easier

Is there a way to make the multiplier with just the Bake function? I downloaded the io_TS3_tools and have the other sims 3 items, but I don't have the EASY BAKE function.

Will it still work if I use the regular bake function and then resize it in gimp?

You're just having a settings issue with Blender. Go to Cmo's tutorial on setting it up for S3 mesh work here:

http://www.simswiki.info/wiki.php?t...Object_Creation

The part that's relevant for you starts at step 4. You can ignore the part before that.

Just make sure you close Blender and restart before making the changes that you want to set as the defaults. Otherwise pieces of any work you have going could pop up in there everytime you open Blender.

Thank you so much. I'll read it right now.

Okay, I made my multiplier and then I made my rbg mask. My mesh looks completely strange now.

I will show the attached image of the bathtub, but I am having the same problem with my table as well.

I am not sure what to do to solve this.

Are you using Cmo's tools to bake this or the built in Blender bake?

When baking with Blender, regardless of whether you're using Cmo's Blender tools or not, you need to separate each face onto its own area of the map. Blender "looks" at the object and determines where light will fall on each face to create shadows. If you have two parts of the object which should receive different amounts of light, for example the top and bottom of a table surface, situated on the same part of the map Blender will become confused. It's trying to figure out how to put bright light shading on the top and dark shading on the bottom both in the same place on your img. So the shadows will become patchy.

Also, just as an aside, it's best if you use the entire space an img has to map on. If you aren't going to use all the space you should select a smaller img size to work on.

Hope this helps

I am using Blender's Bake function due to the fact that I could never get Cmo's bake tool to show up in my game, even though I followed the tutorial on how to set it up.

It's so spaced out because I'm still very new at making UV maps and was trying to get the UV map to stay in the colors of the rbg mask I made. Sadly, it looks awful that way and is probably causing problems with my multiplier.

Is there an idiot-proof guide on how to make a Multiplier on Blender using just the regular Bake function?

Which version of Blender do you have?

It says I have Blender 2.56.0

You need the current version of Blender (2.57) for Cmo's tools to work.

Thank you so much. It works. I will try your tutorial again with the EZ Bake and hope it will work.
Before I do that though, should I redo my UV map?

Yes. You've got plenty of room on the map to pull the object apart and map faces separately Ideally, each surface will have its own spot on the map. The parts that no one sees can be made very small to take up less room.

So, the only issue is that they need to be bigger, correct? I did everything else right with the positioning and getting the groups in the correct colors?

I didn't look at the mask. But the problem is with your multiplier. To bake something each face of the object needs to have its own space on the map. So, for example, think about the portion of your object that makes up the table top. It has a top, a bottom, and 4 sides. When light falls on it it hits the top but it doesn't hit the bottom. If those are mapped in the same space on the map there is no way Blender can create a shadow map that correctly shows a bright top and a shadowed bottom. Each part of the object is like this. The different faces of it...each surface needs to be mapped onto it's own part of the img.

Thanks for the explanation. I will try again and post again if I have more problems.

Sorry about bumping this thread, but I'm having an issue with my table I'm working on.

When I bake the table, I only get the left side of the image, no matter what view I bake the table in.
I am not sure how I can get the UV map to show all sides of the table so I can recolor it properly. Also, on one of my other objects, I do need to have all sides in the multiplier since it has four recoloring channels in different views of the mesh.

Do you know how to get it so I can see multiple sides in the multiplier?

If it's hard understanding my post, I can attach some pictures of what is happening to my objects in the multiplier.

Pictures would be helpful Please include something that shows what you mean by "no matter what view I bake the table in."

The multiplier manages the way shadows look on your object in the game. The mask manages recoloring channels. You will need to have all four sides of your object mapped onto separate areas of the map if you want them to be separably recolorable in-game. Each of these separate areas will need to have a different color of the mask applied to it so they recolor separately.

Being able to see multiple sides of an object in the multiplier is a function of how the object is mapped. To see all the sides shadowed differently you have to map each part onto a separate part of the map.

I decided the attach images of a bit more complicated object to show what's going on with my mesh:

This mesh is of a plush kitty cloned from the bear toy. It has three recolor channels and three overlays.

The first attachment is what I am aiming for it to look like recolor wise (sorry it is badly colored in).

The second attachment is how it looks in Blender.

The third attachment is a close up of the multiplier.


I am clueless when it comes to recoloring objects. The only thing I know how to do is the "guess and check" method of coloring the RBG mask different colors until I finally find the area that I want to color in.

Very helpful ;}

Glad it's workin for you

BF, could you post a picture of your map in MS and in Blender?

Wow, I feel idiotic.

I just realized that you just need to manipulate the mesh in Milkshape and then export it in TSR Workshop. For some reason, I thought the multiplier was connected to recoloring the mesh.

Hmm. The object you imported in the tutorial doesn't have the box underneath the mesh. Does it matter if it is? If it does, how would I remove it?

If you do not know what I am talking about, I'm talking about this:



the square under the mesh

EDIT: Moved from original thread

The square underneath the mesh is the shadow group. This is the group I was telling you to apply the IMG I posted to so you could fix it to match your object

The latest Blender tools allow you to Bake an S3 file (like MLOD or MODL) or an obj. If you don't want the shadow, and there is no reason it should be there actually, just delete that group from your MLOD, save that as an obj, and import the obj into Blender for baking. When it's done you can export the shadow IMG as a png. and apply it to your MLOD in MS to see how it looks. Give it some tweaking...it *will* need tweaking most likely and then save that as a dds for importation into your package.