ZG SWTOR Objects Tools - SWTOR-Slicers/WikiPedia GitHub Wiki
Tools useful when modifying SWTOR objects for "prettification" (such as turning them into single mesh bodies, smoothing them with Subdivision modifiers, autoweighting additions to their armatures, etc.). You can see some of their uses in the Tips and Tricks section of the wiki (which needs some tender loving care 😓).
Quickscaler.
Requirements.
- A selection of objects in the 3D Viewer.
Scales all selected objects up or down by a factor, preserving their relative distances if their origins don't match. The idea behind the tool is to be able to quickly upscale all objects of a character or a scene to real life-like sizes (1 Blender unit = 1 m. or equivalent), as Blender requires such sizes to successfully calculate things like automatic weightmaps, physics simulations, etc.
Cameras, lights and armatures are correctly scaled, and it acts only on non-parented and parent objects, to avoid double-scaling children objects (typically, objects parented to a skeleton).
WARNING: objects set as insensitive to selection in the Outliner aren't affected by this tool.
Any number between 1 and 100 can be manually entered. Recommended factors are:
- 10, for simplicity. It results in rather superheroically-sized characters.
- Around 7-8 for more realistic human heights.
The tool includes the following buttons for making any current transformations permanent, if so wished:
(These are just some of the options available in the Object > Apply menu. They have to be used judiciously, most often not at all)
Blender keeps objects' transformations relative to their original positions, rotations and scalings. This tool applies them so that they become their new "original" ones
One must be careful when deciding to use this tool on SWTOR objects, specially on characters. For one, all SWTOR objects are imported pre-applying a 90º x-axis rotation to solve the differences between Blender and SWTOR's coordinate systems. Also, there's the matter of scaling up to "real world" Blender sizes, specially if dealing with parenting to skeletons. These things, if "applied", can have consequences when trying to use animations and other things.
On the other hand, environments are far less prone to become problematic, as they are usually fixed objects in the scene.
Merge Double Vertices.
Requirements.
- A selection of objects while in Object Mode.
- When selecting multiple objects, the tool acts on each of them separately so as not to merge vertices of different objects by accident.
Merges "duplicate" vertices (applies a "Merge By Distance" with a tolerance of 0.000001 m.), which usually solves many issues when fusing body parts or applying Subdivision or Multiresolution Modifiers to any SWTOR object, such as the appearance of seams in joined limbs or distorted holes when subdivided.
(Differently to the previous version of this tool, a preserve edges option is used, that works far better for hard surface-like parts of armor, weapons, and many environmental objects)
If we intend to subdivide objects such as weapons or some bits of armor that happen to be very simplistic, we suggest to test that subdividing immediately after merging doubles to check that there won't be problems that require additional massaging. That, or keeping non-merged duplicates of the objects, just in case we have to backtrack.
Merge Selected Double Vertices.
Requirements.
- A selection of vertices (or edges or faces) while in Edit Mode.
The problem with merging duplicate vertices is that the tolerance that would guarantee no seams between joined limbs is lax enough to accidentally fuse lips or teeth. So, the previous Merge Double Vertices tool uses a 0.00001 tolerance that prevents such accidents, but sometimes it fails to solve the appearance of seams, specially in the base of the neck where head objects join torso ones.
What this tool allows us is to coarsely select the involved vertices (or edges and faces: it'll convert the selection to vertices anyway), no need to be overly precise, and apply a "Merge By Distance" with a tolerance high enough to solve the issue. The only requisite is to avoid the densest areas of the object such as the face, mouth, eyes, etc.
Modifiers Tools.
Requirements.
- A selection of one or several objects.
- Adding a Shrinkwrap Modifier requires selecting a Shrinkwrap target.
They add to all selected objects Modifiers like Subdivision or Multires (for hiding SWTOR's models' low poly nature), Displace and Solidify (to facilitate gear-over-full body workflows), Smooth Corrective to reduce distortions by bone deformations, and Shrinkwrap for, say, keeping clothes from intersecting body meshes or sinking into them, all with somewhat sensible settings as an easy starting point. It comes in handy when prettifying whole characters via Blender's unique features.
There is a Modifiers removal button that only affects those specific Modifier types, preserving any other that has been applied manually through Blender's usual means, including the Armature modifiers that result from parenting to a skeleton. Also, there are buttons for moving such Armature modifiers to the top or the bottom of the Modifier Stack, and for ticking their "Preserve Volume" checkboxes, for both usefulness and experimentation.