Help me/Teach me how to edit Polygons/objects!

[ChiePet]

My request is straight forward but complicated as I've tried many a times and failed; How does one swap or even replace polygons from one ver. of a characters Model onto another (ex; Taking Shadow Queen Peach's Short Hair, Collar, and Cape, and using them to replace the same polys on a normal peach model)

<3

 

[HalcyonDays]

I've been interested in learning this for some time myself. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like it's directly possible in BrawlBox, unless I'm mistaken. Which in this case, I hope it is possible.

I'm guessing one might need access to an external model creating/editing program like Maya, 3DS Max, Blender, etc in order to manipulate or add articles (though I've seen it done to an extent in BrawlBox, but that was only 'removing' articles by making them invisible), but yeah. This is currently out of my league.

I, also, second the motion to find a teacher for this stuff! =P

 

[ChiePet]

Sigh, No leads or anyone willing to help though.

This is the best I found so far but it's not exactly what I'm looking for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0TdDquju5s

 

[Montimers]

I'll give you a quick idea about that because modelling is not my strong point. First, this tutorial you posted is extremely outdated and messing with a hex editor is not necessary. I hope you know something about 3d models or you won't understand much of my explanation.
When you open a model in brawlbox, you can see the objects that together creates that model. Those objects are rigged to one or more bones. With brawlbox, you can export those objects and import them into other characters. Don't use the replace function though, as it tends to crash everything. Problem is: brawlbox can't rig anything. So, to it work properly, you have to delete the object you're replacing and its material, as long as it's not used by other objects. Then, you have to delete all bones that were attached to the object you deleted, and insert your new object with the exact same amount of bones in the same positions of the deleted ones, or you'll have id problems when using the model in the fight.
Now if you want some specific part of the object, you'll need Maya or 3DS, like Halcyon said.
You have two problems by doing this: with brawlbox is actually much harder and way more limited because you can't rig, but using in it 3ds or Maya will destroy some materials you'll have to manually fix after importing again in brawlbox.

In Shadow Peach's hair, I think they just changed her hair's vertices by translating them a little closer to her head. It's not really a new model. That even brawlbox can do.

 

[NeoSonic15]

and insert your new object with the exact same amount of bones in the same positions of the deleted ones, or you'll have id problems when using the model in the fight.

I know this is a pretty old post, but how exactly do you "insert" the new object? All I see is replace and duplicate, but duplicating and then replacing still crashes anyway and the other options don't seem to be what I'm after. Is there a way to insert a completely new object/polygon?

 

[Montimers]

Wow I didn't remember I have said this. You're lucky I saw your post
I know replace crashes. Or used to crash at least. I don't know how you're are inserting the object but it shouldn't crash. What I'll say now is not about the newest version of brawlbox, so there might be easier ways I'm not aware of.
Right clicking the model should have an option called "Import new object" or something like that. Brawlbox will handle mdl0 format, so you need your model to be on this format. After choosing it, you can either choose one of the objects that are part of your model or choose to combine both, which would be basically pasting the whole model in the bone you have chosen to add it.
Keep in mind your model must already be accepted by brawlbox. If you have any other formats, you will need 3ds or Maya to convert it to dae before importing to brawl format.

 

[NeoSonic15]

Thank you so much!
I'll have to go back and re-do a lot of my work, but at least it's something. Thank you!!!

 

[NeoSonic15]

My only other question is, do you have any idea how to open mdl0 files in 3DS Max? It would save me a bit of searching for a method haha

 

[Montimers]

Actually you don't use mdl0 for 3ds. You export with dae format from brawlbox, and then import it in 3ds. After you're done, you export as a dae with 3ds, and re-import with brawlbox. Then, you export again with brawlbox as mdl0.
Is a bit messy but easy.

 

[NeoSonic15]

Oh that actually makes a lot of sense, why didn't I think of that? Thanks again dude!

 

[NeoSonic15]

When you say "re-import with brawlbox" do you mean just open the dae file itself? Because I can't seem to do that?

 

[Montimers]

Ah, no. You must open a model file, then replace the whole model with your dae. You're right, brawlbox can't open dae files directly.

 

[NeoSonic15]

When I open up just the model file, the replace option is greyed out

 

[Montimers]

Sorry about that, it's just many details. The mdl0 must be inside a bres file. The ones with red icons brawlbox will show you. Open some .pac/.pcs of any outfit of any character you may have there, and then you can replace the model.
If you open the mdl0 directly, brawlbox won't replace indeed.
Yea, starting to understand a little why people usually give up making changes on their own.

 

[NeoSonic15]

Haha yeah, there sure are a lot of hurdles to jump through. I'll figure out the rest on my own, but you've been a huge help so thank you

 

[Montimers]

No problem. Anything else you may need, you can ask. Can't promise I'll have a solution, but I'll try.

 

[NeoSonic15]

Hey Montimers. I know it's been a while and that this is really out of nowhere,but I'm having another issue with Brawlbox (v0.78b) and you were a huge help last time. I've been working for the past few hours on a set of animation edits in brawlbox and now that I'm done, I'm trying to save the MotionEtc.pac but it wont seem to save? I've tried clicking Save just right of the Load button, and that doesn't seem to work, and I've tried going to File > Animations > Save as and although it does create a file, the file is empty and doesn't have any animations at all. Do you know anything about this? Your help would be much appreciated

 

[Montimers]

Can't say I do. I didn't use this version so far. You said you were working on animations for some hours, does that mean if you close brawlbox right now, you will lose everything?
How you know brawlbox is not saving your animations? I'm asking because older versions of brawlbox for some reason, even though they save your changes, they don't change the data your motion was last modified.

 

[NeoSonic15]

Turns out all i had to do was close the window and it asked me if I wanted to save haha sorry about the hassle, but thanks for replying!

 

[Montimers]

Ah, nice. I was going to say what you said happened to me while using version 0.76. Just so you know, it's a bug indeed. Wasn't supposed to happen.
Also, something more important. I noticed when I loaded 2 different motion files, brawlbox actually didn't really load the animations of the second file while the first one was loaded. If you need to open another one, close that preview window first. I don't know if brawlbox will overwrite your second file with your first one.
And, as a hint, when you find something that you know that brawlbox version does correctly, think twice before trying another version. Already working features tend to get broken often when newer versions come out.

 

[NeoSonic15]

Ah okay. Will do, thanks for your help

 

[SuperLuigi231]

Wow I didn't remember I have said this. You're lucky I saw your post
I know replace crashes. Or used to crash at least. I don't know how you're are inserting the object but it shouldn't crash. What I'll say now is not about the newest version of brawlbox, so there might be easier ways I'm not aware of.
Right clicking the model should have an option called "Import new object" or something like that. Brawlbox will handle mdl0 format, so you need your model to be on this format. After choosing it, you can either choose one of the objects that are part of your model or choose to combine both, which would be basically pasting the whole model in the bone you have chosen to add it.
Keep in mind your model must already be accepted by brawlbox. If you have any other formats, you will need 3ds or Maya to convert it to dae before importing to brawl format.

I know this is over a year old, but how do you convert a .dae or .obj to .mdl0? I used Blender to edit the object, but it couldn't export in .mdl0.