It works with castable objects and multiple texture castable objects...Wes' stereo has three castable parts. I'm still confused about why it worked...sort of...on my second try but not on my first when I was using the exact same code.

Off to try again.

Thank you for making the PDF's EC3D...I will try to copy the link into the first post. I still have to read through them but I'm sure they are fine.

OM

What is better than coloured glass? Recolourable glass!!!



I used a .mtlsrc file of the transparent screen from the Sims3Store "The Curve" (in the background of the picture).



It is just a little bit transparent and it seems to be more transparent for darker colours. I don't know why.
Again I used the topiary and my own mesh. I copied the text into both files (block 13 and 14) from the MLOD file with 00000000 in its name.

I will test now the other .mtlsrc files of this screen.

This is most frustrating...I tried again and still no luck. This time I ended up with the invisible thing and just a shadow.

Would one of you who has managed to actually get glass onto a mesh of your own post the mesh here so I can look at it?

I'm thinking it must be something occurring in the Milkshape part of the process since we're all following the same tutorial for the code part.

Was the item you made into glass mapped? Could you go step by step through the things you did between the tutorial steps to copy your mesh over the EA clone?

What I did this time was clone the deco screen, used an EA box, resized it to fit the deco footprint, mapped it onto the screen's IMG, saved over the clone. Removed the shadow (I was working on the MLOD first) and saved that over the MODL. Changed the code to glass for the MLOD block 13 and 14. Changed the code to glass for the MODL block 7 and 8. Recompiled. Opened with S3PE and reimported my MODL and MLOD. Saved. Opened with S3OC and fixed. Imported package into the game.

When I put the object into the game instead of a glass block type thing I got the shadow of the screen and invisible object above.

What did you do differently?

A grit is a grit...so it has to be something in the process of creating the new object mesh and replacing the EA object mesh that is at issue here. But what?

OM

oh that is so cool recolorable glass
I just tried to do a chess table in glass but i failed at it

Killc*a, I would guess that the lack of transparency has to do with the settings in the Diffuse line...that .8 alpha start is way different than the .14 that the translucent glass has.

Jillian, could you please post the steps you used to create the item that worked and how they differed from the steps you used to create the item that failed...and what the failure was?

OM

Not a very useful post, but WOW, recolorable glass !! :lovestruc

Copy that code while you can...some killjoy is certain to come along and complain that it is from an EA item for sale and not a base game item...snicker.

OM

The steps I did with the first item I converted a pair of clutter shoes using the perfume clutter as my base clone after I converted and edited the objects via milkshape. I proceeded to edit the MLOD & MODL MTLSRC Files edited the diffuse line as well recompiled imported back into S3PE and ran through S3OC.

With the chess table I only opened edited the MLOD & MODL MTLSRC Files and the diffuse recompiled and did the same steps as I usually do the end result was a huge shadow and I could see part of the glass on the top of the table but the chess pieces looked out of place kinda like a mesh gone bad then it disappeared. It looks like this

Okay, here is my own mesh with glass. I hope it helps. I don't know what could be the problem.

I will start a complete new object, so I can write down all the steps I did.

So walk me through the steps you took making the shoes. Step by step. Because in those steps lie the difference between ending up with just a shadow and ending up with a glass object.

The conversion and editing with MS are the important parts I think...because this is the part that isn't in the tutorial so this is where we are all doing something differently and ending up with different results.

Where did these clutter shoes come from? Were they mapped to an EA IMG? Or did you only overwrite the MLOD and MODL and not map at all? Did you overwrite the shoe file and then change the code or did you change the code first?...hmmm...I wonder if that should even matter. Did you change the sunshadow MLODs or just stick to changing the main MLOD with shadow and the MODL?

The more specific you can be about the steps you took the better we can all figure out why sometimes the tutorial process works and other times it does not.

Sorry to ask so many questions.

Thanks Killc*a

OM

With the shoes I got them from cassandre @ bps they were already UV/ textured mapped by her I only had to do a bit of scaling of the shoes and adjust the UV map I also scaled the shadow down on the perfume bottle as I really don't like a big shadow's. I left the groups alone as the object didn't show up originally when I first put the shadow as the first group.

So I am wondering what could have gone different with the chess table and why I am getting a huge shadow but no object. This is definitely weird. I didn't even open the chess table in MS so I am wondering if I should and try switching the groups around and see if that will work. I am willing to try anything to see if it works Maybe try a different obj.

So when you imported the shoes that worked you had the Group order reversed? The shadow and the shoes were in different positions on the Group list than the shadow and the perfumes are?

I tried this method after reading your post and had the shadow IMG on my object...I could see each of the little dark blobs in mid-air but no glass.

OM

At first no it didn't work because I switched the shadow order and that didnt work where the shadow was first and the shoes where second the object didn't show up just invisible with a shadow block underneath!
So I re-switched the grouping order back to the original and that worked where the shoes were the first group and the shadow was the second group.

Order reversal isn't the issue...I have shadow only no matter which way I do it. Shadow on floor as it should be with correct order, and shadow blobs in mid-air if I reverse the EA order.

There is something else.

OM

I tried to make a new glass object, so I can write here what I did step-by-step.
But now I also have the problem, no object visible, just a shadow.

I just opened the MODL and the MLOD file in Milkshape, created a few boxes, regrouped them, deleted the original plant. And replaced the text in the .mtlsrc files of the MLOD and the MODL.

That should be no problem.

I really don't know what I did different this time.

I was afraid that would happen. I'll look at the package you posted and see if I can find something in there that explains all this. I think it's got to be something pretty easy and fundamental and that's why we aren't seeing it.

OM

Please let me see your invisible package.

Hi Wes...I thought you'd never ask.

http://jaue.com/om/OM_invisibletables.rar

OM

Wes, if you need other invisible objects for comparison, just say so.
We seem to be making them in oodles ^^. I have a few already.

I changed the color to red while working on this and didn't change it back.
You had only one ring of vertices assigned. You get so used to ignoring the warning that it is ineffective. You should always check and never skip that.

I had a badly misshapen table in game, when I redid it to assign everything to the root bone, recompiled, repackaged and here is the result:

So, we need to absolutely have bone assigned, is that it ? I usually skip it because I only make small deco objects, so that would explain my failures too...

In TS2, the game made a default bone (called root) that everything that wasn't assigned to anything else was automatically assigned to.

In TS3, this is not true. Almost all objects have a "transformBone" that everything except the dropshadow is assigned to (it's OK to assign that, too, because it never exports that way).

The transformBone is used to rotate and place the object... in many cases this is just the middle of the square, but other times it is a slot on top of a table. Something has to be there so the game can use an object on a floor and use the same object on a table. This is the magic of the assignments... the bone is moved and everything is supposed to go along for the ride.

Unless you forget to assign the joints... which is why I wrote code that goes through every vertex and makes sure they are all assigned, and if not tries to tell you...

All that come to mind is an old saying about horses and water.

Well, English is not my first language, so I don't know about that saying
BUT, I do know about repairing mistakes and I'm glad to report SUCCESS on glassifying my deco horse !! (I was so excited that i forgot to take a pict, but it's showing perfectly !).

Thank you Wes !!

Part of the reason I gave up assigning bones when I made my objects, is that I was lost on how to use the "joint" tab. Apparently, assigning is so evident to most, that nobody actually bothers describing the (admittedly simple) process... So I was left floundering and always ending up with that "bone assignment missing" message. But since it seemed to do no harm, I got used to simply skip it.
So I had to dig into the forum to find the answer (plus the Milkshape site is not very helpful), but I did find it (thanks LemonCandy !).

In the Joints tab, click SelUnassigned, then Assign. It was that simple. No more annoying message.

And a glass horse !

I have to take a pict ! Done !

Congrats! It looks really delicate.

(You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink.)

I am sorry this was not easier for you to learn.

But I am pleased that you got your glass made, and that we found what the real issue was.