[New User] Need help joining a Mesh to a Skeleton

[Pash Motato]

Title pretty much says it all, I've spent a good amount of time trying to get this to work. I've tried selecting both the mesh and the skeleton in object mode and joining them with Ctrl + J to no avail, as well as manually clicking to the join button (so it's likely not as simple as changing keybindings). I've messed around with the relations section to set one piece to be the others' parent but that didn't seem to do it either.

They're both .smd files and I'm running the latest version of blender if that helps at all. (I'm trying to make ragdolls/playermodels for Garry's Mod)

Thanks, and I'm sorry if this is a painfully simple fix that I've missed.

[Stretchyf]

Have no idea about SMDs or Garry,s Mod, but in Blender main tool for making the armature to deform the mesh is Armature Modifier and not "Join" (Ctrl + J).

[still__alive]

You can do it through applying the armature modifier through the modifiers menu, but it looks like that doesn't apply any weights so you have to weight paint 100% of it.

The other way is select the model FIRST, then holding shift, select the armature. That order is important. Hit ctrl+p next, then set the parent to "with automatic weights" from the popup menu. If you don't select the mesh and armature in the right order, that option won't appear in the popup menu.

Doing it that way automatically paints the weights, but you'll probably still have to touch up the weight painting. Some of the automatic weighting will probably end up alright, hopefully. Making a little less work for you.

[Pte Jack]

Armatures and Mesh are 2 different object types, they can't be "joined" using Ctl+J. Mesh vertices have to be weight painted to vertex groups and these vertex groups must have the same name as the bone that is going to move the vertex in the mesh. Once the mesh is painted, you attach the mesh to the armature using an armature modifier. The modifier is pointed at the armature that you want to use and is set to use Vertex Groups as the link to the mesh.

For GMod models you also require a collision mesh, so it will react to the world and not fall through things.

[Pash Motato]

Originally posted by still__alive:

You can do it through applying the armature modifier through the modifiers menu, but it looks like that doesn't apply any weights so you have to weight paint 100% of it.

The other way is select the model FIRST, then holding shift, select the armature. That order is important. Hit ctrl+p next, then set the parent to "with automatic weights" from the popup menu. If you don't select the mesh and armature in the right order, that option won't appear in the popup menu.

Doing it that way automatically paints the weights, but you'll probably still have to touch up the weight painting. Some of the automatic weighting will probably end up alright, hopefully. Making a little less work for you.

I'm able to set the parents correctly now, but the error "Bone Heat Weighting: failed to find solution for one or more bones" appears, which I assume is just because I'll need to manually tweak the weight painting for some. But unlike the tutorial I was following I am still unable to switch to pose mode and manipulate the mesh by rotating the bones (the bones still move independently of the mesh). I do have an invisible reference model mesh that I used for the initial skeleton and it is still manipulated by the skeleton when I view it. I've also tried deleting this reference mesh but that doesn't seem to do it either. I tried manually weight painting as well with the same results.

Looking at it again I found the skeleton in edit mode is the A pose that the reference model initially was in and the reference mesh is still in that pose in edit mode, despite manipulating the skeleton in this mode not affecting the mesh.

The strangest part to me is that I either didn't notice it or it appeared somewhere along the way, but there appears to be bones clumped together very small below the center of the skeleton and mesh at [0,0] in the shape of a full skeleton, but I have no idea how I would go about applying it to the mesh or layering it over the other skeleton because scaling it up just increases the size of the individual bones themselves. (I have pictures but I don't know how to link them to a post like this).

I might just need to familiarize myself with things a bit more, it's just surprisingly hard to find tutorials for making models for GMod with the latest version of blender. Regardless, it has been interesting to try and I hope to keep taking cracks at it until I possibly get it right. Thanks for your reply!

[still__alive]

Originally posted by Pash Motato:

I might just need to familiarize myself with things a bit more, it's just surprisingly hard to find tutorials for making models for GMod with the latest version of blender. Regardless, it has been interesting to try and I hope to keep taking cracks at it until I possibly get it right. Thanks for your reply!

I don't think that is surprising at all, at this point Gmod is getting pretty old right?

You don't necessarily need to be using 100% Gmod related tutorials though. Think of it this way, there are 2 things you need to know - how to do what you need/want in Blender, and what you have to do to make that compatible for Gmod.

If you understand the design and export requirements Gmod has, then you can watch the new tutorials for making stuff with Blender that might not be aimed at making stuff for Gmod. Am I making sense?

[Pash Motato]

For sure, I'm tracking with ya. I'll keep at it and hopefully see this particular project to the end, thanks for the reply!