Let's delete some objects!

Like in the Nifskopery tutorial, deleting objects can be useful to either add new objects where they were, or to just not have anything there at all. You'll notice though, that some meshes have everything all smashed together in one object, making deleting bits of it impossible in NifSkope. Well, we've got Blender, so we can yank that mesh into itty bitty pieces!

We'll start out simple and just remove something. We're bringing back our old friend, the Champion Armor mesh. "But wait!" you say, "I don't know how to import a mesh, Kikai!" Well, you didn't think I'd just leave you out in the dark, did you? Pffff :P

Let's Import a mesh!

First, run Blender (or you may even have it open from the last tutorial ;) ). Under File, find Import, then Netimmerse/Gamebryo (.nif) and click it.



You'll be staring at a drectory. This will probably be the default Blender directory for you, but for me, it's my development directory (which, might I add, is a mess). Now we need to go on a hunt for the file we want. I'm assuming you know where it is, but how do you get there from here? Simple, see that ".." in the upper left? That takes you back one directory. Click a directory opens it.



Of course, the file I'm going to be using for this is in a crazy directory in my Oblivion Files folder where I unpack all my BSAs to. Click on the mesh you want once to select it, then click "Import NIF" in the upper right.



We're now looking at the NIF Import preferences. Since the file we're importing is a skinned mesh (that is, it has a skeleton), we're going to want to select "Realign Bone Tail Only" and "Send Bones to Bind Position". Having these selected makes sure you don't end up with some crazy-ass skeleton that wont work in game when you export your mesh. Make sure none of the other buttons are selected.



Looking good? (Hint: looking like this screenshot?) Right! Click that Ok button! Get ready to hurry up and.. wait. Depending on the file, it can take a while to import it, but give it time. It should give you some indication of it's status in that rust-coloured rectangle with "www.blender.org 245" in it. That will change when you're running a script (which importing a NIF is) and have a status bar, plus tell you what it's doing.



Alright! It's finished--holy god those are some huge feet. Yeah, Oblivion NIFs are big in Blender. Use the scrollwheel on your mouse and the middle button to navigate around that huge sucker to get a better look at it. You can also use the 1, 3, and 7, or Ctrl+1, Ctrl+3, Ctrl+7 to get a back, front, side, top, etc view. Go ahead and play with them a bit to get used to it.


Yup, that looks like some Champion Armor. Well, let's get to editing this sucker!

The Ol' Hack'n'Slash

First, we need to decide what we want to edit. There are many objects in this that are already seperated and can easily be deleted, so we don't want to do those since we could do the in NifSkope just as easily. You can do them in Blender if you really feel like it, but that's not what this lesson is about. No, we want to delete bits of it that we couldn't before!

You know what? Lets get rid of all those spikes before someone gets their eye poked out. Right-click a mesh with some spikes on it. Let's do the cuirass first.



Now hit the Tab-key to go into Edit Mode.



Edit Mode is the magical place where dreams come true ...and you can delete stuff :P You could also add stuff, but we're not doing that here. We want to get rid of those dangerous spikes! Zoom in and pan/rotate around as much as you need to while selecting the very tip of each spike with Shift-Right click. Only select the tips. You'll see why in a few minutes.

Some of the spikes (like those on the sides in this picture) are poking away from the rest of the mesh. While you're rotating around, you'll notice more like this. This gives you an oppertunity to use border select. Hit the B-key and Left-click and drag where you want to begin your selection. Release the Left button when you've got everything in your border select that you're wanting. If you bungle this, you can hit Ctrl+Z at any time to undo what you just did. Likewise, if you misclick a vertex that you weren't wanting, you can hit Ctrl+Z (Or shift-right click it again to deselect it while keeping the rest of your verticies selected).



Got them all selected? Good. "But what good does just selecting the tips do?" you ask. Well, because I like being mean and having you click all of those spikes! No, the real reason is I'm using this to illustrate another wonderful feature that saves time in Blender when you're trying to select pieces of an object without selecting the whole thing.

As you were clicking around, you probably noticed that the spikes aren't connected to anything; they're just kind of there, poking out. This means they're individual little bits of the whole object, like little islands of verticies. You only need to snag one vertex on these islands and I'll show you why. Hit Ctrl+L.



:monocle: It selected the rest of the spikes! You just learned to select linked vertecies :) This is handy for deleting free-floating objects, such as a single pauldron if you only want one, or one glove if you're Micheal Jackson.

Let's get rid of these buggers, then! If you recall the first lesson, then you already know how to get rid of stuff. The X-key! This time, though, you get a selection. Selecting vertecies will delete everything (edges and faces) connected to those verticies.



I'm feeling safer already! Let's do it to the rest of the meshes in this object!. Hit the Tab-key again and right-click another object to select it. Repeat what you did for the spikes on the cuirass on all of the other objects. Some of them don't have spikes, so you don't need to touch those. You're free to use Shift-Right click, border select, and Ctrl+L as much as you like.


A kinder, gentler, less spiky Champion Armor.

Let's Export this thing!

Now that we have our hazard-free armor, we want to export it and use it in game! Hit the A-key to select the whole thing.



Now head to File, Export, Netimmerse/Gamebryo (.nif & .kf). Find a nice, snug, warm place to save your new mesh to and select a new name for it (so you don't overwrite the old one.. well unless that's what you want to do, but I don't recommend it.)


I think that's appropriate :P Click Export NIF.



That's the Export preferences page. Let's make sure we have everything setup how we need it to export this bugger. The following buttons should be selected:

Export Geometry Only (.nif)
Force DDS Extension
Stripify Geometries
Stitch Strips
Flatten Skin
Export Skin Partition
And finally, make sure Oblivion is selected.

Now rock that Ok button!

Like Importing, Exporting is destined to take a while, so you just need to wait and let it to its thing.



And there he is in Nifskope! We need to do a couple things here before we can move on to actually seeing this bad boy in action, though. Select the arms and expand the NiTriShpe.



See how the Material Property is named "skin.003"? All skin bits need to have that named "skin". Double-click it to edit, then hit enter once you're done.



Do this for all the skin bits.



Now that those are all sorted, save your NIF. It'll ask if you want to replace it, click OK (this saves over the NIF you exported from Blender, but that's fine).

Let's see what he looks like in game. Reference my Seperating Objects in a Mesh tutorial to see how to put something in the game!



Well, Daeinde isn't too thrilled with it, but at least he wont stab himself accidentally!