Note: see the 'Observations from the future' page for a suggestion in what reference to use for copying bone values.
When it comes to bone assignment and morphs, the Mesh Toolkit is a godsend. But it doesn't take us all the way there, as we will soon see that certain vertices normally pose issues when using the automatic bone assignment option, no matter how close the reference mesh is to the one we're working on. In fact, you may reassign bones using the same mesh as a reference, and still come out with mistakes!
From your project file, delete the 'top' and 'legs' groups. Then go to File \ Export \ TSRW Object and save it somewhere.
To keep track of my files better, I rename this file LOD1_noMorphs.
Next, we need to get a mesh to use as a reference for bone assignments. Tops generally go to about midriff level and a reference mesh of similar length is enough, but longer tops may require using a full body outfit i.e. one with a longer top and leggings. In this case, I will also be using an outfit as reference.
For more accurate bone assignment, use a reference mesh that is as similar as possible to the one you're editing.
Start up TSRW and go to Create New Project, then Clothing.
After it loads, click the + next to 'Human', 'Teen', 'Female', and select the 'Everyday' category.
Click on the mesh you want to use as reference - in my case, I picked the outfit tfBodyEP4BoFDressStone.
Click next. For both the Project Name, I usually copy the Title, but you can leave it as-is.
Click next, then OK, and let the program load everything.
Now, go to the Mesh tab and, from the drop-down menu, select 'High level of detail'. Check to see whether this mesh has one group, like the halter top (this one does), then click on the button with the red arrow to export the mesh. When exporting these reference meshes, I normally name them 'refBonesMorphs'.
After that, you can close TSRW, as we won't be needing this project anymore.
Start up the Mesh Toolkit and go to the Auto Tools for WSO tab. First tab will be Auto-assign bones (see image to the right).
This is what your settings should look like, and how you should load your files.
After the assignments have been made, I save this version of the project with the name LOD1_withBones.
Step 7: creating a TSRW project
Start a new TSRW project (as outlined before - except this time make sure to select a top!), and go to the Textures tab.
To have a better look of the mesh, we're going to import the images we extracted (multiplier, mask, specular) into the respective sections.
Here is a visual guide of the interface (all this is under the Textures tab, to the right of the program window):
1 - the number of recolorable channels. If your mesh has 1-3, select '3 channels'. If it has 4, select '4 channels'. This lets the game know whether it should use a 3-channel mask XML (no alpha channel i.e. no transparency) or a 4-channel mask XML (with an alpha channel/transparency).
2 - the images you need to replace. If the mesh doesn't have an overlay image, make sure your project also doesn't have one. Click on the Overlay field and an Edit button will show up (this will happen for all image fields you click on). Click on it, then the Make empty button; this makes it so that the game uses a small transparent image as an overlay.
3 - this section allows you to edit the presets. Enable and disable channels accordingly. If the clothing item you clone has 3 channels and you switch it to use 4 channels, the 4th won't be automatically enabled, so you have to change the Enabled flag to True manually.
4 - similar to (2), make sure these images are blank and that the Enabled flags are set to False if your mesh doesn't have any Stencil images.
I forgot to add this on the image above, but make sure you delete the existing presets! Do this by going to each preset from the drop-down menu showing the CAS item name (in this case, tfTopEP4TeeScoopGraphic), then clicking the arrow on the button with the file, and selecting 'Delete'. Do this until the first preset is the only one remaining.
Since this halter top has two channels, I am going to select the '3 channels' button and make sure that Pattern C is disabled (set to False).
Now move to the Mesh tab, and select the 'High level of detail' option.
Click on the Material field, then on the "..." button that appears. This will open a window with multiple options, the most apparent of which will be images. Now, since TSRW doesn't update the materials attached to the mesh when you upload them in the Textures tab, we will need to also replace the default images, otherwise they will show up on the clothing item in-game (especially the normal map).
To replace an image, click on the field to the right of it, then on the "..." button.
In the window that appears, click the Browse button, NOT the import one. This is a mistake some creators make, which leads to the same image being uploaded multiple times and increasing the filesize pointlessly. By using 'Browse', we are going to select the images we already uploaded, which are now among the project files. You can preview the images by clicking on them; a small version will show up to the right of the window. You need to select them as follows:
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the Alpha Map and Diffuse Map will be replaced with the multiplier. Some clothing items may lack an Alpha Map section.
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the Normal Map is self explanatory. This one we will actually need to import into the project, since we haven't imported it before. Do this by clicking on the Import button.
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the Specular Map will be replaced with the specular.
After you're done replacing the images, give the program 1-2 seconds to refresh. You may not see dramatic changes, but trust me - they matter. On some meshes, the clearest difference is in the normal map, where importing the correct one will get rid of cut-off shine on the connecting body part.
Do the same for the other two LODs (levels of detail), 'Medium level of detail' and 'Low level of detail'.
Now that the textures are assigned, go to the Mesh tab, under 'High level of detail', and import the 'LOD1_withBones' by clicking on the button with the green arrow.
When importing a mesh, click NO to the popup asking if you want to optimize the vertex data, and either yes or no to the one that asks whether you want to update the bounding box values.
Next, go to Tools \ Load Animation, and let the Animation Loader window load. If it disappears, minimize and maximize the TSRW window.
In the search field, you can enter the name of animations you want to play. I recommend either dance_together animations or extinguish animations, as they have wide arm and leg movements. Click on the name of an animation, then the Load button. You can use the Play button to the bottom of the TSRW program window to play the animation, and the slider to jump around to different points in the animation.
In the main TSRW window, use the scroll button to zoom in on the sim, and Alt+left click to move the sim around in the program window.
Using this animation enables us to see the points where the bone assignments give the mesh a misshapen look. It's normal to have some clipping/overlapping between mesh parts, as TS3 meshes don't have enough vertices to allow for correct display of skin folding, but the mesh should look decent from all angles when the sim is standing still and - to a degree - when it's moving. Some exaggerated, unrealistic movements can still stretch the mesh in ugly ways, there's nothing to be done about that.
Once you become more used to the work process, you can forego importing the 'LOD1_withBones' at this stage, and generate the project after you've manually fixed the bones in Milkshape. But it's always good to test how your mesh animates, because it may look bad even if the bone assignments are technically correct (e.g. long skirts, or tops with capelet-like attachments).
Again, pause the animation from time to time and rotate the sim to check for wonky bone assignments, particularly at the armpits and hands.
In this case the hands seem to be OK, but the armpits definitely need adjusting (the left half is a dance animation, the right half is the first Extinguish one).
Step 8: fixing bad bone assignments
Now that we've seen what areas we need to adjust, it's time to do so. Import the 'LOD1_withBones' file in a new Milkshape project by going to File \ Import \ TSRW Object. Switch to Textured (or Smooth Shaded) view and disable Colored Groups.
Go to the Joints tab and tick the 'Draw vertices with bone colors' and 'Realtime update' boxes. For a better view, turn off 'Wireflame Overlay'; we will enable it later, but now we need to take a quick look around and the grid gets in the way.
And we've already spotted more areas we need to fix:
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a vertex in the front area of the midriff;
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the side of the breasts, where the top meets the skin;
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the armpits - see how there is some red from the shoulder, where it should be green (from the torso);
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the area on the arm just after the shoulder (again, some red from the shoulder instead of the light green from the arm).
I learned how to do this from Frankie's tutorials - written and video -, but I will explain it as well, with progress pictures.
Turn on Wireframe Overlay, and Select mode, then go back to the Joints tab.
Let's start off with the vertex near the midriff. Select the vertex you want to copy data from (I picked the one to the left of the problem one) and click the Show button; the fields above will now display the bone assignments of that vertex.
You should be careful when selecting vertices, as the bone colors will prevent you from seeing which you selected. If you want to make sure, untick the 'Draw vertices with bone colors' box. To the right, you can see what happens when you select other vertices by accident!
Now, with Alt+left click, select the problem vertex and click the Assign button. It should be the same color as the reference one now 😊
The rest of the bone assignment corrections will be done in a similar way. I recommend saving this new project separately, in case you make a mistake and have to redo something. From time to time, export the file - naming it something like 'LOD1_withBones2' - and reimport it into your TSRW project, without saving, and play the animations to check if the bone assignments are correct.
For me, a lot of this part is trial and error, so I can't give a definitive solution to assigning bones. If you find it difficult to assign a certain part of the outfit, you can extract another mesh and look at the way the bones are assigned on that.
Now that we're done with assigning bones, it's time to move on to the morphs.