Like the original set, these plugins REQUIRE MilkShape 1.7.8 or higher (they run on 1.7.7, but there are skin weight related bugs in MilkShape 1.7.7 and 1.7.7a).

Please download MilkShape 1.7.8 (or later, 1.7.10 and 1.8.0 are out and work) from http://chumbalum.swissquake.ch/ and then these plugins (go ahead and overwrite the ones included with the MilkShape release, then go to the next message and download the manual.

Also note there are tutorals posted in the Tutorials section both here at MTS2 about Sims2 meshing and also at the MilkShape site about using MilkShape (generic meshing). The manual describes the plugin usage, but is not a tutorial.

Changed are:
The Importer, on body meshes, will no longer import a second skeleton. It doesn't even ask anymore.
There are also four new plugins added (all of which have been available here at MTS2 for testing).

Interim Importer Update: I have rolled back the V409A3 importer, which is not feeling well and crashes, back to the V409A importer. You need only download and replace the single file. My apologies.

<* Wes *>

Release 4.09 attached, posted 12-May-2007.
[The previous update was dated 15-Feb-2007]
Importer Interim Update 03-Dec-2007.

Install the full UniMeshPlugins.zip package into the MilkShape program directory (normally C:\Program Files\MilkShape 3D 1.8.2).

The manual for the UniMesh plugins V4.09 is attached to this message. It is in MS Word format (rtf was just too large). The rest of the thread will be open for discussion and reports, as usual.

<* Wes *>

Okay Wes, this is a new Clean thread for the feedback on these newest plugins. All the old thread was moved to: http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=214848

Here's to an even greater 2007!

Awesome, I'll try these out this week on some new Classic Pinup outfits, I just started work on some XP clothes yesterday so the timing is perfect! :D

You rock as always, Wes!

Wes_h this is so great, hope one day you'll be able to figure out more morphs group. Love your contribution to the community.


Thanks.

These plugins are also great for object meshes. You should have a thread in the object creation area so more people know about using them.

....... Marry me!!!

Wes.... O_O!!!

Hair animations and bump mapping as part of Unimesh, eliminating the SMD export/import step?!?

Right as I was starting to dabble with hair animations?!

Please let me know the address where I should send the pics of my boobies.

Thank you!!!

He's MINE! Mine I say!! :D

Undying fame, wealth and health will be bestowed unto wes_h for helping out all obsessed Sims2 creators in the world! HAIL!

thanks you so much for all your work and help!

Hi Wes! Thanks for making the document. (I need all the help I can get! I do have one question that I didn't find, or understand the answer for. Is snapping a vertice and welding the same thing? If I add parts to my mesh and snap one point to attach it, does that break the mesh? Should I just line it up instead, adjacent to the area I want it to belong to?

Snapping should be just moving vertice B to the same place as vertice A.
This is OK.
Welding, per se, isn't bad, but welding the wrong stuff is.
I will try to explain without pictures.

We will think about a vertex at the corner of a simple cube (made from 12 traingles). This same exact point is a corner of 6 different triangles (make one in MilkShape and count) that are part of three faces (two triangles each).

If you UV map the cube so that it is laid out unfolded like a cross (probably the most common method), every one of the corner points of each face will be at a different spot on the UV map, so each will need a unique UV pair.

The two triangles that make up each face can be welded at the corner because they will have the same normal and UV, but we still need the three seperate vertices because we will have three different UVs.

This is the way the Sims2 meshes work. There are other ways to represent a mesh that would support collapsing all six points to one, instead of three, but there were likely performance reasons that the current method was selected. As usual, every method has its own advantages and drawbacks, and I believe that the Sims2 method is just fine, but you can break it with MilkShape and welding.

Now quite a while ago I wrote a piece of code that unwelds the model where needed before export. However, the extra normals sometimes get lost from the welding, and thus can adversely affect the rendering. This often shows as unwanted shading around the edges of something.

Unfortunately, this code got disconnected from the posted version. It's in the program, but no longer gets used. Thanks to SnowStorm's careful attention to detail this got found, and I have corrected it.

I am going to post a 4.07A exporter update (in the first message). Maxis models you would import and not weld the seams on will export just fine with the old exporter, but without the model integrity checks welded models will not render their texture properly in game.

<* Wes *>

Gee, I haven't had this much adulation from girls since I was in the 8th grade and spent the summer away at my Grandmother's house (new kid on the block syndome).

But back then, no one offered me any booby prizes.

Let's just try to make sure they perform as advertised for all the meshes out there before y'all start a parade. I know that there are some, like the Cowplant, that are too complex for the program as-is. I'll be plugging away here to try to fix that. If I get it working, it will only be usable in a as-yet-unreleased MilkShape update.

<* Wes *>

*shyly joins the choir*

As a body and accessories mesher I guess that moving to new and scary areas of creation is needed in order to fully enjoy these, but at least learning new tools again won't be needed and your plugins are wonderfully user-friendly
All my admiration and gratitude as ever!

Hi Wes,

I was having problems exporting one of my meshes that I'd added parts to. It told me that there were unassigned boens. I'd looked it over and could not find them. SO, I found this the other day and jsut now installed it and now I'm able to export my m3sd file to a SimPE file. It told me I had unassigned bones but allowed me to export anyway. I'll see if it breaks in the game and get back to you.

Thanks so much Wes for your excellent work on these plug-ins!

I can't wait to try them out.

i sound like an idiot i know but i have no clue how to mesh . ahh i just downloaded stuff i dont even know what it is!

I changed the error to a warning. I don't think you will get the results you want without bones assigned to all the parts.

Here is how to find them:

Hide all your morph groups, and if you have more than one base group hide all but one (and work them one-at-a-time).

Go to the Model tab in MilkShape, click on the Select button, then hold down shift and drag so you select the whole model.

Then go to the Vertex Menu and pick the Sims2 UniMesh Select Underweighted Bones V4.07 menu item.

The remaining selected items will be your unassigned vertices. You can return to the Vertex Menu, pick the BoneTool, and edit the assignments and weights for these.


<* Wes *>

Thank you very much for this excellent work.
I think these plugins are also great for object and food meshes
Thanks!!!!

Numenor, fireflies and XNem all contributed to helping me get the issues that were 'biting' the food items resolved. SnowStorm and RoseSims also contributed testing help.

I posted a message in the Objects thread about these plugins. When I planned them last year, the objective was a Unified object and body Meshing tool... hence the UniMesh.

There were just some advanced issues left unfixed until recently.

<* Wes *>

I am getting an error when I use the Sims2 Unimesh Bone Tool then the program shuts down.

I am following Tiggerplums tutorial, combining new legs to a new mesh. When I get to number 35, my program crashes.

P.S.

I am using Milkshape version 3d 1.7.10

Probably outdated drivers. For additional information, see this message:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthre...374#post1530374

<* Wes *>

Nope, didnt work. I even re-installed everything - program, plug-ins.

Hey, i'm sorta new to this site, actually, i'm really new to this site, i just signed up yesterday and i've been trying to download the Unimesh, but everytime i click on the download, it goes to the 'page cannot be displayed' thing, i tried it on all the other computers too, but they all show the same thing, does anybody think they can help me? Please, because i really want to learn meshing and i can't do it, so... yeah, thanks!