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Modeling / Rigging / Texturing issue


trajcedrv

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I have somewhat unorthodox problem...

 

I have two instances of a character:

 

1. Rigged model (not textured)

2. Textured model (not rigged)

 

Spline Mesh of the both models is identical (some CP's are moved around, but no other changes)

 

Could it be possible to take those two instances of a model and make them one ? (the easier way than take rigged model and texture it or vice versa)

 

Any ideas?

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If the cp's have retained the same name/number, you **may** be able to do it in a text editor, by replacing the mesh info of the rigged model with mesh info and decal info of the textured model. Maybe.

 

Just make sure you save them as new models or work on copies before trying to combine them.

 

Jim

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Did you flatten the mesh in poses or actions? If actions, you may be able to use them with the rigged model. Poses might transfer too.

That's if editing the code doesn't work....I can't see why it wouldn't.

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The following is so insane I cringe just thinking of it. Workability depends on your model being symmetrical in all things (mesh/bones/decals/weighting/smart skin) and the ease of making all the bones visible then hiding them again. Also, if you do not do the rejoining of the mesh correctly you will lose decals and/or materials (if the groups are lost). Also you will have massive cleanup to do in the groups. Also, other things I’ve not thought of (since I never tried this before) may mess you up.

 

That said, make copies of both models. Read in the rigged model. Rip it in half deleting all left hand mesh and bones. Read in the textured model, copy the left hand side and paste it into the halved rigged model – texturing should be preserved doing this way. Stitch them together from the un-textured side to preserve the texturing on the left. Now mirror the rig from the right side to the left side; mirror bones and cp assignments using the MirrorSplines plug-in (does not cost too much). Mirror any cp weighting using the mirror weights plug-in (this may not work properly – it didn’t for me but does for others) and mirror any smart skin using AM’s built in mirror smart skin function. Okay, now you have the a rigged model with the left side textured. You can attempt to mirror the decals using MirrorSplines and attempt to mirror materials by correcting groups or, you can repeat the same procedure with the right side as you did with the left side.

 

This gives me a headache just thinking about it. How did you wind up in this position?

 

Cheers and Good Luck!

Rusty

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Okay...

 

Don't know if any of you read my post about my recent "accident". My contest project got squished and I had to fix it from AN OLDER MODEL using a text editor.

 

As a result of the damage SOME of the decals got lost and had to be redone (they did not exist in the damaged file)...

 

BUT some decals were "magically" applied onto the NEW frankenstien text file when I copied the missing data into the damged file.

 

The two models were completely different as fas as CP positioning... but the decals were identical.

 

What I noticed when examining the text files of the models was that... decal and stamping are INDEPENDANT of... everything else practically.

 

All the stamp info was at the bottom of the model file... stuff... it only had patch information.

 

When I pasted that portion of the file from another file into it... some of those decals still worked.

 

There was one big decal that didn't work but I think it was "broken" before saving the damaged file. That was the error I had right before I saved and destroyed it. It said this particular decal was not saved correctly and might not be correct.

 

I am almost convinced that you could paste the texture data into the rigged model file... I am not sure exactly how to approach this but I am almost sure it could work.

 

I actually thought about this when I fixed my project.

 

If you could post just the text of these two models I would love to take a look at it. Probably having the decals would not be neccessary... I could take a stab at pasting in the decal info and upload it and you could see what happens.

 

As long as both models are exactly the same as far as point numbers and patches... it should work.

 

p.s. I found it helps to know EXACTLY what the names of the decals and images are. A list of the decals as a separate text file would help. In my case I knew by heart exactly all the images and decals so I knew what was missing or "broken". I would put markers in the text file at the points to paste in and this made it much easier. as I stated in my other post I was able to fix this file in less than 20 minutes.

 

-vern

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IT WORKS!!!

 

I took the Dex model off the CD... saved out a version with out any decals but with the bone rigging and relationships.

 

I saved out another version WITH decals but I deleted all of the relationships and bones.

 

I then opened in a text editor and in about 5 minutes created a combined version that had decals and all the rigging and relationships.

 

Man... it was toooo easy.

 

True... I was working with the "old" file format... but it absolutely would work the same with the new v13 file format.

 

--------

 

IMPORTANT NOTE!

 

If you are working with external model files... a model file without any decals has no image references. When you delete decals from a model the model file won't have those images listed when you import it into a new project.

 

Make sure if you do something like this with a text editor that you copy all the images to the new file... if any are missing, changed whatever.

 

In my original situation I was editing an entire project... already had the image list in it... so I didn't encounter that until just now with this simple test.

 

-vern

 

Hmm....

 

does this open up any possibilities for a new type of work flow? Could this be an advantage somehow?

 

Being able to animate or rig a "finished" model... while... someone else could texture... then combine the two...

 

I wonder if this could be streamlined somehow... it is really kind of simple. I only had to look for two spots... the beginning and end of the decal data on one model... and the end of the bones section on the other... then paste.

 

Adding the image list is even easier... the top of the model file had an "empty" images list. I just copied it from the other one and pasted it in.

 

-vern

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  • Hash Fellow

 

 

Hmm....

 

does this open up any possibilities for a new type of work flow? Could this be an advantage somehow?

 

Being able to animate or rig a "finished" model... while... someone else could texture... then combine the two...

 

that's what the whole SVN thing is about, no?

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that's what the whole SVN thing is about, no?

 

Hmm... I guess so...

 

It seems that it would have to work on complete units of... things... like you "check out" a model to do the texturing... or rigging.

 

But... only one person at a time can work on either of those things with the same model.

 

What if these two things could be totally separate? Someone could rig and tweak CPs (subtle very subtle) while someone else could decal.

 

The two could be merged.

 

Maybe it does work this way... I don't know. If it does... that is wicked cool.

 

------------

 

trajcedrv,

 

Glad to be of service. I kept thinking I wanted to try it out... I wish he would send me those files... then I realized I could... mess up my own files just as easily... I do it all the time without trying...

;)

 

 

-vern

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  • Hash Fellow

 

What if these two things could be totally separate? Someone could rig and tweak CPs (subtle very subtle) while someone else could decal.

 

The two could be merged.

 

According to Martin, that's what SVN does. No checking out required.

 

That's how the code for A:M is done too. Everyone is working on different parts and then it gets shuffled together.

 

Scary, huh?

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