Windhunter7's Blender Importing Tutorial(Blender to Brawl)

Update (9/14/2019): Updated info on Blender
Most Crucial Update Ever: Officially, this tutorial is now complete! FAQs may be added, and video
guides in addition will also be added, but the text tutorial is complete!
A completely revamped video tutorial series will be coming! Subscribe on my website to get notified of when: https://dragongames7.wixsite.com/mainpage/subscribe
Helpfull Hint: Press the 'Z' key to toggle wireframe in Blender; this is a really helpful toggle to use, especially with
Weight Paint.

Tutorial for 3DS Max(NOT by me, but I support it

): http://forums.kc-mm.com/index.php?topic=41996.0

Donate: https://dragongames7.wixsite.com/mainpage/donate Kirby Dance

*Note: Please use this tutorial instead, if you can! It's more updated, but only supports some fighters; after I finish the preset files for all fighters, I will deprecate this tutorial, and this page will only contain the FAQ!*
Video Tutorial (Full, just be sure to also use this text tutorial as a guideline for many things, especially the FAQ):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soU3c3heKIU&t=1s

I. Required Programs

II. Getting the Brawl Model into Blender

III. Rigging and Reposing Your Model

IV. Importing Your Model to BrawlBox & Finalizing the Import

7) Export from Blender as a .fbx, but BEFORE clicking "Save", go to the Armature options
   and uncheck "Add Leaf Bones"
   8] Using FBX Converter, convert this to a .dae
   9) In Brawlbox 0.77/.78, the character's file, right-click the MDL0, and hit Replace, and choose the .dae
   file; the only settings to worry about are that the top three options are set to True; if and only if
   this crashes, proceed to steps 10 - 16; otherwise, skip to step 17!
   10) If Crash... First, make sure that all vertices have weight on them; if they do, proceed to steps 11-16
   11) Another reason for crashing BrawlBox is either hidden data(Which is exceedingly rare, but to fix, you
   can export to the .3ds format, import the .3ds file, and redo the rigging), or, the more common
   reason is because certain, random times, if you have more than one mesh, it won't let you
   import all of them
   12) To fix this problem with the multiple meshes, first export each mesh separately(One, different mesh
   + the armature for every single .fbx export)
   13) Then, convert all of the .fbx files to .dae with the Converter
   14) Replace your model MDL0 with one .dae file(Doesn't matter which)
   15) Save, and then replace the MDL0 with another .dae file, and after it imports, export it as a .mdl0;
   repeat for every other .dae file needed

   Note: The next steps are ALL with Brawlbox 0.71

   16) Open the file you saved, and, using BrawlBox 0.71's "Add New Object", do that on the MDL0 with
   each .mdl0 file(Use default settings); repeat for each .mdl0
   17) Save, exit, and reopen
   18) Expand the MDL0
   19) Expand the Bones folder; if, and only if, there's a bone called "Armature", right-click TopN and click
   "Add to Parent", then delete "Armature"
   20) Save, Exit, and Reopen, then expand the MDL0 again
   21) Expand the Objects folder and Materials folder
   22) In the Materials folder, every material should have a + next to it; if there are any that don't, right-
   click it and "Add Reference Texture"(If I remember the name right), then right-click that new
   reference and Rename to whatever you want the texture to be called(Case-Sensitive)
   23) In the Objects folder, for each "polygon" listed, Scroll down to "Visibility Bone", and make sure it's set
   to the same as the original Vanilla Brawl Model
   24) Then right-click on the TextureData[0] and Import your Texture(s), with the same name(s) as in the
   Materials folder's materials(AKA the names after you expand the materials, not the material
   names themselves); then delete the Vanilla Brawl textures
   25) Test animations and in-game to see if it works, as well as for testing if it's glitched at all!

V. FAQ

1 Q: I'm really confused by step 6; how do you do that thing with the .psk that you mentioned?

A: Open up the .pac file with the program Brres Viewer, and export the model as a .psk, then do the following steps(ONLY two of these steps actually take more than a few seconds!)(Note: These steps are also including the latter part of step 4, and step 5):

Quote

1) Import both the .psk AND .fbx of the vBrawl model into Blender
2) Rotate the .psk model and bones -90 on the Z axis (Exactly) and scale it down to match the exact same scale
   as the .fbx bones/model
3) Delete the model attached to the PSK, and hide both the bones and the model from the .fbx
4) Rig your model to the PSK bones(This is what takes the longest, and is one of the two mentioned steps)
5) If the limb lengths or rotations of your model are NOT matching those of the vBrawl model, enter Pose Mode on
   the PSK bones, and rotate and/or translate the bones until your model is posed in the same T-Pose
   position as the vBrawl model; the result should be that if you have both models visible and go into
   Wireframe Mode, and select one, the other should basically be right on top of it(This is the other of the
   mentioned steps)
6) (Optional) I highly, HIGHLY recommend backing up your file here, just in case you're not content with the
   rigging or the positioning/posing you did, because it's a lot easier to edit those with the .psk bones than
   with the .fbx ones
7) (You have to do this part separately for each mesh) Select one of the meshes rigged to the PSK bones and click
   Apply for the Armature Modifier; do the same with the other meshes, if applicable
8] Select all and go to Oject->Parent->Clear and Keep Transformation
9) Delete the vBrawl model that's currently attached to the .fbx bones, as well as the PSK bones(AKA the
   "ArmObject" armature)
10) Select all the meshes, THEN shift-select the Armature, and hit Ctrl+P and click on "With Empty Groups"; you
   are now ready for exporting!

   2 Q: Is there a shortcut to rig a mesh to one single bone, rather than have to click on ALL those vertices to weight them?

   A: Yes. After going into Weight Paint mode and selecting the bone, click on just one vertex, then in the weight tools, click on "Invert"; then click on that one spot again so everything is red.

   3 Q: When my model is imported into Brawlbox, there are a bunch of vertices that are either exploding or rigged weirdly, causing gaps on parts; how do I fix that?

   A: For exploding vertices, do the "Normalize All" step mentioned in Step 6, and if the problem still persists, use BrawlBox's weight editor and just change the values of the rigging, even if it's 0.001 difference. For the gaps, that's usually easily fixable by, in Blender, going into Edit Mode on the mesh and press spacebar and type in "Remove Doubles" and click on that. It will remove duplicate vertices, and should fix it.

   4 Q: I have this weird problem where, if I'm in the center of a stage, it's fine, but if I go towards the edge, random vertices start going towards the center of the stage. What's causing this, and how do I fix it?

   A: It's being caused by vertices being rigged partially(Or fully) to a bone that doesn't get translated; like TopN, for example; the fix is to remove those weights, so it's only rigged to the correct bones.

   5 Q: In BrawlBox, the model looks perfectly fine, and the texture resolutions are even powers of 2, but in-game, it's not using the correct textures at all. How do I fix this?

   A: Make sure that you have the textures actually imported into the TextureData[0] brres, and that the name of the texture in the materials has the same case(It IS case-sensitive)

   6 Q: I tried to follow the tutorial, but I'm completely lost. What do I do?

   A: Just go to my Discord channel and request tutoring. Simple as that. Alternatively, until I find the time to make the revamped tutorial videos, you can still look at the old ones below.(Under "Useful Links")

   7 Q: I just did some heavy weight editing on one glove/boot, and I don't want to have to do all that same work on the other one; is there a way to skip this, or duplicate it to the other side?

   A: Yes; the steps to fix it are as follows: 1) Delete the other side that you're going to copy(For example, if you have one mesh that has left and right boots, you would go into Edit Mode, select the vertices of the boot that you didn't do the weight edits on, and delete those); 2) Duplicate the mesh, and leave it at the same spot, then Mirror on Global X axis(If done right, it should *seem* like it did before, but you still have to fix the rigging); 3) Make sure that the mesh is NOT AT ALL parented to ANY armature at all, and then in Vertex Groups, right-click each one that has the letter L or R(Which one depends on which side this glove/boot copy is on) and Rename, changing the L/R to the other; then reparent to whatever armature it was parented to and/or merge it back with the other mesh(If applicable)

   8 Q: There are splits in my mesh, kind of similar to rips or tears; is there a way to fix this?

   A: Yes; in Edit Mode, select one vertex of the split, and another vertex that is directly across(For example, if you're starting at the top of the rip, it would be the two vertices at the top that are on opposite sides of the rip); then, press spacebar and start typing in "Merge"; then after clicking on that, you have various options, and although each one is for a different purpose, most of the time, you'll want to use "At Center"

   9 Q: Moveset effects are on the wrong parts and/or weird shielding/grabbing glitches, or similar types of oddities; what's causing this, and what is the fix?

   A: This is caused by incorrect bone IDs; first, make sure that when you export the model from Blender, that "Add Leaf Bones" is NOT checked; if you don't, you'll have to manually delete all the bones in BrawlBox that end in "_end"; also, make sure to delete the "Armature" bone if it does in fact get created

   10 Q: You mentioned that you have to do a "Normalize All" to fix the exploding vertices, but the vertices are still exploded. What should I do?

   A: Don't fret; this is simply a glitch in Blender, where it didn't actually normalize everything because of a selection bug; just make sure that, while in Weight Paint Mode, you're also in Pose Mode on the bones, and you right-click a bone(A different bone than the initial one selected when you first have both Pose Mode and Weight Paint Mode on simultaneously) in the 3D View instead of selecting it in the List View *before* you use "Normalize All"

   11 Q: How do you separate one single mesh into several different ones?

   A: Go from Object Mode into Edit Mode, then select the vertices that you want to separate into a different mesh; then go to Object->Vertices->Separate->By Selection

   12 Q: When I attempt to do rigging via Automatic Weights, it doesn't weight anything, and instead produces an error. How do I fix it so that Automatic Weights works?

   A: 1) Make sure to Remove Doubles first, as double vertices are usually what prevents automatic weights from working; 2) If this still doesn't work, make sure that the model has only 0-1 Vertex Colors, and NO MORE; 3) And if this does not work either, export the model as a .3ds, and import the .3ds model back into Blender; 4) As a LAST resort, if ALL 3 methods do NOT work, use manual weight painting via Empty Groups

   13 Q: When I import the armature into Blender, the bones are pointing in all these crazy directions and freaking me out! What did I do wrong?

   A: Absolutely nothing! As oddly as this sounds, this is actually what it SHOULD look like when imported into Blender to work properly, which is why I highly recommend using the PSK bones for the rigging and then just swapping armatures, like I outlined earlier in this tutorial!

   14 Q: My model that I'm importing is too hi-poly! How do I optimize it so that it doesn't freeze the game?

   A: There are two ways to optimize it to not freeze; the first way is the way I recommend, since it still makes it so that you can use HD models and such with Dolphin texture hacks, as well as because it's easier, and that is to replace the texture in Brawlbox with itself, set the format to CMPR (If and only if that doesn't change the effects of the texture), and reduce the dimensions before clicking "OK" (Make sure that the dimensions are in powers of 2, though); the second way is to first do the things I mentioned already in FAQs 3 and 8 to reduce polycount a little bit, and then in addition to these steps, you can also use a Decimate Modifier on the mesh(es) and Apply the modifier; there are different kinds of decimate modifiers, too, and you can learn more about this modifier from the Blender documentation on it (Which is easily findable via Google Search)

   15 Q: I tried the "Normalize All" step from FAQ #3, but I still encounter the exploding vertices in BrawlBox, and if I try to select the stray vertices to re-weight them, BrawlBox throws an error! What do I do?

   A: Another solution, although seemingly rare to encounter having to need it, is back in Blender, go into Edit Mode on each mesh, select all vertices, and then Object->Vertices->Separate->By Loose Parts, and although you'll have lots of polygons instead of just one per mesh, that should fix it.

   16 Q: How do I merge model parts of one import over a character with model parts of another import over that same character? I try to do it in Brawlbox, but there are limits as to what I can do, so how do I do it with Blender?

   A: How to do it is the following:
1) Definitions - Import the first import into Blender as you normally would (Via FBX), and I'll call this import A; then import the second one (It should import with a skeleton named "Armature.001") and I'll call this one B
2) For B, for each mesh, go to the Modifiers section, and press the x to remove the Armature Modifier(Make sure to do this for all parts you'll be using, then delete the other parts; also delete the parts of A that you won't use)
3) Select all meshes of B(But NOT the Armature), then go to Object->Parent->Clear and Keep Transformation
4) WHILE these are still selected, shift-select A's armature(You should have the Armature be bright orange and the model parts dark orange if done correctly)
5) Press Ctrl+P on your keyboard, then select "With Empty Groups"
6) Delete B's armature, then you can export as normal (Via FBX, etc.); if Brawlbox crashes (Which sometimes might happen), follow steps 12-16 of the tutorial

   17 Q: My model is detached from the skeleton in Brawlbox! In fact, there's like something weird going on, it has two different armatures, instead of just the Brawl one! Help!

   A: This happens when you import a model into Blender that's already rigged to a skeleton and then you follow the tutorial (Using manual weight painting). The reason why it happens is kinda complicated to explain, and the fix is unfortunate because it involves having to re-rig from scratch, but the fix is to delete ALL the vertex groups, remove the modifier(s), unparent the model from the armature via Object->Parent->Clear and Keep Transformation, THEN parenting it to the Brawl armature and rigging it from scratch; this is the only known fix that I know of, but if anyone knows Blender well enough to know a work around to not have to redo it from scratch, please send me a message.

   18 Q: My model has a problem where its perfectly fine in Blender, and even animates fine, but in Brawlbox, a part of the model, such as a finger or toe, has weird rotations and is basically backwards, but only during the animations

   A: With Blender, certain characters have corrupted bones specific to that character, the fix is (in Blender) to Unparent the model from the bones, go into Edit Mode on the bones, copy the data to paper or Notepad or something about the corrupted bones name and X, Y, and Z head and tail positions, as well as its parent and the bones that are parented to it, delete this bone, duplicate a working bone of a similar rotation (i.e. use left leg bones for left leg bones, right leg bones for right leg bones, etc. ), and then give this bone the old bones stats, as well as all bones that had the deleted bone as a parent, make their parents this new bone; then in Brawlbox, the only thing you have to do is move the new bone up or down in the hierarchy ***if*** its not in the proper spot

   19 Q: You haven't created a vBrawl preset Blender file yet, or I want to rig over a custom character, such as a BrawlEx custom boneset. How do I create my own Blender preset file?

   A: Set aside time for this, as it can take time to do it if you're a perfectionist, but here are the steps to do it:
1) Export the Brawlbox model as a .dae, and use the FBX Converter to convert it to a .fbx, and import that into Blender
2) Open up the .pac of the character in Brres Viewer, and export from there as a .psk
3) Import the .psk into Blender; you'll likely have to enable it, as it's defaultly unchecked in User Preferences
4) Something very important about the .psk is that all the leaf bones (These are the bones at the end of anything, i.e. fingers, toes, head, etc.) have the head of the bone aligned correctly, but the tail will not be even close to correct, so you have to move these "nubs" back to where they should be, AKA at the tips of the fingers, tips of the toes, top of the head, etc.
5) Do the Blender bone fix in FAQ #18 (If needed)

VI. Useful Links

For optional further stuff, such as reducing filesize, or help needed, just DM me on Discord, send me a PM, email me at chessmanevan@gmail.com with the Subject line "Brawl Importing Help", or ask a question on the forum of my website: https://dragongames7.wixsite.com/forum

Happy Face

	Author	Topic: Windhunter7's Blender Importing Tutorial(Blender to Brawl) (Read 76140 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.