View Single Post in: TIPTORIAL: Extracting UV Maps for Better Recolors (2009 update)

Not actually evil.
Original Poster
#4 Old 18th Jan 2009 at 11:03 PM
Default Exporting the Mesh - Custom
Exporting the Mesh

To get the UV map for some piece of clothing, we first need the 3d model from the clothing mesh. The way you get the mesh differs for Maxis clothing and custom clothing, so please read the appropriate section. This post covers custom mesh extraction, the previous one covers Maxis mesh extraction.


Exporting the Mesh - Custom
this section's text and images by HystericalParoxysm
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I'm going to assume that you know what meshes you have downloaded, and what meshes are used for what recolours. If you're recolouring clothing for redistribution, you'd better! If you're just disorganized, check out Loverat's guide to subfolders and get organized first, then come back.

Why do you need to be organized? For custom meshes, you have to be able to find the mesh file itself; the names in the recolours won't be correct.

Open the .package for the mesh itself in SimPE. For demonstrative purposes, I'm using a mesh by the very talented Chriko of 2-f0r-u.

A. Select the Geometric Data Container

B. Look under the Plugin tab. You may have more or less tabs at the bottom of your SimPE than shown. If you don't have a Plugin tab there for some reason, you can bring it up through Window - Plugin View.

C. Look under where it says Models. There should be only one item listed; this technique will only work properly if there is only one, but most body meshes only have one. You can still try it if the mesh has multiple groups, but the results are often not very useful (confusing overlapping, etc.)

D. Click Export to save your mesh as an .obj file. The name and where you save it don't matter much - put it somewhere you can find it easily, and name it something that makes sense to you. You can leave it the default filename if you want.

click to enlarge

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Screenshots

Please spay or neuter your pets. --- Cat Music Video! --- my meshes