[Tutorial][Blender][Nifskope] Guide to creating an item.

[HealthCard]

Note I am not an expert with these programs, from the time this guide as made I have had about two months experience. Some questions you have may or may not be answerable.

Guide to using Blender to create items for Fiesta.​

Skip to V if you have used blender/ or any 3D modelling software before​

Table of contents:
I. Introduction.
II. Programs.
III. Starting out.
IV. Blender in one hour.
V. Basics of modelling.
VI. Coloring your model in Blender.
VII. Importing into Nifskope and getting game ready.
VIII. Final Words.
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I. Introduction:

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This tutorial will help you understand the basic concepts of creating an item within Blender. I will show you how to model, texture, export your model and import it into Nifskope to be game ready. The reason I'm making this guide is because the ones on this forum are pretty dated and don't go too in-depth.

II. Programs:

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I will be using Blender 2.75 and Nifskope 1.1.3.

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There is a script for Blender called Niftools, which is capable of taking your blender creations and turning it directly into a Nif file. The script does not working with any blender 2.7x as far as I know of and works with Blender 2.49b. You may download these if you wish too but the GUI of Blender 2.75 and Blender 2.49b is completely different and in this tutorial I will not be showing you how to use Blender 2.49b.

III. Starting out:

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Starting out with your first model you will want an idea in mind before going in to start. If you want to create an item know what your item is about, what you want to make it for and have a reference of some sort. Lets say I want to make a sword, find an image of a sword you want to make and use it within blender. I have googled an image of a sword I will be using it for this tutorial.

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IV. Blender in one hour:

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This video is the video I watched when I downloaded Blender and had no idea what I was doing. It has helped me a lot in starting out by teaching me some of the basic keys and how to model. Though it wont teach you everything its a good starting point.

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Need some motivation? Try these motivational videos:

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V. Basics of modelling

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Protip: Pressing 1 on the numpad will put you in Front view, pressing 5 on the numpad will toggle between Orthodox view and Perspective view, its best to model in Front Orthodox view for Fiesta, as that is how the model will be inside the nif to be game ready. (top left of a scene will state which view you are in currently)

Pressing N will bring up a menu on the right side of the scene your mouse is in, in there will be an option to add a background image, I recommend being in Front Orthodox view before you add the image in so it stays on when you are in that view working on your model.
Example:

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The type of modelling I do is what I've heard some people call extrude modelling. By pressing the E key on a face, edge or even vertices it will force out the selected as extra geometry.
Example:

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This is a real easy way I find to create items. It's also a good note to make everything separately instead of focusing on making everything all at once.
Example:

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Its also good to keep things with the same material and color grouped for consistency.

Protip: If you're creating a one hand for Fiesta, the point where the axis intersect is where the hand will be, so its best to keep the middle of the handle there and work your way up

Don't feel restricted to just using the cube alone, in Object mode pressing Shift+A you can add a mesh, being in Object mode this will create a whole new mesh without materials or texture, being in edit mode inside an existing mesh will add a new mesh inside that mesh giving it the same materials and texture. Also when modelling remember you have 3 axis to play with, the X and Z axis (default in Front-Ortho view) and the Y axis. Try not to worry to much about the reference image and imagine how you think this weapon should be.
Example:

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Pressing Z will change between Solid display and Wireframe display. In solid display you can only select the faces, edges and vertices you can only see(from that view point), in Wireframe mode you can select vertices on both sides at once, doing this can help your modelling by moving the vertices to adjust to different parts of your model.
Example:

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Ctrl+R will allow you to do a loop cut, which will add a segment between two ends of an object, this can be useful if you need create an edge in your model.
Example:

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In Object mode you can smooth all your faces, giving your object a more finished look to it.
Example:

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IV. Coloring your model in Blender:

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Once you have your model complete its time to color it so its ready for Nifskope.
Split your work area and add a new window, Select the "Properties" window. Select an object, add a new material to it and name that material.
Example:

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Select under the Diffuse color the color you want for that selected part. Remember to make a new material for every object.
Example:

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Once you're done your model will look like this and its ready for export, Save your .blend file so you can come back to edit it anytime, and export it as a .3DS file.

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VII. Importing into Nifskope and getting game ready.

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Finally we have reached the last step which is importing our object into Nifskope. First we need an already existing Nif from Fiesta, I will include a 1H Nif from the Fiesta folder for you to use.
•Open the nif from an existing Fiesta file (in this case ShortSword.nif)
• File -> Import > -> Import .3DS
• Once you import your nif there will be two swords on the screen now (the ShortSword and your weapon) you will have to right click on the ShortSword > Block > Remove Block.

This will remove the ShortSword from the view.
NOTE: More than likely if you zoom out a bit the ShortSword will reappear you will have to zoom out a bit and delete it again by right clicking. If you dont you might experience a visual glitch in game where both swords will show when zoomed out enough.
Examples:

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After that your sword should be game ready, save over the file of a 1h in your fiesta resitem folder you wish to try it on and test it out.

Thank you Rubie for the reminder of making sure to check in game for positioning
If you notice in game that your model is a bit misplaced than where it should be you need to right click either the Mesh of the object to move the individual mesh or the NiNode that all of your objects belong to so you can move everything at once and go to Transform > Edit and move the X Y Z and rotational values accordingly to where it is in Nifskope and how its positioned in game. As far as I know there's no other way than eyeballing it, but eventually you will be able to do it faster.
Examples:

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VIII. Final words

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Though this was a long tutorial I tried to make it as simple as I can, hope you learned something about Blender and Nifskope. I have included all the files for this tutorial below in a .rar .

 

[Rubie]

This is a great guide. You did really well writing it out but there somethings you missed out on. I been messing with 3d models for a bit now and I am no expert just that there are somethings people prefer to other ways.
One thing you should do is make sure you also have a UV map for your weapon it actually makes coloring easier since a lot of times Blender will crash on you with coloring models depending on how your doing it. It also makes it easier to go back if you want to later to edit the texture. I will be glad to show you how to do a UV map and it can be a pain but it actually makes your models more professional looking down the road.
The other thing is even though you have sized and fit where the weapon was before 9/10 times you still need to check in game to make sure that your weapon is lining up in the right spot as will as is the right size. This is a big issue with having to re-size your model to fit the original weapon.
But keep up the good work on your tutorials :3 most people just stick to youtube with just videos a layout format like this will help those that do better with directions than watching.

 

[HealthCard]

This is a great guide. You did really well writing it out but there somethings you missed out on. I been messing with 3d models for a bit now and I am no expert just that there are somethings people prefer to other ways.
One thing you should do is make sure you also have a UV map for your weapon it actually makes coloring easier since a lot of times Blender will crash on you with coloring models depending on how your doing it. It also makes it easier to go back if you want to later to edit the texture. I will be glad to show you how to do a UV map and it can be a pain but it actually makes your models more professional looking down the road.
The other thing is even though you have sized and fit where the weapon was before 9/10 times you still need to check in game to make sure that your weapon is lining up in the right spot as will as is the right size. This is a big issue with having to re-size your model to fit the original weapon.
But keep up the good work on your tutorials :3 most people just stick to youtube with just videos a layout format like this will help those that do better with directions than watching.

Thanks and yeah I'm aware of UV Maps, my first models of these were made with UV Map texturing instead of changing the Diffuse colors, but I was saving that for a different tutorial along with some other things. I will add the part on how to translate the item in case it is offset inside of the game, I kind of over-looked that since I checked it in-game myself and it was fine.

 

[Rubie]

Thanks and yeah I'm aware of UV Maps, my first models of these were made with UV Map texturing instead of changing the Diffuse colors, but I was saving that for a different tutorial along with some other things. I will add the part on how to translate the item in case it is offset inside of the game, I kind of over-looked that since I checked it in-game myself and it was fine.

I just don't want someone making a file than complining or not knowing what to do to fix it. I understand that xD UV maps can be tricky it a pain that you have to do it all at once as well
and its no problem just I advise you not to use blender for coloring for the texture I find Gimp to be a good soruce for the texture since you can export the uv template outside of nif and edit that and turn it into a .dds file. Also when you add the material don't forget to add a Texture port with your going to do texturing outside of blender.. You should do this always even if you texture inside of blender

 

[logigo]

Here's a nifty trick I use to texture models which have been modeled directly from concept art.

Go to the corresponding view of your concept art (e.g. in this case, 1, front view).

Go to edit mode.

Select everything (make sure you're in the right view).

Click U>Project from view.

Make a new material (I'm sure you probably know how to do that, if not, feel free to ask !).

Assign it to each object. Note: if you have more than one object make sure to project each one from view like before.

Open the UV Editor, load the image assigned in the material, and place the object accordingly.

Your object should be textured properly. To check, change to texture view.

P.S.: You need to be in cycles render to be able to do this using this method.