Post by Lyralei on Aug 6, 2019 10:51:38 GMT -5
Ever have that moment where you just finished your mesh and it's ready for testing? And then when you test it, the arms just completely don't work? And once you start looking for fixes you can't seem to find them? here's a picture!:
Well, here's a tutorial on what to do when the tips below don't work at all!
sims4studio.com/thread/5710/arms-stuck-sides-cas?page=1&scrollTo=53213
sims4studio.com/post/89693/thread
Again, I would strongly advice looking at the 2 links above, especially if you are 99.9% sure you did the cut numbers right and actually know how to do it (unlike me when I started making this dress :P)
Why is it doing this?
The sims 4 uses cut numbers. When you start making your own meshes you will notice everyone talking about it, although if you haven't yet figured these out, here's a great tutorial: sims4studio.com/thread/13120/cut-numbers-easy-explanation
Now, if you come from ts3, you will know what "slots" are on CASparts. If you're an object creator then the words slots will also ring a bell. If you're not familiar with slots, the best way to explain it is, notice how your sim would grab a plate and the plate is snapped onto the hand? That is one of these slots. Or, how when you place a flower onto a table, that it snaps onto the table? That's also a slot! Although, ts4 has waaay more slots for all sorts of animations, if not, advanced stuff. One being, a few slots that make it so the arms are resting next to the body!
Every single Geometry has a small set of slots. For body meshes it's very common that there's 2 geometries for the legs, and then 1 or 2 for the body. If you didn't apply the cut numbers correctly, S4Studio will think that the geometry for the legs are now the body! Which of course is not good at all!
So how would I go on fix this?
1. Open up S4Studio and click 'create 3D Mesh'.
2. Find the item you cloned again. In my case it was this dress:
3. Save the package, just call it "Delete later" or "SlotRayFix" or anything that works for you in that context.
4. Go to the meshes tab and export the mesh. Also call this "Delete later" or something like that.
5. Open the cloned mesh you used (and we just exported) in blender
6. Also, open your actual mesh in blender. This is my setup now:
(Note: My Blender has this weird bug where it looks super bright, no idea how to fix that! But hopefully it still gives a good idea of how the setup would look like)
Here, we're going to re-check the cut numbers
Make sure here that:
- There are the SAME amount of groups as the 'cloned' mesh. Else that is already a major issue.
- when you check the cut, that you have the right 'S4STUDIO_MESH' selected in both windows! (Aka, if you check 'your mesh' 's 'S4STUDIO_MESH_2' you also want to check 'S4STUDIO_Mesh_2' in the 'cloned mesh' blender.
7. First, I checked the S4STUDIO_MESH_1 and then went to the 'scene' tab.
8. Then, we scroll all the way to find "S4Studio CAS tools".
9. Now, compare the 2 cuts. In my case, I noticed that the 'cloned mesh' has a "0003" cut value, whereas my mesh has it set to "0000". This is really bad! And the reason why the arms are all weird and noodly!
10. In this case, i want to change the cut number from "0000" to "0003".
11. Repeat step 7 till 10 for all the other 'S4STUDIO_MESH_whatevernumbergoeshere' and see if the cuts are correctly assigned.
12. Now, save the "your mesh" blender file and open up the new mesh package in s4studio (So not the "Delete later" package we made, but your actual package that you used for your mesh).
13. Import the blender file in the mesh tab (so the one that we just changed our cut-numbers in)
14. Save! :D
How do I check if I did it right before I go in-game?
Easy! So, open up "Delete later.package" or whatever you called your reference mesh, and open up your mesh's package in s4studio.
For both, go to "Warehouse"
Make sure here that the right "geometry" is showing up in the right order. For the body mesh for me it is at least 4 down from the list. Here's an example of what I mean:
CORRECT:
Both are listed as the fourth on the list
INCORRECT:
Our cloned mesh (on the right) shows the body as the 4th in the list but our custom mesh (left) on the 3rd of the list.
Another way to check it is by simply checking the "SlotRayIntersections" by going to 'data' and then 'SlotRayIntersections' > edit Items
Correct:
Shows a tooooon of entries here, which is good! And understandable because it's all about the body! So if you see items that are like "Torso" or "forearm" that means its also the correct cut. Aka, body geometry + long list of slots = gooood
INCORRECT:
Here, I selected both the body Geometry but as you can see, it only shows 2 items on the list on the custom mesh, but a big list on the cloned mesh. This obviously means the cuts are not correctly assigned, and thus, the game thinking the arms have to "Slot" themselves to the calfs in this case. Therefore, making it look all weird and going through the body! D:
Conclusion
Cuts are super duper important! And thus, need to be EXACTLY the same as the mesh you cloned. Therefore, in the future I'll now write them down rather than thinking they work like "Layers" and that you can assign your own, because that's far from the truth. Cuts need to be exactly the same as the cloned mesh, else you'll see issues like arms going all sorts of places
If you happen to have any questions, or some section was confusing, let me know! I'd be more than happy to help!
Well, here's a tutorial on what to do when the tips below don't work at all!
sims4studio.com/thread/5710/arms-stuck-sides-cas?page=1&scrollTo=53213
sims4studio.com/post/89693/thread
Again, I would strongly advice looking at the 2 links above, especially if you are 99.9% sure you did the cut numbers right and actually know how to do it (unlike me when I started making this dress :P)
Why is it doing this?
The sims 4 uses cut numbers. When you start making your own meshes you will notice everyone talking about it, although if you haven't yet figured these out, here's a great tutorial: sims4studio.com/thread/13120/cut-numbers-easy-explanation
Now, if you come from ts3, you will know what "slots" are on CASparts. If you're an object creator then the words slots will also ring a bell. If you're not familiar with slots, the best way to explain it is, notice how your sim would grab a plate and the plate is snapped onto the hand? That is one of these slots. Or, how when you place a flower onto a table, that it snaps onto the table? That's also a slot! Although, ts4 has waaay more slots for all sorts of animations, if not, advanced stuff. One being, a few slots that make it so the arms are resting next to the body!
Every single Geometry has a small set of slots. For body meshes it's very common that there's 2 geometries for the legs, and then 1 or 2 for the body. If you didn't apply the cut numbers correctly, S4Studio will think that the geometry for the legs are now the body! Which of course is not good at all!
So how would I go on fix this?
1. Open up S4Studio and click 'create 3D Mesh'.
2. Find the item you cloned again. In my case it was this dress:
3. Save the package, just call it "Delete later" or "SlotRayFix" or anything that works for you in that context.
4. Go to the meshes tab and export the mesh. Also call this "Delete later" or something like that.
5. Open the cloned mesh you used (and we just exported) in blender
6. Also, open your actual mesh in blender. This is my setup now:
(Note: My Blender has this weird bug where it looks super bright, no idea how to fix that! But hopefully it still gives a good idea of how the setup would look like)
Here, we're going to re-check the cut numbers
Make sure here that:
- There are the SAME amount of groups as the 'cloned' mesh. Else that is already a major issue.
- when you check the cut, that you have the right 'S4STUDIO_MESH' selected in both windows! (Aka, if you check 'your mesh' 's 'S4STUDIO_MESH_2' you also want to check 'S4STUDIO_Mesh_2' in the 'cloned mesh' blender.
7. First, I checked the S4STUDIO_MESH_1 and then went to the 'scene' tab.
8. Then, we scroll all the way to find "S4Studio CAS tools".
9. Now, compare the 2 cuts. In my case, I noticed that the 'cloned mesh' has a "0003" cut value, whereas my mesh has it set to "0000". This is really bad! And the reason why the arms are all weird and noodly!
10. In this case, i want to change the cut number from "0000" to "0003".
11. Repeat step 7 till 10 for all the other 'S4STUDIO_MESH_whatevernumbergoeshere' and see if the cuts are correctly assigned.
12. Now, save the "your mesh" blender file and open up the new mesh package in s4studio (So not the "Delete later" package we made, but your actual package that you used for your mesh).
13. Import the blender file in the mesh tab (so the one that we just changed our cut-numbers in)
14. Save! :D
How do I check if I did it right before I go in-game?
Easy! So, open up "Delete later.package" or whatever you called your reference mesh, and open up your mesh's package in s4studio.
For both, go to "Warehouse"
Make sure here that the right "geometry" is showing up in the right order. For the body mesh for me it is at least 4 down from the list. Here's an example of what I mean:
CORRECT:
Both are listed as the fourth on the list
INCORRECT:
Our cloned mesh (on the right) shows the body as the 4th in the list but our custom mesh (left) on the 3rd of the list.
Another way to check it is by simply checking the "SlotRayIntersections" by going to 'data' and then 'SlotRayIntersections' > edit Items
Correct:
Shows a tooooon of entries here, which is good! And understandable because it's all about the body! So if you see items that are like "Torso" or "forearm" that means its also the correct cut. Aka, body geometry + long list of slots = gooood
INCORRECT:
Here, I selected both the body Geometry but as you can see, it only shows 2 items on the list on the custom mesh, but a big list on the cloned mesh. This obviously means the cuts are not correctly assigned, and thus, the game thinking the arms have to "Slot" themselves to the calfs in this case. Therefore, making it look all weird and going through the body! D:
Conclusion
Cuts are super duper important! And thus, need to be EXACTLY the same as the mesh you cloned. Therefore, in the future I'll now write them down rather than thinking they work like "Layers" and that you can assign your own, because that's far from the truth. Cuts need to be exactly the same as the cloned mesh, else you'll see issues like arms going all sorts of places
If you happen to have any questions, or some section was confusing, let me know! I'd be more than happy to help!
