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[3DSmax] Separating Sub-Meshes.

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Zielan KoRnified View user's profile Send private message

Reply with quote Thursday, August 18, 2011

Hello, in this tutorial I aim to show you on how to separate your mesh for better cel-shading.

Step 1.
Load up your model in 3ds Max



Step 2.
Duplicate your model into an equal number of parts for each sub-mesh you will be detaching.



Step 3.
Then add a Editable Poly modifier on top of the skin modifier and delete from inside the editable poly modifier.



Step 4.
Export all the submeshes along with their respective body parts (Hands,arms,vests go to Upper etc.).



Step 5.
Edit shader files so that every part is in the shader with the shading it needs.



Step 6.
Pay Zielan and Mima.


Steps 1-6 huge explanations:

1) Loading the model up. This is basically the easiest thing to do in any 3D modeling program. Click on file (Autodesk icon in 3DSMAX) and click open. Find the file you want to open and hit okay. This is really easy. Smile

2) This is relatively easy as well. Select the model you want, and just clone it. Repeat this process for all submeshes you need. For example, if you want to submesh lower half of the model, which consists of pants, belt and shoes you will create 2 clones for your model. So there will be 3 lower half's. Check the pictures for further details.

3) This is another easy step but the one that takes the most time. Click the modifiers tab, and add "Editable poly" modifier. So on top of your modifier list you should see this modifier. Check the pictures for this part. Now, after you have done that, you will need to select polygon key (check the picture) and start selecting polygon by polygon by holding CTRL key. So if you want to submesh the shoes from the pants, take one clone and delete all polygons that are for pants. So that the shoes remain only. Check the pictures for even more simplified explanation.

4) Exporting. This is just like exporting any other character, so you will need to know how to do that as well. I will explain it in short. Exporting to .md3 is like grabbing the model and his animation frames, and just throwing them out from the 3dsMax (or any other 3D tool). Click file, export, find .md3, and click okay. You will then be prompted with a new window, where you select tags, frames, and name your file. Basically, you should export 3 times only. The head, the upper body, the lower body. And that is what you can see in any character folder in ZEQ2-Lite (Tier folders of course). head.md3, upper.md3, lower.md3.

5) Editing the shaders. This is something not very explainable, but you will have to look at the pictures AND Goku's ALREADY EXISTING SHADER.

6)Edited because of misuse.

List of Goku's submeshes.

http://pastie.org/private/qohzcsdvm1yj1mxsrcjsg

Shenku RiO Incarnate View user's profile Send private message

Reply with quote Thursday, August 18, 2011

Didn't realize that sub-meshing the way I explained it was complicated enough to require an actual tutorial... Granted yes, it's a useful piece of information for those folks still learning, but still... Rolling Eyes

Zielan KoRnified View user's profile Send private message

Reply with quote Friday, August 19, 2011

Shenku wrote : Didn't realize that sub-meshing the way I explained it was complicated enough to require an actual tutorial... Granted yes, it's a useful piece of information for those folks still learning, but still... Rolling Eyes


Someone asked me to make this tutorial.

TRL View user's profile Send private message

Reply with quote Friday, August 19, 2011

Good thread, Zielan. This will help the community progress.

I bet Brad asked you. Wink

Zeth The Admin View user's profile Send private message

Reply with quote Friday, August 19, 2011

I notice you are duplicating the model entirely in your first few steps. I am assuming this is to preserve the modifier stack so that the rigging data stays intact. However, is there no way to simply use edit poly, select the area you want, and then hit detach while still maintaining your stack? If possible, you could remove several of your steps, simplify the process, and make it easier to re-align the model components.

Also, I think it's important to note that the logic and rationale behind splitting up a model. Ideally, you want to split the model into a separate piece if it requires a different cel-band (shading) color and thus a different material. Normally, you could group similar colors (like the orange shirt and pants), but since the model is UV'd in a way that the head, body, and legs are separated, you need a unique material for each of these areas to identify their base texture as well.

Lastly, your pastie has gokuHead with the first letter capitalized. This is really just a typo more than anything else, but you should remember to keep your naming conventions consistent.

Otherwise, it's excellent and informative Smile

Shenku RiO Incarnate View user's profile Send private message

Reply with quote Friday, August 19, 2011

Zeth wrote : I notice you are duplicating the model entirely in your first few steps. I am assuming this is to preserve the modifier stack so that the rigging data stays intact. However, is there no way to simply use edit poly, select the area you want, and then hit detach while still maintaining your stack? If possible, you could remove several of your steps, simplify the process, and make it easier to re-align the model components.



To the best of my knowledge, this wouldn't work. When you detach a portion of a model, it is detached from any modifiers that were above it as well. Really though, it's not that much work when compared with having to completely re-rig everything all over again.

Malek View user's profile Send private message

Reply with quote Friday, October 14, 2011

What comes between part 3 and 4 ? What happened to the meshes you have separated ? Confused

Also, if this is an actual way to separate the meshes WITHOUT losing the rig or getting distortions, why wasn't it already applied to the rest of the characters ? I recall I've been struggling with this (along with Joel and Mima) and still didn't find a proper way to get this right.

Please do enlighten me about the way you got rid of the meshes at the fourth step and actually exported them with their respective part of the model, unless I'm making a mistake or two somewhere. I'm sure I am. Shocked

Shenku RiO Incarnate View user's profile Send private message

Reply with quote Saturday, October 15, 2011

Malek wrote : What comes between part 3 and 4 ? What happened to the meshes you have separated ? Confused

Also, if this is an actual way to separate the meshes WITHOUT losing the rig or getting distortions, why wasn't it already applied to the rest of the characters ? I recall I've been struggling with this (along with Joel and Mima) and still didn't find a proper way to get this right.

Please do enlighten me about the way you got rid of the meshes at the fourth step and actually exported them with their respective part of the model, unless I'm making a mistake or two somewhere. I'm sure I am. Shocked



In a nutshell, before you duplicate the model, you put an edit poly modifier onto the top of the stack(above the skin modifier). Once you have that, duplicate the model to an equal number of copies to the total separated meshes you need(and name them according to the model part they are going to be, I.e. "gokuBlue" for the blue undershirt model), and for each part, you go into that top edit poly modifier(not the bottom one), and go into face selection mode, and delete every face from the model except the ones you wanted for that sub-mesh.

It's important that you do it from the top edit poly modifier only, and not the "editable poly" on the bottom, otherwise you ruin the rigging data with the skin modifier. Modifier changes only really work dynamically going down the stack, not back up it, so changes to the top will alter the bottom's end result, but changes at the bottom corrupt anything above it, since the above parts were based on the base model. Since the model at the bottom is different from what the modifier was based on, it doesn't recognize it, and ceases to function. But if the bottom is left alone, and you change it at the top instead, it works fine. You'll also notice if you turn the light bulb icon off for the top modifier, all the deleted model parts are still there, but in that modifier they are not.

Think of it like making a Vanilla cake. Once you mix the eggs into the cake mix, you can't change your mind take the eggs out and try to make a chocolate cake instead, because the eggs and cake mix are already mixed together. You can, however, add in Chocolate cake mix, and change it so your cake still has chocolate in it, and not have to start over with new eggs.

This method could also be used with the older versions of Goku to re-apply his clothing animations that were lost with the switch to the sub-mesh setup where the model was physically taken apart, and thus morph targets didn't work anymore. With this setup, because the polygons are deleted above the morph modifier, the morph modifier would retain it's coordinates for vertice animation.

This is actually how I setup Videl. I manually animated her shirt for all the various animation sequences(using the animate option for the Edit Poly modifier, since morph targets would have been problematic for the nature of each change I needed to limit clipping for a majority of her animations), and threw an additional edit poly modifier on when I was done to duplicate/separate the meshes(since I had rigged them as one model).



(Note: I am not an expert Chef, and I've never baked a cake before so don't attempt this recipe unless you know what you're doing and/or have parental guidance! Additionally, I do not recommend experimenting with random baking recipe anecdotes found on the interwebs...)





Edit: Wow, just realized that was a very big nutshell...

Malek View user's profile Send private message

Reply with quote Sunday, October 16, 2011

I will try this, thanks for your patience Smile

(Note: I am not an expert Chef, and I've never baked a cake before so don't attempt this recipe unless you know what you're doing and/or have parental guidance! Additionally, I do not recommend experimenting with random baking recipe anecdotes found on the interwebs...)


Don't worry, I know how to make a cake on my own ^^

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