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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 2nd Sep 2015 at 10:58 AM Last edited by hasturx : 2nd Sep 2015 at 12:42 PM.
Default Question about alpha channel edit - hidden black color.
Hi all,

I'm having trouble editing the alpha channel on some recolors. I've followed the tutorials for a few tools (tsr workshop, color magic, sims package editor, dds plugin for photoshop etc), and every time the result is the same. To start with I am using the game package yfTop_TankHalterV_SolidBlue. I am trying to give this top a subtle 'wet' look by editing the alpha channel. For the bottom half of the item, it works as expected. For the top half however, there is some sort of solid black color which is showing through the item instead of the skin of the sim. Can someone tell me why this is, and how to remove this black texture/color/whatever-it-is? I have included screen shots as attachments with a not-so-subtle version of what I am trying to accomplish for ease of description. Sorry I couldn't figure out how make the pictures inline with the message.

Update: added more screenshots
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Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#2 Old 2nd Sep 2015 at 12:06 PM
Can you add a screenshot of the texture (not the alpha -- the RGB channels?) I guess it's probably a mapping issue but without seeing the texture it's hard to tell.

Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

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Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 2nd Sep 2015 at 12:43 PM
Default Added shots
Quote: Originally posted by plasticbox
Can you add a screenshot of the texture (not the alpha -- the RGB channels?) I guess it's probably a mapping issue but without seeing the texture it's hard to tell.


Added more shots.
Ms. Byte (Deceased)
#4 Old 2nd Sep 2015 at 6:07 PM
I think it's a UV thing. The clothing texture is layered over the skintone image with transparency controlled by the alpha, as you probably already know. This EA mesh is UV mapped in kind of a strange way, with the halter part located away from where the body is normally located and in a place where there's probably just black (or nothing, which defaults to black) underneath instead of the skin part of the skintone image. Below are a pic of the mesh UV map and a skintone image to show where the skin color is.

To fix it you'd have to move the halter UV mapping to the normal place using a meshing tool like Milkshape or Blender and adjust the texture to have blue in that location. If you need help with that let me know. Or you could try again with a different item of clothing.
Screenshots

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Test Subject
Original Poster
#5 Old 2nd Sep 2015 at 7:41 PM
Quote: Originally posted by CmarNYC
I think it's a UV thing. The clothing texture is layered over the skintone image with transparency controlled by the alpha, as you probably already know. This EA mesh is UV mapped in kind of a strange way, with the halter part located away from where the body is normally located and in a place where there's probably just black (or nothing, which defaults to black) underneath instead of the skin part of the skintone image. Below are a pic of the mesh UV map and a skintone image to show where the skin color is.

To fix it you'd have to move the halter UV mapping to the normal place using a meshing tool like Milkshape or Blender and adjust the texture to have blue in that location. If you need help with that let me know. Or you could try again with a different item of clothing.


Thanks! I'll give it a shot moving the UV mapping. It looks like the place where it should go is quite obvious I'll let you know if I run into difficulties.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#6 Old 2nd Sep 2015 at 8:42 PM
Quote: Originally posted by CmarNYC
I think it's a UV thing. The clothing texture is layered over the skintone image with transparency controlled by the alpha, as you probably already know. This EA mesh is UV mapped in kind of a strange way, with the halter part located away from where the body is normally located and in a place where there's probably just black (or nothing, which defaults to black) underneath instead of the skin part of the skintone image. Below are a pic of the mesh UV map and a skintone image to show where the skin color is.

To fix it you'd have to move the halter UV mapping to the normal place using a meshing tool like Milkshape or Blender and adjust the texture to have blue in that location. If you need help with that let me know. Or you could try again with a different item of clothing.


Ok...an hour with blender and I see why there is a smiley after 'if you need help with that let me know'. Is Milkshape easier? Are there tutorials for moving UV mappings? The tutorials I've seen so far are pretty basic

Thanks again!
Ms. Byte (Deceased)
#7 Old 3rd Sep 2015 at 12:03 AM
Milkshape is the only one I can help you with since Blender makes my head explode. (Blender has much more capabilities than Milkshape but there's a steep learning curve.) Milkshape isn't free, cheap but not free. I think there's a free evaluation period that might be sufficient for this purpose.

If you decide to use Milkshape, you'll have to use CAS Tools to extract the mesh in MS3D format, open that in Milkshape, assign your texture to it, open the UV map window, select and move the halter in that window, then save and import the mesh back into the package with CAS Tools. If you decide to go that way let me know and I'll go over the steps in more detail for you.

If you're using Sims4Studio and Blender, they have Blender experts in their forums and you could ask there.

Please do not PM me with mod, tutorial, or general modding questions or problems; post them in the thread for the mod or tutorial or post them in the appropriate forum.

Visit my blogs for other Sims content:
Online Sims - general mods for Sims 3
Offline Sims - adult mods for Sims 3 and Sims 4
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#8 Old 3rd Sep 2015 at 1:33 AM
Moving parts of a UV map is pretty simple in blender. Select the part you want to move (probably easiest with box select -- hit "B" with the mouse pointer in the UV map window), then hit "G" to move it. To get the border (boobs bottom / belly top) to line up, hit "S" (scale) and type "y 0".

https://www.google.com/search?q=blender+uv+mapping

Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#9 Old 3rd Sep 2015 at 7:50 PM
Quote: Originally posted by CmarNYC
Milkshape is the only one I can help you with since Blender makes my head explode. (Blender has much more capabilities than Milkshape but there's a steep learning curve.) Milkshape isn't free, cheap but not free. I think there's a free evaluation period that might be sufficient for this purpose.

If you decide to use Milkshape, you'll have to use CAS Tools to extract the mesh in MS3D format, open that in Milkshape, assign your texture to it, open the UV map window, select and move the halter in that window, then save and import the mesh back into the package with CAS Tools. If you decide to go that way let me know and I'll go over the steps in more detail for you.

If you're using Sims4Studio and Blender, they have Blender experts in their forums and you could ask there.


Heya Cmar, I'd like to use Milkshape. Could you go over the steps in more detail? That would be super nice of you

Thanks in advance, again!

h
Test Subject
Original Poster
#10 Old 3rd Sep 2015 at 8:50 PM
Quote: Originally posted by hasturx
Heya Cmar, I'd like to use Milkshape. Could you go over the steps in more detail? That would be super nice of you

Thanks in advance, again!

h


Ok, well, maybe I don't need the steps explained after all...with a lot of googling and a little guess work, here's my first try. Now it's just a matter of details :D

...beats me where that green color is coming from though...
Screenshots
Test Subject
Original Poster
#11 Old 4th Sep 2015 at 1:51 PM
Quote: Originally posted by hasturx
Ok, well, maybe I don't need the steps explained after all...with a lot of googling and a little guess work, here's my first try. Now it's just a matter of details :D

...beats me where that green color is coming from though...


Here's a specific question:
In the Texture coordinate editor in milkshape, is there a way to lock down the vertices which represent the exiting parts of the upper body mesh (marked in yellow highlight), while just moving the vertices of the halter top (selected in red). I would like to rotate, then scale, and then fine tune, but the other vertices get selected and messed up toward the end...

Thanks again
Screenshots
Ms. Byte (Deceased)
#12 Old 4th Sep 2015 at 7:22 PM
Sorry I wasn't around for a while, but I'm glad you figured it out.

Yeah, that's one of the limitations of Milkshape. If you can get the halter selected separately from the main mesh in the main window by selecting/deselecting faces and checking in the UV window for accuracy, you could regroup it (in the Groups tab) and easily select them separately. With this mesh that is very difficult. (But not impossible.) Maybe someone else knows of a workaround, but I don't. About the best I can tell you is to start over and work with one piece at a time, keeping it selected in the texture coordinates window. If you lose the selection, just click Edit/Undo in the main window.

About the green area - did you modify any of the textures besides the main/material one?

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Online Sims - general mods for Sims 3
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Test Subject
Original Poster
#13 Old 4th Sep 2015 at 8:43 PM
Quote: Originally posted by CmarNYC
Sorry I wasn't around for a while, but I'm glad you figured it out.

Yeah, that's one of the limitations of Milkshape. If you can get the halter selected separately from the main mesh in the main window by selecting/deselecting faces and checking in the UV window for accuracy, you could regroup it (in the Groups tab) and easily select them separately. With this mesh that is very difficult. (But not impossible.) Maybe someone else knows of a workaround, but I don't. About the best I can tell you is to start over and work with one piece at a time, keeping it selected in the texture coordinates window. If you lose the selection, just click Edit/Undo in the main window.

About the green area - did you modify any of the textures besides the main/material one?


Hey no worries, I learn more when I figure something out on my own So I was able to create three mutually exclusive groups, the main mesh, the left part of the halter, and the right part of the halter. But now in the Texture Coordinate Editor window, I only can see one group at a time. What I would like is to see all three groups but only select one group, leaving the other two locked and immutable. Is this possible?

h
Ms. Byte (Deceased)
#14 Old 4th Sep 2015 at 9:43 PM
I don't think so. A lot of people don't like Milkshape's UV editor, for reasons like this, and swear by LithUnwrap which is a free, small, simple UV map editor which will let you view all the groups at once while selecting and moving them separately. It's available here: http://www.geeks3d.com/20090303/lit...er-for-windows/

You can open an .ms3d mesh directly using the Model menu, and save it to .ms3d the same way.

One caution: LithUnwrap removes the Group Comments, which will prevent the mesh from being imported into the package using CAS Tools. It's easy enough to get around; before using it, open the .ms3d mesh in Milkshape, go to the Groups tab, click the Comment button, and copy and save the entire text. (Any of your groups is okay; they should all have the same comments.) Then after using LithUnwrap open the mesh again in Milkshape, Groups tab, Comment button, and paste the same text in.

Please do not PM me with mod, tutorial, or general modding questions or problems; post them in the thread for the mod or tutorial or post them in the appropriate forum.

Visit my blogs for other Sims content:
Online Sims - general mods for Sims 3
Offline Sims - adult mods for Sims 3 and Sims 4
Test Subject
Original Poster
#15 Old 7th Sep 2015 at 12:51 PM
Quote: Originally posted by CmarNYC
I don't think so. A lot of people don't like Milkshape's UV editor, for reasons like this, and swear by LithUnwrap which is a free, small, simple UV map editor which will let you view all the groups at once while selecting and moving them separately. It's available here: http://www.geeks3d.com/20090303/lit...er-for-windows/

You can open an .ms3d mesh directly using the Model menu, and save it to .ms3d the same way.

One caution: LithUnwrap removes the Group Comments, which will prevent the mesh from being imported into the package using CAS Tools. It's easy enough to get around; before using it, open the .ms3d mesh in Milkshape, go to the Groups tab, click the Comment button, and copy and save the entire text. (Any of your groups is okay; they should all have the same comments.) Then after using LithUnwrap open the mesh again in Milkshape, Groups tab, Comment button, and paste the same text in.


Thanks for the tip. I now see that it is both possible and mind bendingly hard to do what I want to do. LithUnwrap is the tool that I wanted, but getting the map to scale, pivot and skew in all the right places with all the right proportions is likely just too much for my first mesh modification.

I think I will try something easier and then come back to this project after I have a little more experience with UV mapping!

Thanks again for all your feedback, a whole world of possibilities have been opened, even if it's a little scary.

h
Ms. Byte (Deceased)
#16 Old 13th Sep 2015 at 4:31 PM
As an update for anyone looking into using LithUnwrap:

Unfortunately LithUnwrap also strips out all the bone assignments except the first one. Milkshape has an option to import only the UV from an OBJ mesh - intended for exactly this situation - so the workaround would be to export from LithUnwrap as obj and then import that to the original mesh in Milkshape using the UV only option. I haven't yet tried this myself.

Please do not PM me with mod, tutorial, or general modding questions or problems; post them in the thread for the mod or tutorial or post them in the appropriate forum.

Visit my blogs for other Sims content:
Online Sims - general mods for Sims 3
Offline Sims - adult mods for Sims 3 and Sims 4
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