Graphics- Switching Heads

[kevinman4404]

I've mostly had success with messing around with unit graphics, and am sometimes able to switch heads or bodies.

But how exactly do unitmakers switch the heads reliably? In nifscope you see both heads, but in nifviewer and in-game you see only the one they want.

Do you have to do translation so the head appears in the right spot in the editors?

How do they hide the old head, even though its attached to the body?

What is the general method?

Thank you
Kevin

 

[Flintlock1415]

I am confused by this as well.

 

[The_Coyote]

1) import the model with the head you want to use in Blender
1a) remove all parts you don´t want (torso, arms, legs)
1b) remove the armature and the rigging (or later do it in nifscope)
1c) export the head

2) copy the exported head form the export nif to the unit nif where you want to use the head
2a) make the head child of the head node
2c) adjust head position (not the head node)
Option1) reduce the scale of the head bone and raise the scale of the head in the same degree ()after this, adjsut head position [not the head node]]
Option2) remove the other head by giving him transparency

or
import both models in Blender, exchange the head there, adjust UV so that you can only have one textures (to increase perfomance), export, mesh swap

because i never did it so far, the exact steps could be a bit different, but it should be something similar to this

 

[mechaerik]

Actuallt, someone made a unit head pack, that's where i'm getting my heads. unfortunately, it only has vanilla head, but that's fine. There's also some instructions on using them in the thread.

 

[kevinman4404]

Ah i see, thank you, you have to add an extra bone, then do the resizing trick the_coyote said- resize the head bone down (usually 0.1) and resize the extra bone (usually to 10).

thanks

 

[The_Coyote]

you can also rescale the new head (without adding a new bone)