how do you use the Clean Mesh script? I just tried it on the figure, but
Ehm. execute from script window with just the mesh selected.
nothing seemed to happen…I had all the buttons pressed, and the Limit set to 1, and yet it still came to zero vertices/edges/faces removed.
The main issue here is I model all with Wings, so I don’t know much of blender modelling. I only learn of it and of Blender UI what I need of it to just make character animation with it. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy more involvement,(I did with many 3d packages, but fun iddle time has gone since I’m in game job) is just a matter of time. I don’t have so much. And I am very fast already (they tell me in the company, hehe) with Wings, so I just don’t duplicate. (this is for in case someone tell me here I should learn Blender modelling more 
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I didn’t even know of cleaning meshes Blender’s functionality till yesterday with ur issue…Fortunately they called it just like in many other 3d packages. Yup it has a thresold (usually in any 3d tool, you needda play a bit with that distance till it actually removes something. You gotta be careful to not remove just too near vertices. You only want to remove coincident vertices. That is, those in same position. In some moment of your modelling or during an export, those vertices become each from being one to become 2. This happens often when formats do not support 2 UV vertices per 3d vertex. It happens to *.3ds, md3, md2. Among others. But OBJ has not the problem. Though an exporter can make the wrecking while the format doesn’t. Usually the exporters don’t support all. There good exporters (Ben’s) , average exporters, and terrible exporters. )
The same guy that did the OBJ importer for Max, made the exporter. And while the importer is so great that saved my workflows with wings at companies, the exporter (which I rarely needed) of obj, I found it to have some problem. But unsure if was totally plugin’s fault.
So, play with the threshold, or somethingyou are doing wrong, as, as far as I remember, yesterday it found like 102 vertex unwelded.
I have been also a -registered- Milkshape user. It had a great feature, was called like “weld together” .Was not based in a thresold, just looked for exactly vertices sharing same exact location. Way, way mor eproductive. But is not even in max, that I know of. (I don’t usually model in Max, either That used to bring me some crude fights at work…But not since a big while )
Good news are…usually low/med pol characters like your wont bring much problems witha threshold. edges are not too short.For just you sure have already optimized the polygon count as much as possible. Just aply it with values, but check later if some place where u know vertex are too near, u got there unwanted welds.
Probably you don’t need to leave checked ALL the buttons. I can’t remember now, as was the very first and only time I ever used that thing.
And looks like it works as expected. great for usual import issues in 3d softwares.
And with Remove Doubles…performed that command too, I never realized how many loose vertices there were. Does this mean I have to redo my UV mapping?
edit_ sorry I tedn to forget the question. No need need to redo the uv mappping. Looked fast at it, seems is well worked at a fast glance.
cant remember well, but I think it tells u , as usual in tools (ie, max, ultimate unwrap…) how many verts are welded, as it poped to me th eresul somewhere, didn’t have to look for it (another good thing)
BTW ExtrudeFace, how do you proofread meshes like this just by looking at them, or that it had N-gon like faces?
I’m modelling for games since '97, is that i have seen many problems due to my maybe silly(according to others opinion in staff) obsession of using loads of free tools instead just dedicating to just Max all my time…hehe. Nah, is against all my feelings…
No, I’ll leave the arogant tone. Take the tone as a joke, is all about sense of humour. I am no more than a crappy and very wasted, fed up, company worker. And I know the crap I am very well.
The real thing is just that, whenever you do meshes for character animations in games, consider that (while each game engine, and each packages is a complete different world, i wish I hadnt had to learn so many different ones…but usually, this advices tend to be safe ):
- While is thousands times easier and faster to model with N-Gons (opinions allowed, is just what works for me, and some other workers I know) , or at least, quads, be sure to triangulate once your solidly convinced you will not want more extra edit other than small details. happily, Wings3d, and equally happily, also Blender, can both convert tris to quad back. But I didn’t have the enough time to check as a curiosity yesterday.
-Also previous to adding the weights (vertex groups in Blender) ensure no double verts are there.
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Any final touch to mesh must be done then, usually packages do get with very linear-workflow once weights and bones are applied fully. I have now in max at work total non linear work that I very hardworked for productivity reasons (ie: can do mesh changes of any sort after even fully animated, this is way better when time is tight. But has certain small risk, even in my case. Other packages are less linear in this. I think the nature of it makes hard to code it differently. Aniway, Blender is not much linear, , usually…But I have XSI at home… )
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I don’t know the rest of people out there, but I tend to not like to see an N-Gon with vertices not connected (non existing edges where I’d expect them) …it may not, but it may provide loads of problems. Triangulate first to any sort of rig or weights.
-Add the same texture to material slot. In my experience (I have worked really actively (crazily even) for other plugins for lightmaps and scenery, for other game engines, just never dumped it here at elysiun, so most people wont know) some python scripts care for the image at UV window, some for the texture at the material slot (at the material buttons, you know )
-Beware weights. Shoulders are a huge problem in any package. When putting arm up , problem comes. This can be solved back and force editing th emesh in certain way (try to imagine how it’ll bend while modelling. I’m allways with time issue, so I even model thinking of just what movements is gonna make the character ingame, according to docs or word said. SOme do actually don’t care if movement is very fast and some strangling occurs in joint, but I hate when see some screenshot with the issue. A paper magazine will show it for ever So I never left one joint so… ) When is too late to tweak mesh, or package is too linear (no way to go back to edit mesh, or just too dangeorus) , then, play a lot with weights values. I usually tweak typing numbers, specially in low pol, as there are not so much vertices, and usually one pick lasso selections of em…vertex paints can be useful, but I don’t trust it much. tweakinga vertex weight can have many tricks. Often is all relative.
But all this is unrelated to your question, and I guess you just made a fast weighting for a test. But then so, I am sure you will not mind removing the armature and having to remake the weights, as are a bit non correct.
-The 3d packages exporters are almost never fail-safe. Check for doubles allways, even if it looks like it is ok. try other exporters, also. Blender has a lot of formats supported, yet not all maintained through versions. OBJ is certainly one actively supported.
-Add your smooth groups at first. here I see a problem. I think no smooth groups are in blender yet. Is possibly to use split in blender(break mesh in some edges, producing so sharp edges, and allowing smoothing normals act as you want, avoidng later opengl darkening), but that’d generate doubles, and seems this can mess the x exporter (Lol, Ben, I did it again, maybe am adding you work…maybe in the future force it consider both with same weight…max does this…if coincident but with exact same weight, they move together as single vertex.Visually is great it works so. )
-I am not too familiar with modifiers concept yet, dunnot know what they share with Max modifiers concept, probably nothing. In general , this kind of piles are good for editing, but perhaps confuse some exporters. There’s a rule, the simpler the safer. And almost allways there’s a a way to work with all features fo reasier design, and at the very last moment, go baking it all to a triangulated, clean, if possible just full piece mesh, with single texture. Of course you can do as complex as you want, but you need more knowledge (of he trial and error kind with engines, exporters, etc)
I had no idea you could do that,
is absolutely logical. You have seen the issue or not.Is nothing special. There are lot of cases I have not seen (the crap auto-isult I made for me was not casual) I am not happy I did. I’d prefer to work in an easy job and never make games or 3d at all…for a living, that is
Don’t worry. I hope I have cut a bit your issue-hours, at least it then serves to someone…
I would like to learn the technique for the next time I import a mesh like this. And, thank you very much for the advice thus far.
It is very clear to me you are of the kind that works for solving the issue. Those are worth to help. Also, in a way, I am helping Ben also, as he is as extremely kind as not only do th eplugin for us all, but also attend issues. In some way I may have reduced some of that time, besides confirming once again the plugin works well.
Woah, saturday mourning. Months since I did wrote so long.
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