Can I ask for your expertize?

[morcroft]

Blender & GIMP for me. Nif scripts for Blender (2.49 not 2.5) works fine - I gather the 3DS Max version works just as well.

What little animation I do, I do in Blender.

Nifskope can be used to monkey around with model shapes and the UV map, but mostly you need it for fixing those odd little mesh nif problems that just crop up. It's definitely nif only. You're likely to do best using 3DS Max - you'll find out when you need nifskope.

[jb3]

I see, so Blender seems a bit like Anim8or.

With Blender, can you work with a mesh and UV map and export it to .nif? How do you convert from .nif to .3ds, Nifskope can't do that, so it seems.

[morcroft]

I don't know Anim8or but Blender can do pretty well everything DSMax can. I prefer Blender because it's free, I don''t qualify for educational discounts and I don't want to rely on pirate software.

You need the NIFTools
http://sourceforge.net/projects/niftools/
plugin for either DSMax or Blender - your preference. Once set up either app can read and write .nifs directly.

[jb3]

OK, this is helpful. I think I'm set.

Blender looks like a very good software, indeed. And the plugin works great.

FYI, Anim8or doesn't seem to be supported any longer. An inactive software since 2008. In short, it's a history.

Sadly, I'm just so used to Max's interface that I felt very uncomfortable with Blender. Therefore I got Max, just a trial version. It works like a charm. 3ds Max is a powerhouse. Unfortunately .nif plugin supports Max upto ver.2010, so no plugin for 2012. I need to export the models and convert using Blender.

Or does anyone know how to make .nif files work with 2012?

[morcroft]

If you want to know about reprogramming your brain from Max to Blender then you need to talk to Koniption, who had to do just that owing to a very unfortunate combination of a PC crash and a very scratched (full & very expensive) copy of DS-Max.

If anyone can speak authoritatively on the relative merits of the two then it will be her.

Can't help you with Max myself: tried it briefly but was already indoctrinated into Blender. I couldn't get used to Max!

[jb3]

True, Max is crazily expensive. I bet they milk big companies and it's probably both a good idea and worth the monies.

I worked with Max before, so I can't help it. For me working in Blender takes time and I'm about to start screaming, when I press buttons and get different results. Even though it was the old Max, they still keep the old funcionality plus they added more stuff.

[Koniption]

Actually, for the sheer amount of tutorials and development that Blender still gets, the fact that it is free, plus the fact it can do most stuff that Max can in regards to Oblivion nif modding - Blender is the best.

Max can do particle effects, if I remember correctly, if you use the Civ 4 exporter and not the Niftools plugin exporter....but Max's nif plugin development has been halted for some time now over at Niftools forum, and newer versions of Max are not supported, like you mentioned.

So overall, Blender is now my baby.

To get started, follow the directions here at TesNexus, for setting up Blender and the needed 3rd party programs it relies on:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12248

Under "Version Differences" at above linky, you'll see the top sentence that says:

"The version 2.49b download (Blender 2.49b, Python 2.6.5, Blender NIF Scripts 2.5.5, NifSkope 1.0.22, PyFFI 1.1.5) is the currently "accepted" version and contains all related files and versions known to work well together."

...the above sentence is outdated. In reality, you need...:

Blender 2.49b
Python 2.6.6
Blender NIF Scripts 2.5.7
NifSkope 1.0.22
PyFFI 2.1.9

Once you've gotten the above programs and plugins, you still want to follow the step-by-step installation instructions from top to bottom, at the above TesNexus linky I posted.

I can try to help walk you through the various steps you get stuck on, in doing certain things in Blender. You can PM me, or maybe post here int his thread of yours.

And before I leave, here are some useful sites:

Blender site's Official wiki:
http://wiki.blender.org/

Blender WikiBooks site - Noob to Pro (highly recommended):
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro

Niftools (Blender tutorial section, tips, etc):
http://niftools.sourceforge.net/wiki/Blender

(Niftools above, also has forum where you can ask for help for various things, or even submit bug reports..just be sure to look through the threads to see if your question has already been answered, before deciding to make a new thread with your question)

Finally, the ElderScrolls CS wiki (which is currently down, right now):
http://cs.elderscrolls.com/

(The Elderscrolls wiki deals with stuff beyond the CS, like in tutorials for modeling, collisioning, etc - but some of the tutorials are out of date...if you have questions on the up-to-date way to do something, just PM me and ask.)

Koniption

[jb3]

KP, wow! I can't express how helpful you are! Greatly appreciated.

In fact, I did most of this yesterday. I figured out that Blender 2.49b was the version to be used (unfortunately after installation of 2.57). So I got it to work, together with Python, NifTools and PyFFI.

You say Blender is the way to go. Oh crap... I just love Max! Can't re-program. I think I will use Max, then save and finish in Blender.

Anyway, yesterday I made my first Oblivion object in Max, UVed it and exported. I cooked up a primitive dds texture. Then I used NifSkope and exported to Oblivion. Voila! Don't laugh, don't laugh. I had to start with something simple. Here is my wagon wheel, simply for testing purposes. :lol: :O



KP, I will follow your post carefully, but I have 2 more questions:

1. As I can still "walk through" the object in Oblivion, do you know of a good tutorial to create Collision Object? I tried messing up in NifSkope, but I'd ideally do that in... well, I'dd say Max, but Blender will do. (Edit: Scratch that. Found it.)

2. What are the "poly budgets" these days? The wheel I made was 1500 facets approx. Can Oblivion handle more complex objects? As I browsed in CS, I've noticed even very small yet complex objects of, say, 15k facets. How high-poly can we go?

P.S. Unfortunately Elderscrolls wiki site is down.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Loving the wheel (especially liking how it's labelled to make sure you know what it is)!

Hey, I'm not mocking. I can't make a damn thing with such programs...

[Deeza]

Congratulations! You have literally re-invented the wheel....

Seriously, nice job. The texturing is the hard part, in my experience, but you already have a headstart on me in that department.