Kitty Corp Meow Mix Forums

Hi.

A few people were asking me how I make Kirby Hats. So I decided to throw this little guide together for y'all.

This guide will help you import your very own Kirby Hats. To do this, you will need:

-3DS Max
-BrawlBox v0.65 or later
-The file for the Kirby Hat of the character you will be replacing (FitKirbyCharacter00.pac)
-FitKirby00.pac
-The model of the hat you want to make
-A soul of silver or a heart of gold (optional)

Now that you have acquired all of these things, you are ready to start.

Let's begin.

~Step One: Getting to Know Your Model~

To begin, open up the file for the Kirby Hat you will be replacing in the latest Brawl Box.

Hopefully you know how Brawl Box works, as it is an essential tool. If not, here's what it looks like when you open it:


If you have no clue how Brawl Box works, stop here and take the time to get used to the program. Once you feel confident with Brawl Box, continue.

Now, go ahead and preview the Hat model.

I will be using Ness's hat in this example.


Why are we in the model previewer, you ask? Well, Before rigging your hat model to the original model's bones, you'll want to know what each bone does.

This may seem trivial, but it is important because every hat is different.

Now select one of the animations in the top right. It doesn't matter which one you pick, since you won't be saving anything at this point. You will want to do this so that you can move around the different bones to see what they do.

Once you have an animation selected, go ahead and select a bone. Most hats will only have about two or three, but some hats, such as Ike's, will have multiple bones that will control different things.

Go ahead and move each bone around, and note what each bone does.

Once you know what every bone does, close the previewer, as you won't be needing it for the time being.

Right click on the model, and export it as a DAE file. Be sure to save it somewhere you'll remember.


Once this is done, open up FitKirby00.pac in the latest Brawl Box and export the Kirby model as a DAE. Save it in the same place as the Hat for easy finding.

Now that you have your DAEs, it's time to start doing some actual work.

~Step Two: Working in 3DS Max~

Let me begin this step by saying that if you don't know how to use 3DS Max..... learn how to as I will not be going over specifics.

Ok? Ok.

Now, open up 3DS Max and import the DAE you exported from Brawl Box.


Select everything in the scene (bones, polygons, etc), right click, and select Freeze Selection.


Now that that's frozen, import FitKirby00.DAE into the scene.

Once he's in the scene, select all of his bones and delete them. You will not need them.

This next step is important: select Kirby's polygons, and position him so that the hat fits snugly on his head. Try to fit it to his as best as you can.


Now that Kirby is in position, select all of his polygons, right click, and select Hide Selection.

Right click again and select Unfreeze All. Select the hat polygons and go ahead and delete them, you won't be needing them anymore.

Right click and select Unhide All. Select everything in the scene, right click, and select Freeze Selection again.

Everything is now in position.


Now that everything is where you want it to be, import the model of the hat you want to make.

I will be remaking the Animal Crosser hat in this guide.

But the female version. Just to spice things up.

If you're super lucky or something, the hat will import right onto Kirby's little head and fit perfectly and you won't have to do any work.

Unfortunately, we live in the real world. As such...


At this point, I don't have anything to tell you except to make the hat fit. I know how unhelpful that sounds, but really it's just a matter of moving the hat around in Max and positioning it on top of Kirby's head.

Like so:


Once you have your hat positioned, unfreeze everything and delete Kirby. You will not be needing him anymore.

You should end up with something like this:


All that's left to do is to rig the hat to the bones using the notes you took on the bones at the beginning of the tutorial as a guide.

Tip: Before adding a skin modifier, add a Smooth modifier. Adding a skin modifier will sometimes make the model look blocky, so adding a Smooth modifier will prevent that.

Once it's all rigged, export the hat as a DAE. Save it where you will remember.

Now it's time to finish up.

~Step Three: Getting Your Hat Into Brawl Box~

Open up the latest version of Brawl Box, and create a new BRRES.

Right click the BRRES, go to Import, and select Model.

Select your DAE, and click Ok at the screen that pops up.


Save the file somewhere you'll remember. Then export the model as a .mdl0 in the same place for easy finding.

Now open up the file of the original Kirby Hat (FitKirbyCharacter00] in Brawl Box. Open up the BRRES containing the model.

Right click it, and select Replace. Select the .mdl0 of your hat and click Ok.


Now open up the BRRES that contains the model's textures and delete all of them. If there are any palettes, delete those as well.

Then right click the BRRES, go to Import, and select Texture.

Import each texture, and make sure that they are in CMPR format.


All that's left to do is save it and test it out!

~Some Important Things To Note~

First off, this is just a guide. There is no one way of making a Kirby hat (since it's really easy), this is just my method of doing it.

Secondly, you will have to add metal textures to the hat. A tutorial for this can be found here (http://forums.kc-mm.com/index.php?topic=36191.0).

Third, make sure you export it using the right units (usually centimeters). To check to see if the hat is the right size, preview it in Brawl Box and look at TopN's scale on frame zero. It should be scaled to one. If it isn't, change your exporting options so that it exports as the right size. Otherwise, you won't be able to see it in-game because it will be inside Kirby's head.

Trust me. :srs:

Also, if you are having problems with the smooth modifier, it may be beneficial to try the HSDS Modifier instead, as recommended by Pervy.

Lastly, and most importantly, you will probably not get it right the first time. Using Kirby as a base gets it in the right spot around 80% of the time. However, this requires a lot of trial and error, so be ready to move around the hat to get it just right.

Well, that's it for this guide. Sorry if it was a bit long-winded, I just wanted to be as detailed as possible.

Feel free to post any questions you have here.

Good luck on making your hats!

LOL! (Pokemon Reference)

Does it stay blockly? Form all my experience a model may go blocky with the skin added to it, but it goes back to normal when the bones are added to it

It shouldn't, I mean, from my experiences the skin modifier will make it blocky about half the time. Adding a smooth modifier before adding the skin usually prevented that.

Though it's equally possible to add the smooth modifier afterwards, but that sometimes has to be moved under the skin modifier polygon by polygon for it to work properly.

Yeah I know >.> Just some models mess up with the smooth modifier is all, so I was wondering if it competently necessary, but I suggest trying the HSDS Modifier instead, it usually smooths out a model without the problems smooth can cause

Hm, never heard of that modifier before. But if you say it works better, I'll add it to the Things To Note section as a heads up for anyone having problems with the smooth function.

nice guide! but for some reason, and i have been trying fo r30 mins, teh hat is always teh same size, really small. i changed it a lto in 3ds max, adn its always small

Well, what are your importing and exporting settings? Are you importing the models using inches or centimeters? What are you exporting them as?

It's an effect of 3ds's scale system. Preview the model in brawlbox, click the topN bone, and you'll see the three scale sizes are small. Change them back to one and they'll be right

thanks!

uhhhh...
nice guide.
however, there are easier ways to do this (or at least one)
but still, this is a very nice guide! If only I could use it...

(I have no max)