icymakes
New Member
I'm new to making cc. I just wanna make my favorite characters and be happy.
Posts: 7
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Post by icymakes on Mar 22, 2021 19:21:51 GMT -5
![]() drive.google.com/drive/folders/1E2ziChYNrEFJzk4HQudiqyXpRMSecwOy?usp=sharing <---- This is the Mesh ![]() Hello, This is my first time making a mesh and getting it into the sims. I followed several tutorials and tried to figure out things on my own but I need help. The meshes sleeves are broken and I've tried vertex painting them differently but that doesn't work. In the og mesh the sleeves where touching the dress so I moved them back hoping because they weren't connected to the dress that they'd be able to move on their own but it didn't help. I don't know what to do... any advice? Also the mesh glitches a bit on the boobs if I raise the boobs to high or to low they peak out through the mesh. What can I do about that I made sure the mesh had a little space between itself and the body but that didn't help. Is it just because I didn't paint it right or is it something else? I created the mesh in Marvelous Designer then I put it through blender before uploading it into the sims 4 studio. |
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Post by Fwecka (Lolabellesims) on Mar 22, 2021 23:22:59 GMT -5
Please post your package file.
Also, what mesh did you clone?
My first thoughts are that the weights possibly aren't assigned correctly and/or the weight painting isn't right. You'll want to delete any body parts that are covered by your mesh. That way, you won't see the clipping that's taking place. It's also possible that your UV1 isn't right. This is the UV map that affects how your mesh reacts with the sliders.
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icymakes
New Member
I'm new to making cc. I just wanna make my favorite characters and be happy.
Posts: 7
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Post by icymakes on Mar 22, 2021 23:45:10 GMT -5
I just took a look in blender at the weight paint and the sleeves are attached to the thighs. So I need to figure out how to fix that. I've now included the ref and the package in the the folder now if you click the link in the og post it should be there. I was told to keep as much of the body as possible in the tutorial I followed I will go back and delete it.
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Post by mauvemorn on Mar 23, 2021 3:54:03 GMT -5
Hi.
In-game the sims do not stand in a t-pose, they have their arms down. You simulated the garment with arms up, so naturally, the shape is wrong.
Your mesh has no proper uv_1, stretched uvs in uv_0, bad topology, and the polycount is very high. All areas of the body covered by clothing should be deleted. Never clone a top to replace it with a full-body outfit
It is possible to adopt this type of garment, but it would take a lot of manual weight editing, perfect topology, and time to accomplish it. There will also be limitations as to how far the arms can go without looking bad
You should postpone finishing this project and learn how to make and adapt clothing from something simple like a tank top.
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icymakes
New Member
I'm new to making cc. I just wanna make my favorite characters and be happy.
Posts: 7
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Post by icymakes on Mar 23, 2021 21:18:25 GMT -5
Hi. In-game the sims do not stand in a t-pose, they have their arms down. You simulated the garment with arms up, so naturally, the shape is wrong. Your mesh has no proper uv_1, stretched uvs in uv_0, bad topology, and the polycount is very high. All areas of the body covered by clothing should be deleted. Never clone a top to replace it with a full-body outfit It is possible to adopt this type of garment, but it would take a lot of manual weight editing, perfect topology, and time to accomplish it. There will also be limitations as to how far the arms can go without looking bad You should postpone finishing this project and learn how to make and adapt clothing from something simple like a tank top. Thank you for the advice. Do you have any tutorials you'd recommend for properly making a uv_1, fixing stretched uvs in uv_0, and topology/polycount? I was following this tutorial rather loosely. I now understand the body thing. I did not clone a top to replace it with a full-body outfit I must have sent the wrong reference file I was using the Edwardian lacy dress which I'm not using now I found something else that's working better for weight. Also I fixed the t pose thing that was a picture from a day or two ago the sleeves are now pulled back. I don't know what adopting is. I don't mind if the arms look bad with big sleeves dresses it's almost inevitable. |
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Post by Fwecka (Lolabellesims) on Mar 24, 2021 1:53:42 GMT -5
I think Mauvemorn can give you the most help with this; it's been more than a year since I've made anything (I had shoulder surgery which made computer work hard--using a mouse was painful) and I've forgotten a lot. Probably I should not have jumped in, in the first place. Anyway, Mauvemorn is very, very good at all this and will help you tremendously. I agree that the dress is way, way, way too high-poly. Raise the particle distance in Marvelous Designer and if the body clips through the mesh, don't worry about it because you will delete any parts of the body that's covered by the dress, anyway. I think you can export the dress as quads, too, which will help things. As for topology, if you're confused about this, do a Google search on "bad topology" and look at the images. You'll see what Mauvemorn means very quickly. A mesh with a good topology animates much more smoothly than one with a messy topology, and sims, along with the clothing they wear, do an awful lot of animations in the game. I don't know what version of Marvelous Designer you're using but I think version 8 has a retopology tool. Blender 2.92 has a remesher, as well, if I'm not mistaken, but I don't know much about it. The reason Mauvemorn brought up the T-pose is that meshes morph when the sim's body moves and when the arms are down sometimes the mesh borks and you get weird spikes. How often does your sim do a T-pose in-game? Never, or almost never, that's how often. You need to know how your mesh will behave when the arms are down. This tutorial is helpful for that: theslyd.tumblr.com/post/159067861786/tutorial-how-to-fix-under-arm-glitches-under-armThe UV1 is what handles how your mesh morphs when you change your sim's body shape. For instance, if you make your sim fat the mesh will need to morph right along with your sim; otherwise, the body will clip through the mesh when you use the sliders in CAS. You transfer the UV1 from your cloned mesh to your custom mesh, and there are tutorials here to help with that. When Mauvemorn says your UV pieces are stretched, what she means is that when you first bring your mesh into Blender, the UV pieces (islands) will probably be on a background that is 1024 x 1024. A square, not a rectangle. Then, you will assign the CAS background image to your UV islands so you can place your UV islands in the right place. Well, the CAS background image is a rectangle and not a square and your UV islands will get stretched lengthwise as a result. To fix this, you need to resize the UV islands. Press S (scale), Y to constrain the sizing to the y-axis, then 0.5. That will make them the correct shape without stretching. You can, of course, make the UV islands bigger or smaller as you need. In my opinion, smaller UV islands are harder to texture, but that's just me. The dress is awfully complicated for a beginner. Gotta agree with Mauvemorn on that. If I were you I'd try to simplify it. Make the sleeves shorter so they don't extend past the wrists, and shorten the drape of the sleeves (They'll appear stiff in the game anyway and will clip through everything). Just throwing this out there but you could separate the shawl thing and make it into an accessory. Would that make things easier? No idea, lol. |
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Post by mauvemorn on Mar 24, 2021 6:11:34 GMT -5
1). "Cloning" is when you choose an item in the catalog and create its duplicate to serve as a base for your project. You do not have to use the same exact item as a source object for the weight and uv_1 transfer, that would be referred to as a reference. You can tell what you cloned in the warehouse tab by its name; 2). When you apply a rectangular ts4 texture to uvs that were generated in the square uv space of MD, they stretch vertically. Before moving them, you need to shrink them back to their original size with S (scale) Y ( vertically ) 0.5 ( in half ) 3). How to transfer a uv_1 map - choose an item that is of the same type ( skirt or nude/pants type of bottom ) and length that has the least amount of sculpted details; - make sure both the reference and your mesh are visible and selectable; - select your mesh, add a new map, name it uv_1; - add Data transfer modifier, choose the reference as Source object, set the rest like in the pic, apply in Object mode.  4). "Adopt" is me making a typo lol. "Adapt" or make the garment function in the game properly 5). When it comes to making game assets, topology is the most important thing. It goes way above animation. Here I showed how to do the retopology in MD, as well as how to make perfectly fitted clothing, but to understand more about the logic behind the edge flow, you need to watch related videos on youtube ( not in the context of ts4 or clothing, but in general) and then analize where your garment needs to bend, protrude, have more or less dense topology Good topology ensures that: - you can easily edit the mesh. You can select edge loops ( with tris you cannot ) and delete them ( perfect for making LODs ); - the mesh is shaded smoothly, no crumpled paper look, no pinching, not jagged; - the mesh animates right, it bends sharply when it needs to; - it morphs right; - and the most important, the polycount is reasonable. Here's a video ( you probably need to download it bc otherwise the quality it bad ) |
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Post by Fwecka (Lolabellesims) on Mar 24, 2021 22:44:59 GMT -5
So sorry to hijack this thread but I watched the video--thank you so, so much for it, by the way--and I have some questions. What version of MD were you using in the video and it looks like you manually changed the topology of the shirt. Like you didn't use a built-in tool. Were you fixing the topology manually? Or were you using MD's remesher? The version of MD I used the last time was 7.5 and I used Zbrush to fix the topology. I'm not at all familiar with MD's remesher that was introduced in version 8.
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icymakes
New Member
I'm new to making cc. I just wanna make my favorite characters and be happy.
Posts: 7
|
Post by icymakes on Mar 24, 2021 23:25:14 GMT -5
I think Mauvemorn can give you the most help with this; it's been more than a year since I've made anything (I had shoulder surgery which made computer work hard--using a mouse was painful) and I've forgotten a lot. Probably I should not have jumped in, in the first place. Anyway, Mauvemorn is very, very good at all this and will help you tremendously. I agree that the dress is way, way, way too high-poly. Raise the particle distance in Marvelous Designer and if the body clips through the mesh, don't worry about it because you will delete any parts of the body that's covered by the dress, anyway. I think you can export the dress as quads, too, which will help things. As for topology, if you're confused about this, do a Google search on "bad topology" and look at the images. You'll see what Mauvemorn means very quickly. A mesh with a good topology animates much more smoothly than one with a messy topology, and sims, along with the clothing they wear, do an awful lot of animations in the game. I don't know what version of Marvelous Designer you're using but I think version 8 has a retopology tool. Blender 2.92 has a remesher, as well, if I'm not mistaken, but I don't know much about it. The reason Mauvemorn brought up the T-pose is that meshes morph when the sim's body moves and when the arms are down sometimes the mesh borks and you get weird spikes. How often does your sim do a T-pose in-game? Never, or almost never, that's how often. You need to know how your mesh will behave when the arms are down. This tutorial is helpful for that: theslyd.tumblr.com/post/159067861786/tutorial-how-to-fix-under-arm-glitches-under-armThe UV1 is what handles how your mesh morphs when you change your sim's body shape. For instance, if you make your sim fat the mesh will need to morph right along with your sim; otherwise, the body will clip through the mesh when you use the sliders in CAS. You transfer the UV1 from your cloned mesh to your custom mesh, and there are tutorials here to help with that. When Mauvemorn says your UV pieces are stretched, what she means is that when you first bring your mesh into Blender, the UV pieces (islands) will probably be on a background that is 1024 x 1024. A square, not a rectangle. Then, you will assign the CAS background image to your UV islands so you can place your UV islands in the right place. Well, the CAS background image is a rectangle and not a square and your UV islands will get stretched lengthwise as a result. To fix this, you need to resize the UV islands. Press S (scale), Y to constrain the sizing to the y-axis, then 0.5. That will make them the correct shape without stretching. You can, of course, make the UV islands bigger or smaller as you need. In my opinion, smaller UV islands are harder to texture, but that's just me. The dress is awfully complicated for a beginner. Gotta agree with Mauvemorn on that. If I were you I'd try to simplify it. Make the sleeves shorter so they don't extend past the wrists, and shorten the drape of the sleeves (They'll appear stiff in the game anyway and will clip through everything). Just throwing this out there but you could separate the shawl thing and make it into an accessory. Would that make things easier? No idea, lol. You've been amazingly helpful, thank you! I'm sorry to hear about your accident and I hope you feel better. Thank you for all the information and advice. I was aware this mesh was going to be complex going in because the clothing they're based off of is complex. I have considered separating the scarf but I was afraid of clipping. I'm not sure I understand the part about the UV pieces being stretched still. They don't appear stretched to me when I add the CAS background image but that probably because I don't know what it should properly look like. The rest I understand for the most part. Again thank you for the advice. |
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icymakes
New Member
I'm new to making cc. I just wanna make my favorite characters and be happy.
Posts: 7
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Post by icymakes on Mar 24, 2021 23:52:26 GMT -5
1). "Cloning" is when you choose an item in the catalog and create its duplicate to serve as a base for your project. You do not have to use the same exact item as a source object for the weight and uv_1 transfer, that would be referred to as a reference. You can tell what you cloned in the warehouse tab by its name; 2). When you apply a rectangular ts4 texture to uvs that were generated in the square uv space of MD, they stretch vertically. Before moving them, you need to shrink them back to their original size with S (scale) Y ( vertically ) 0.5 ( in half ) 3). How to transfer a uv_1 map - choose an item that is of the same type ( skirt or nude/pants type of bottom ) and length that has the least amount of sculpted details; - make sure both the reference and your mesh are visible and selectable; - select your mesh, add a new map, name it uv_1; - add Data transfer modifier, choose the reference as Source object, set the rest like in the pic, apply in Object mode. 4). "Adopt" is me making a typo lol. "Adapt" or make the garment function in the game properly 5). When it comes to making game assets, topology is the most important thing. It goes way above animation. Here I showed how to do the retopology in MD, as well as how to make perfectly fitted clothing, but to understand more about the logic behind the edge flow, you need to watch related videos on youtube ( not in the context of ts4 or clothing, but in general) and then analyze where your garment needs to bend, protrude, have more or less dense topology Good topology ensures that: - you can easily edit the mesh. You can select edge loops ( with tris you cannot ) and delete them ( perfect for making LODs ); - the mesh is shaded smoothly, no crumpled paper look, no pinching, not jagged; - the mesh animates right, it bends sharply when it needs to; - it morphs right; - and the most important, the polycount is reasonable. Here's a video ( you probably need to download it bc otherwise the quality it bad ) I understand the basics cloning but when I cloned the Edwardian dress for my mesh it just appeared as one little dot at the bottom of the map. So I had to switch cloning objects it still didn't help so I am probably missing a step but from your picture I don't think I am (it's the same steps that where it the tutorial I followed) it's weird :'(. Also are you recommending I clone a skirt/ bottom for the cloning process? Your explanation of the UV stretch makes better sense to me. I didn't notice the stretch before. They seemed to remain the same but that's probably because I'm usually doing all this at the end of the day at 12am. I was wondering about the adopt part. I looked up topology last night I kinda understand what it is not and began messing with it last night. I converted the the triangles to quads and messed with the particle distancing (It made the mesh freak out a little and now I'm messing with it to get the fold the way I like again). I'm pretty sure I found your video on retopology but I'm not sure if it's what I need to be watching but it is helping me understand MD more. I have other stuff to look at as well. Thank you for the follow up and offering me more help. I hope you're having a good day/night. |
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Post by Fwecka (Lolabellesims) on Mar 25, 2021 5:45:26 GMT -5
It's hard to grasp this stuff, I know. Especially if you're like me and you are not very adept at technical stuff. You'll learn it, but you'll have to tear your hair out in frustration in the meantime. To give you a visual on stretching here's an image that shows what's meant, though it sounds like you get it, anyway.  The little dot in the corner of the map. Were you looking at the UV_1 or UV_0? You were likely looking at the UV_1--which would not have been made yet if you haven't transferred the source's UV_1--when you saw the map with the dot in the corner. As a reminder, the UV_0 is the main UV map--it's the one you use for texturing and MD is great in that the pattern pieces are your UV islands. No need to mark seams and unwrap your mesh in Blender. The UV_1 is the map that handles morphing. It handles how your mesh behaves when you use sliders in CAS. If you can't remember, here's where you switch between the UV_0 and UV_1 in Blender.  Edit: Never mind the second pic. Mauvemorn already showed you where the UV_1 and UV_0 box-thingy is. It's like 4:00 AM here, guys. I'm half-asleep. |
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Post by mauvemorn on Mar 25, 2021 6:08:29 GMT -5
Fwecka (Lolabellesims) Remesh (introduced in 8) and Manual retopology(introduced in 9) are two different things. Pretty much the same thing can be done in Blender, so you do not need to upgrade your MD for this You're still using "cloning" wrong. When you go to s4s and click on Create 3d mesh, you get a catalog of all CAS items. When you select one and press Next, you create a package, a duplicate of the existing item from the game. This process is called cloning. When you transfer data ( weights, uvs ) from a maxis item to yours in Blender, it is not what we refer to as "cloning". Anyway, your uv_1 related issue can be caused by 4 things: - you did not click on UVs button;  - did not Apply Data transfer modifier; - the garment had no uv_1 when you joined it to the body; - the reference was hidden. No, you are making a full-body outfit, so you need to clone a full-body outfit. Also, separating the scarf will change nothing, it still needs to be adapted and it won't become easier or harder, literally nothing will change
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