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Post by wingzraikiri on Aug 23, 2023 18:35:15 GMT -5
 So this thing. I understand that it's what wraps around the model I'm trying to use. What I don't understand is what to do with it. I saw someone open it up in Clip Studio Paint and put their texture on top of it but getting to that point wasn't explained. Is it as simple as I copy this image onto Clip Studio Paint and then paste the texture on top of it? Doesn't seem right. Can someone explain how to use this thing like I'm 10? |
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Post by BokchoiJo on Aug 23, 2023 22:39:07 GMT -5
Hi, this is the uv layout of a CAS object. The wireframe you are seeing is the sims 3d model that is opened & flattened (unwrapped) into a 2d image. It tells the game where to put the texture on your model. For example if you put a flower image on the forehead area, when you go ingame the flower image will show up in the forehead of your sims. In the image, the texture is divided into regions for specific part of the object (hair, earring, bracelet, etc) so you need to put the texture in the correct region so there is no texture overlapping when in the game. For example if you put a texture earring in the hair region, when you put the earring the earring texture will show up on the hair. To avoid that you have to put the texture in the correct region. There is 2 uv layout in Sims 4, the image above is uv_0 that is responsible for placing the texture to the model. Another one is uv_1 that is responsible for morphing or deformation of the sims body (slimmer or fatter, bigger breast or stomach etc). Now what you do with this depends on what your making, are you combining several maxis mesh into one (frankenmesh) or are you making a completely new mesh from scratch. If you're frankenmeshing you can just use the old diffuse texture and paint over it using the old one as a guide to where everything is (button or pocket position for instance). If you are making a completely new mesh from scratch you first need to unwrap your new mesh (or "flattened" the 3d mesh into 2d image), there's a lot of tutorial how to do this on youtube & this is not sims specific, every 3d model for game needs to be unwrapped. After you unwrap the model you have to arrange & position (layout) the uv in the correct region (hair in hair region, earring in earring). Once you layout your uv you use it as a guide to paint your new texture (as you mention you see someone doing it in a video). Sorry for the long post, hope that explains it more for you. If you want more specific help, maybe you can give an example of what you're trying to make. |
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Post by simmerish20 on Aug 23, 2023 23:09:37 GMT -5
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Post by wingzraikiri on Aug 23, 2023 23:15:19 GMT -5
Hi, this is the uv layout of a CAS object. The wireframe you are seeing is the sims 3d model that is opened & flattened (unwrapped) into a 2d image. It tells the game where to put the texture on your model. For example if you put a flower image on the forehead area, when you go ingame the flower image will show up in the forehead of your sims. In the image, the texture is divided into regions for specific part of the object (hair, earring, bracelet, etc) so you need to put the texture in the correct region so there is no texture overlapping when in the game. For example if you put a texture earring in the hair region, when you put the earring the earring texture will show up on the hair. To avoid that you have to put the texture in the correct region. There is 2 uv layout in Sims 4, the image above is uv_0 that is responsible for placing the texture to the model. Another one is uv_1 that is responsible for morphing or deformation of the sims body (slimmer or fatter, bigger breast or stomach etc). Now what you do with this depends on what your making, are you combining several maxis mesh into one (frankenmesh) or are you making a completely new mesh from scratch. If you're frankenmeshing you can just use the old diffuse texture and paint over it using the old one as a guide to where everything is (button or pocket position for instance). If you are making a completely new mesh from scratch you first need to unwrap your new mesh (or "flattened" the 3d mesh into 2d image), there's a lot of tutorial how to do this on youtube & this is not sims specific, every 3d model for game needs to be unwrapped. After you unwrap the model you have to arrange & position (layout) the uv in the correct region (hair in hair region, earring in earring). Once you layout your uv you use it as a guide to paint your new texture (as you mention you see someone doing it in a video). Sorry for the long post, hope that explains it more for you. If you want more specific help, maybe you can give an example of what you're trying to make. Thanks but this kinda confuses me. I can show you what I'm working with: I'm trying to do what the guy's doing in the video by following along, but at 9:55-10 mins he just opens up that colored chart and I have no idea how he got there or if that uv mapping thing is an add-on on Clip Studio or something. I feel like he skipped a couple of steps and I'm having trouble finding anything online about how to even start with that colored chart. Like, for starters, what program do I even open it with? Where do I get the version of the chart I need for (female) hair conversion? From a extremely confused simmer, any help would be GREATLY appreciated @_@ |
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Post by simmerish20 on Aug 23, 2023 23:26:55 GMT -5
You can save the image on your computer, and then open it in clip studio (I assume that's a picture editing program?) as a regular image.
It looks like they're using the UVmap picture to add the image of the hair in the right place. Then they remove the UVmap background again (it's just used as a guide), they save the image of the hair texture (now UVmapped to the proper area), and add this in Blender.
Or it's possible they're editing the texture they're already using on the model, since it looks like they're not changing the texture.
Either way, the only place they're using the UVmap image is in the picture editing program, and as a guide to where they're placing the texture.
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Post by Fwecka (Lolabellesims) on Aug 24, 2023 1:10:32 GMT -5
The game uses a CAS map that separates CAS items into specific regions. Sims 3 uses a CAS map, as well. Typically, if you're making a clothing item or shoes you will delete body parts that the clothing covers which frees up space to place your UV islands (you can't put your clothing's or shoes' UV islands on top of the body's UV islands). Hair doesn't require deleting body parts, however. To give you an idea of how/where hair UV islands are located and placed, open an EA hair in Blender then open the CAS map (explained below), and study how the UV islands are placed. Always try to match how EA does things. To open the CAS map in Blender select your mesh in the 3D window, press Tab to enter edit mode, and in the UV editor press A to select all your UV islands, go to image > open, and import the CAS map. Because the CAS map is rectangular your UV islands may become stretched. To fix this, press A to select all of the islands then press S, Y, 0.5. That should resize them appropriately. If you need to further resize your UV islands smaller or larger try to size all of the UV islands at the same time. If your islands are sized differently, it will affect how the texture looks. I have instructions on how to open your texture in Blender below. If you're going to continue making CAS items hang onto the CAS map because you will use it again and again. You can also see how your texture looks on your mesh while in Blender. Note that the directions in this screenshot are for Blender 3.3.  |
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Post by BokchoiJo on Aug 24, 2023 1:41:11 GMT -5
From the video you share that means you are trying to convert hair mesh from another game to be used in the sims.
That means the hair mesh is already unwrapped, what you have to do now is you need to adjust the uv layout & texture from the pokemon mesh (I'm guessing this is pokemon, right?) to the sims 4 uv layout.
You can use any image editing software to edit texture, free software like Gimp or Photopea can do the job.
I'm just skimming past the video so I might have skipped some part but the general idea in the video are these :
1. Adjust the shape of the pokemon mesh to fit the shape of the sims head.
2. What you see around the 10 minutes mark is he's adjusting the texture position from the pokemon mesh to the uv layout in the sims 4 (you have to follow the sims uv layout so the texture will show up correctly in the game). He's using the first posted image as a guide to know where the sims hair region is so he can put the pokemon texture in the correct region (so it doesn't overlap with other object texture). You notice he deleted part of the pokemon texture since he only need the hair texture.
3. Once the texture is in the correct region he then moved the uv position of the pokemon mesh to the new texture position (around 11:50 minutes mark)
4. From around 12:50 onward he's transferring vertex weight, uv_1, vertex paint, and making hat chops for the hair so you can wear hats with the pokemon hair ingame. There's plenty of tutorial on how to do this in the forum so you should check it out yourself
I think that's the general idea. If it's too overwhelming try taking it slow & don't be afraid to ask in the forum.
Or maybe you could try with something simpler like converting the mask into a hat or accessories, once you're familiar with the general process you can convert more complex object.
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Post by Fwecka (Lolabellesims) on Aug 24, 2023 2:15:29 GMT -5
From the video you share that means you are trying to convert hair mesh from another game to be used in the sims. That means the hair mesh is already unwrapped, what you have to do now is you need to adjust the uv layout & texture from the pokemon mesh (I'm guessing this is pokemon, right?) to the sims 4 uv layout. You can use any image editing software to edit texture, free software like Gimp or Photopea can do the job. I'm just skimming past the video so I might have skipped some part but the general idea in the video are these : 1. Adjust the shape of the pokemon mesh to fit the shape of the sims head. 2. What you see around the 10 minutes mark is he's adjusting the texture position from the pokemon mesh to the uv layout in the sims 4 (you have to follow the sims uv layout so the texture will show up correctly in the game). He's using the first posted image as a guide to know where the sims hair region is so he can put the pokemon texture in the correct region (so it doesn't overlap with other object texture). You notice he deleted part of the pokemon texture since he only need the hair texture. 3. Once the texture is in the correct region he then moved the uv position of the pokemon mesh to the new texture position (around 11:50 minutes mark) 4. From around 12:50 onward he's transferring vertex weight, uv_1, vertex paint, and making hat chops for the hair so you can wear hats with the pokemon hair ingame. There's plenty of tutorial on how to do this in the forum so you should check it out yourself I think that's the general idea. If it's too overwhelming try taking it slow & don't be afraid to ask in the forum. Or maybe you could try with something simpler like converting the mask into a hat or accessories, once you're familiar with the general process you can convert more complex object. Just wanted to add that you will need a DDS plugin for Photoshop or Gimp in order to make DDS texture files. Your diffuse can be a PNG but it's better to use a DDS file for your normal map and specular (in my opinion). And Mauvemorn wrote a tutorial on how to make hat chops. Orangemittens wrote a guide on what makes up a TS4 hair. There's an (outdated but still useful) tutorial on making clay hair. Okay, well all of this should be confusing enough for you so I'll leave it at that.  |
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