Proper weight painting for the character creation variables

[aKillerExperience.ttv]

So I'm wondering, after about 6 hours of trying to get this right:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2854757031
it still reacts really strangely. are there any proper documentation on how to weight paint so it works for the character creation? pwease hewp (❁´◡`❁)

[Cattrina]

It is so tedious many of us just copy an existing item of clothing and use that as a base for it. Or the character mesh. You could try joining the clothing to the character mesh and see if Blender copies the weights too.

[aKillerExperience.ttv]

Originally posted by Cattrina:

It is so tedious many of us just copy an existing item of clothing and use that as a base for it. Or the character mesh. You could try joining the clothing to the character mesh and see if Blender copies the weights too.

Thanks for your reply! 🎇ah I see; well my content will be all custom made, I will do some daily experiments to see if I can get it down to a science! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧ I was wondering about haircards also, is it just as simple as make a hair model like with just regular items in the FCS?

[SnugSnug]

It will never be exact as the weighting can't truly cope with the full range of movement and character variation from shape keys. Best one can do is deliver a solid mid range and try to build in some mitigation for the extremes to avoid major artefacts or stretching.

Also be aware that the female skeleton body mesh is incorrectly positioned (head/neck area especially) you need to grab the body from the other folder and do some swapping or use the template one which is okay but lacks animations. If i remember rightly the base body is equivalent to having some of the sliders maxed. eg template body = game body with breast slider @ 1 or 100... but default spacing and droop??? sorry its been a while since i did female bust clothes but i remember having issues with clipping till i realised i wasn't working with matching base model. If it works in blender but not in-game it's probably because your blender body model isn't set up to game default.

Try to avoid using more than three bones per vertex (excess will be cut by engine),
Make sure sum total per vertex is 1 (engine will keep highest weighs and drop lowest = 1).
Be aware that male and female are set up differently and that spine bones although named the same relate to different behaviour regards sliders and animations. So work from scratch for each sex to avoid accidental corruption.

Using a pattern texture that stretches /compresses well is also helpful for certain areas and either avoid or body map the worst joints... but given your design piece i think maps are out.
Add extra vertex to areas that distort / break think of them like pleats.

Make your own master and then use that as starting point for new variations, it's heart breaking when one uses a vanilla piece just to realise that it needed fixing 1st.

When exporting make sure you have set origin to 000 and that tick boxes are checked as most default to off with each new blender session.

[aKillerExperience.ttv]

Originally posted by SnugSnug:

It will never be exact as the weighting can't truly cope with the full range of movement and character variation from shape keys. Best one can do is deliver a solid mid range and try to build in some mitigation for the extremes to avoid major artefacts or stretching.

Also be aware that the female skeleton body mesh is incorrectly positioned (head/neck area especially) you need to grab the body from the other folder and do some swapping or use the template one which is okay but lacks animations. If i remember rightly the base body is equivalent to having some of the sliders maxed. eg template body = game body with breast slider @ 1 or 100... but default spacing and droop??? sorry its been a while since i did female bust clothes but i remember having issues with clipping till i realised i wasn't working with matching base model. If it works in blender but not in-game it's probably because your blender body model isn't set up to game default.

Try to avoid using more than three bones per vertex (excess will be cut by engine),
Make sure sum total per vertex is 1 (engine will keep highest weighs and drop lowest = 1).
Be aware that male and female are set up differently and that spine bones although named the same relate to different behaviour regards sliders and animations. So work from scratch for each sex to avoid accidental corruption.

Using a pattern texture that stretches /compresses well is also helpful for certain areas and either avoid or body map the worst joints... but given your design piece i think maps are out.
Add extra vertex to areas that distort / break think of them like pleats.

Make your own master and then use that as starting point for new variations, it's heart breaking when one uses a vanilla piece just to realise that it needed fixing 1st.

When exporting make sure you have set origin to 000 and that tick boxes are checked as most default to off with each new blender session.

Thanks for your reply! o(*￣▽￣*)ブ this will help a lot since some of the things you mention I had no idea what it was haha; When you say three bones per vertex I'm a bit confused what you mean or a body map for instance. I will do some digging and continue working tho. appreciate all the help guys! will be sure to credit you in the future (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

[aKillerExperience.ttv]

oh yeah and the female skeleton being offset really got me in the beginning 😂

[SnugSnug]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2613125009

it's an old crib but see how the vertex selected has only three bones attached to it and their combined weight = 1.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2613098751

part maps, are png colour maps that go with each race body and when an armour piece is selected in FCS one can choose which colours to apply to it. So the vanilla part map for human female is fairly basic but if one mods their race folder, then they can apply those templates to future pieces of clothing for more variations. When a colour is selected it will not render the body in that area making it effectively transparent. This solves clipping issues but can also cause missing body part issues in other mods or if an area of body isn't covered by the armour completely.

The above is the pattern as suggested by Arkheil on his community part map mod, although that is my personal application of it for the skeleton mk1, so it shouldn't conflict overly.

[aKillerExperience.ttv]

Originally posted by SnugSnug:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2613125009

it's an old crib but see how the vertex selected has only three bones attached to it and their combined weight = 1.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2613098751

part maps, are png colour maps that go with each race body and when an armour piece is selected in FCS one can choose which colours to apply to it. So the vanilla part map for human female is fairly basic but if one mods their race folder, then they can apply those templates to future pieces of clothing for more variations. When a colour is selected it will not render the body in that area making it effectively transparent. This solves clipping issues but can also cause missing body part issues in other mods or if an area of body isn't covered by the armour completely.

The above is the pattern as suggested by Arkheil on his community part map mod, although that is my personal application of it for the skeleton mk1, so it shouldn't conflict overly.

haha damn, yes color maps and what order to layer clothing is just something I have to edge myself closer to; clipping is a huge issue with other models I have. Takes a while for my numb skull to pick up these things.

side note: if I were to make a custom model with a custom rig with custom animations, how would the game handle it? does it have to be the kenshi skeleton or could I basically rework it from scratch? thanks again ❤

[Cattrina]

Originally posted by 3Doe:

side note: if I were to make a custom model with a custom rig with custom animations, how would the game handle it? does it have to be the kenshi skeleton or could I basically rework it from scratch? thanks again ❤

If you wish the new race (=custom model) to be humanoid/people the bones at least have to be named identically to vanilla. As there are special things that attach to the character by 'follow this bone' -command, namely handcuffs, weapons and special tools (like pickax).

Also the carry bone (that allows the new race to carry other characters, Bip01 L UpperArm) need to exist. Also the so called photobooth bones (head, headnub, chin, neck) need to be there. If any of these bone names does not exist, the game crashes.

The animation names are also compulsory: https://kenshi.fandom.com/wiki/Vanilla_Animation_Names

If any are missing it does not crash the game, but it will cause the character just to stand there while the game 'plays' an animation that does not exist. Also the photobooth poses (idles) are needed so your character can have a portrait.

[aKillerExperience.ttv]

Originally posted by Cattrina:

Originally posted by 3Doe:

side note: if I were to make a custom model with a custom rig with custom animations, how would the game handle it? does it have to be the kenshi skeleton or could I basically rework it from scratch? thanks again ❤

If you wish the new race (=custom model) to be humanoid/people the bones at least have to be named identically to vanilla. As there are special things that attach to the character by 'follow this bone' -command, namely handcuffs, weapons and special tools (like pickax).

Also the carry bone (that allows the new race to carry other characters, Bip01 L UpperArm) need to exist. Also the so called photobooth bones (head, headnub, chin, neck) need to be there. If any of these bone names does not exist, the game crashes.

The animation names are also compulsory: https://kenshi.fandom.com/wiki/Vanilla_Animation_Names

If any are missing it does not crash the game, but it will cause the character just to stand there while the game 'plays' an animation that does not exist. Also the photobooth poses (idles) are needed so your character can have a portrait.

Ah I see, thanks a ton ✨❤; will try it out sometime next week, still working on the sculpts and might go with another concept still.