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Field Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 9th Jun 2005 at 11:02 PM
Default hair mesh animation problems
hi all -

i've seen brief discussion of this elsewhere...but now that i've started meshing some, it would be great to have some concrete answers. i used milkshape 1.7.4/simpe/meshtool to create some new meshes, but all of the hair meshes have crazy animation in the game - even around areas that i didn't modify at all. (ie. i made the bottom of the hair longer, yet the top of the head moves VERY strangely) is there a way to just get rid of the animation? if not, could someone please simply explain joints/bones and their use in this matter?

if this is answered elsewhere, please just post a link.

thank you guys!

helaene
Screenshots

~ h e l a e n e ~
https://www.patreon.com/helaene (free)
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Instructor
#2 Old 10th Jun 2005 at 1:38 AM
I'm not sure exactly what is the problem, but meshtool sometimes create weird animations.
What i can think is that when you import a obj file, and since meshtool keep the vertices assigned to the bones, maybe meshtool is importing the vertices in wrong order and then is assigning them in wrong bones.
but is just a little teory, i don't know if i'm wrong or not.

i saw some hair meshes out there with this problem too.
Guest
#3 Old 10th Jun 2005 at 1:42 AM
how come some of my hair styles come up as the social bunny's head?
Lab Assistant
#4 Old 10th Jun 2005 at 6:11 AM
What do I know the vertices around neck need to be assigned to multiple joints, that's not supported by the plugin. You can minimize the problem by giving tries and errors to assign the vertices till the best animation appear in game. Anyway someone who master with SimPE might be able to assign multiple joints to the mesh.
Scholar
#5 Old 10th Jun 2005 at 2:31 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simmysimmysim
how come some of my hair styles come up as the social bunny's head?


This means you have downloaded a hair "color" that is meant for a custom user created mesh, but you did not download the needed mesh file.

If you have University installed, this would appear as a more normal-looking, but still incorrect, dupliacte of a Maxis hair.

I have also seen it happen that the Sim will appear with the entire top of their head missing.

This can also happen with clothing - but clothing will always look like a regular (but wrong) Maxis skin.

The fix for all these cases is to go back to the site where you got the hair color. There should be either a link to download the mesh for it, or instructions on where to get the necessary mesh.

If you download from the Exchange you will have to contact the person who made the Sim and ask, since the Sims2Pack files will never include the mesh.

Or the other choice is to go into BodyShop and delete this non-working hair.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#6 Old 10th Jun 2005 at 2:36 PM
so is there a way to just get rid of the animation? for instance, the female bun hair isn't animated, i don't think....
Instructor
#7 Old 10th Jun 2005 at 4:12 PM
i think that for correcting the animations is better to use wes milkshape plugin. But this plugin has some problems and you will need to learn how to avoid those problems.

is the best solution that i can think right now.
Lab Assistant
#8 Old 13th Jun 2005 at 12:50 PM Last edited by cevic : 13th Jun 2005 at 12:53 PM. Reason: Forgot something
Sorry for the wrong information before,

Since the mesh is a modification and export using Meshtool, actually you can reduce the wierd animation by using simPE.

1. Open your mesh file using SimPE v0.38 (make sure your SimPE is in advance mode). Select the GDMC option then pluginView and cGeometryDataContainer tab, straightly select the wierd hair alpha group in groups class and a customizable option will be appeared on the RHS. Click the subsets collection and menu will appear and U could notified that few members in the list and normally (for original maxis or modification using Meshtool) the head joint (number 7) will be on top and sort the value for 5 (spine 2), 6 (neck) and 7 (head) to a piece of paper, ignore the others. Then cancell the menu.

2. Now check-up the links class and select the link which same index number of the the wierd hair alpha and customizable option appears on RHS. Click the collection for ReferencedElement and a menu will appeared, then copy the list on paper and cancell the menu.

3. Now you should find BoneWeights, Secondary, ####Float at the elements class which the index number is included to the second list. Click on it, then a RHS menu will appear.

4. Select collection Values and a menu will appear. You should notice that the sum of the values in a row should be 1. Each column represents the joint as your 1s list (for ariginal Maxis hair the list normally should be 7 - 6 - 5). The values represent the weighing of the joints (1 is meant 100%, 0.5 = 50% etc). The index numbers represent the index number of the vertices.

5. You could obtain the vertices index number by export the mesh to obj file using the SimPE and open the obj file using Milkshape. Then select the vertices that show wierd animation then press Ctrl+Shift+E, a menu will appear then select the option show selected vertices only. Now you get the vertices index number and list them on the paper.

6. Back to SimPE, reach back to weighing menu (step 3 & 4). Now you may edit properly the weighing via the index number obtained from the last list. (Tips: the valuses for vertice above ears could be 1,0,0 and below shoulder could be 0,0,1 and others should decide properly).

When you done your works dont forget to commit and save.



Hope this will help you.
Test Subject
#9 Old 13th Jun 2005 at 1:10 PM
Hey Helaene,

Wes's bodychop plugin will help you here's the link to it:
http://www.variousimmers.net/vsimfo...hread.php?t=495

Also for instructions on how to use this refer to this thread at TSR by Shar:
http://forums.thesimsresource.com/s...ad.php?t=278680

Good luck!

Sims 2 downloads at www.simmetrical.com
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#10 Old 13th Jun 2005 at 8:39 PM
thank you both! i'll give both of your suggestions a try.
Lab Assistant
#11 Old 15th Jun 2005 at 3:56 PM
This is fantastic information- thanks everyone!!

I've got some meshes I'd love to share with everyone but the animations are so distracting I needed a way around them before I could upload them.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#12 Old 16th Jun 2005 at 12:40 AM Last edited by helaene : 16th Jun 2005 at 12:54 AM.
jasmine - i don't understand the difference between using the mesh tool and wes h's bodychop plugins.....do you think that will help with the animation? i thought his were just to basically enable use of an altered mesh with different bodytypes.....

i guess what i'd really like to do is just cut out the animation....i don't really care if the hair goes through her shoulders sometimes...as long as the top of it isn't spontaneously squiggling around! is this possible??

i noticed in shar's thread that you pointed out, she mentions that she's using the 'bun-hair' for her longhair with crown mesh....in other words...she's using a hairmesh that originally had no animation (i believe)....can i do this? how?
Scholar
#13 Old 19th Jun 2005 at 1:32 AM Last edited by Dr Pixel : 19th Jun 2005 at 1:41 AM.
I'll try to explain it as breifly as possible

First, the BodyChop plugins are strictly for body meshes.

For hair, use Wes H's v 2.16 plugins

Now, for your problem - it looks like you have moved the vertices too far.
Every vertice is "assigned" to a bone of the Sim's skeleton. When using the .obj format, you can not change these assignments so you can only move the vertices a small amount without risking problems like in your picture.

Even a mesh which seems to have no "animation" really does - because the hair must always move when the head moves. This is controlled by the bone assignment of each vertice. The vertices that are assigned to the head "bone" will always move wherever the head does. What I think happened is that you moved vertices that were not assigned to the head close to the head, or else too far away, but if they were assigned to the neck they would still move with the neck, not with the head, no matter where you move them to.

The solution is to use Wes' v 2.16 plugins. These allow you to add or remove parts to your mesh, and also to assign the vertices to whatever bone is appropriate to have the hair move correctly in the game.



In the first picture is a head mesh I made using Wes' v 2.16 plugins, a ponytail. I have gone to the "Joints" tab (this is what MilkShape calls the "bones") and I have clicked on the "head" in the bones listing. Then I clicked on [SelAssigned] which makes all vertices assigned to the head turn red.

Now I want to assign the vertices of the hanging tail to the spine2 bone (the upper back) which will keep them from sticking out like a sword when the Sim moves her head. So, on the Model tab, I choose Select, In Select Options I click [Vertex], and make sure "ignore backfaces" is NOT checked.


Then back on the Joints tab I click spine2, then I drag a box around the vertices I want to assign to that bone. They will turn red. I then click [Assign]

That's it. Sometimes you will need to come back after testing in the game to move things around a bit to get a nice animation in the game, but the more you do it the easier it gets.

See the thread about Wes' v 2.16 plugins for more information.
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=43503
Screenshots
Lab Assistant
#14 Old 19th Jun 2005 at 1:45 AM
Thank you,Dr Pixel,I cannot thank you enough for all your tutorials-they have helped me tremendously!!
Do you know of a way to get rid of the ugly see-trhough glitch back in the neck,when creating new hairmeshes?
Oh,and THANKS again!
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#15 Old 19th Jun 2005 at 5:59 AM
thank you thank you thank you thank you dr. pixel!

you can see my first hair mesh released tonight here: http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?p=561574
Scholar
#16 Old 19th Jun 2005 at 8:25 AM
The gap at the back of the neck problem is solved in this post:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showpost...207&postcount=7
Test Subject
#17 Old 21st Jun 2005 at 3:22 PM
God i'm such a dumbass I didn't even think about what I was linking you to helaene, sorry! I'm glad Dr Pixel got you to the right plugin! ... I was nearly there I said wes_h at least lmao!

Sims 2 downloads at www.simmetrical.com
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#18 Old 21st Jun 2005 at 5:01 PM
thanks anyway, jasmine....lol....i appreciate your good intentions
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#19 Old 26th Jun 2005 at 2:52 AM Last edited by helaene : 29th Jun 2005 at 4:53 AM.
this is so frustrating...i'd really love to just work on something, and have it show up correctly for once!! does this look like a joint assignment problem to you?
Screenshots
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#20 Old 4th Jul 2005 at 4:19 AM
anyone? its been a week.... i'm starting to lose hope!
Scholar
#21 Old 4th Jul 2005 at 9:37 AM
Yes it does - or maybe some vertices were not assigned at all.

You are using Wes H's plugins?
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#22 Old 4th Jul 2005 at 6:58 PM
i've definitely been assigning everything....every mesh that i barely alter comes out like this lately. i am using wes's plugins. thanks for responding!
Scholar
#23 Old 5th Jul 2005 at 1:58 PM Last edited by Dr Pixel : 5th Jul 2005 at 2:01 PM.
Make sure that nothing is assigned to any "joint" other than "head" and "spine2" and "neck" (only the vertices at the very bottom of the hair on short hairstyles and be sure to do the neck-gap fix)

Also make sure that all the groups are showing when you do the assigning.

Don't think that if you only moved things around a little bit that you can just leave the assignments alone.
Because of the multiple vertice assignments that the game uses sometimes they come in assigned to other "joints", and that won't work.

What I do is first select the "head" joint and assign the entire mesh to it.

Then go back and make other assignments as needed.

That will make sure nothing is assigned to other places.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#24 Old 5th Jul 2005 at 6:05 PM
actually i've been doing that....do you think theres a bug with one of my programs? should i reinstall milkshape or the plugins or something? thanks again for your help.
Scholar
#25 Old 6th Jul 2005 at 1:56 AM Last edited by Dr Pixel : 6th Jul 2005 at 1:59 AM.
No, I don't think the problem is with the plugins or MilkShape - it looks more like perhaps you have added a new group to the mesh or lost the "comments" something like that.

A couple more questions. Exactly what did you do when you edited that mesh? Anything that could have added a new group, such as adding a cylinder or sphere?

Did you try to assign the original texture to it in MilkShape? That can cause major problems unless you shorten the name of the texture .bmp file.

Did you edit the mesh with anything else after opening it in MilkShape and before you exported it again? In other words, did you keep it in MilkShape the whole time?

When you exported the mesh to a new GMDC file, and used that to replace the existing one, did you remember to put back the original filename of the mesh?

Oh, you did export it using Wes' 2.16 plugins, directly to a GMDC file, right? Not with the BodyChop plugins, and not as an .obj file?
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