Creating a semi-dynamic Race - Help wanted

[Legacy_K-T-A]

               Hello,

after I modified Montlethia Dynamic Gnolls for our PW I was unsatisfied with the result in that I want to remove the possibility to use certain dynamic body/armor parts. So I did some reading and set up NWMax (thanks to the great tutorial by OldTimeRadio) and since this is my very first try at 3D modeling I expected some trouble... Well, have a look at what came out '>:

Looks as it should (except the textures) in nwnexplorer...



But in the toolset...



So, as you can see its all horribly distorted. What did I do?

- removed the foot, shin, head, neck, bicep, forarm and hand nodes and put the actual basic parts in its place
- linked the parts in the same order as the original nodes

I noticed that basic body parts were named strangely, erratic and had no/wrong textures applied. So the result I got is actually animated but what do I have to do to force the body parts in its place? Also, I do not have the slightes idea how to assign the textures (plt) to the parts now that they are static. Help is really appreciated! If you need more details, just shoot.

Thank you.

KTA
               
               

               

                     Modifié par K-T-A, 02 avril 2013 - 01:38 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Zwerkules]

               

K-T-A wrote...


- removed the foot, shin, head, neck, bicep, forarm and hand nodes and put the actual basic parts in its place
- linked the parts in the same order as the original node

Are the pivot points of the parts you used to replace body parts exactly the same as the pivot points of the replaced body parts have been?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_K-T-A]

               Since I did not alter any pivot points, I would say yes, unless I could have accidently messed something up? How can I make sure?

KTA
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               Hrm...

On the assumption that what you're showing us in the first screenshot is the p-model for your phenotype, the messed up positioning in the second screenshot makes me think that your problem might be...

Hrm...

Maybe that your p-model's nodes have rotations on them when they shouldn't or that they're not hooked up correctly.

What Zwerkules brought up is probably the best idea by far and to test it what you should be able to do is select the body part and pretend like you're going to move it, right-clicking on the move icon in GMax/Max to get the "Transform type-in", where you can see the position of the pivot point and then compare that to the node it's attached to to see if the pivot point information matches.  If you need to Alt-A will bring up the align dialog, where you will be able to align the selected model to another model, in X, Y, Z by pivot point on both.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               BTW, on the assumption that you doped/impregnated (or whatever term one wants to use) your p-model with static body parts, be aware that those parts (IIRC) don't use a PLT and must be textured like regular models.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par OldTimeRadio, 02 avril 2013 - 03:31 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_K-T-A]

               

OldTimeRadio wrote...

BTW, on the assumption that you doped/impregnated (or whatever term one wants to use) your p-model with static body parts, be aware that those parts (IIRC) don't use a PLT and must be textured like regular models.

Thank you very much for that information! Is there any other way to allow player adjustable coloring on static parts within the p-model (since this is indeed what I did)?

KTA
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               To the best of my knowledge, no.  Not player-adjustable, anyway. 

The closest things I know of is this method (coloring using environment maps) or this one (changing environment maps on the fly using an undocumented feature).  Neither are anywhere near as flexible or dynamic as regular player coloring, unfortunately, and the second of the two effects does not appear to "stick" from the perspective coming into view (viewdistance) of the model after the effect has been applied.

Theoretically, you could create a new phenotype for your gnoll and then use the first of the two methods I link to to easily color multiple subseqent race models within that phenotypeas to allow for visual variations on your static parts.  But that's not something I've ever tried.