Custom Character Tutorial
Updated to Actually Work This Time!
Files
Right Click and "Save As"
Stepmania
Stepmania CVS Character Pack
All files mentioned in tutorial.
Ever want to see one of your favorite cartoon characters dance? Got a girlfriend that you want to see dancing in front of you in glorious 3d? NOT A PROBLEM! If you can make the model, then I can help you get it into the game! Just a big fat note for everybody: I will NOT be explaining how to make a model or texture it. This is all about putting a completed model into Stepmania using Milkshape 3d. There are a variety of tutorials out there to help you with the actual construction of the model.
A bit of information...
I really don't know exactly what you can and can not import into Stepmania. The Dancer models are around 800 polygons. They use very low-rez textures and are separated into lots of little pieces. The model I used had two textures that were about 256x256 in size, and the model was 700 polygons. The textures were in bitmap format. I reccomend sticking to the same filetype and stuff. If you’ve ever imported one of the ASCII model files that come with the dancing pack, you’ll noticed that the character model is a mass of strange looking polygons. No matter how your model looks now, it will look just like that when exported: and that’s what we want! Stepmania will make things look correctly in the end.
This is the quick run down of what I’m going to explain!
1. Size model to correct size
2. Arrange joints
3. Assign Vertices to Joints
4. Mode all joints to origin while in animation mode.
5. Export model to ASCII File while in animation mode.
6. Open model.txt file and replace bones info
EXTRA STEP: Open model.txt and replace bones info with animation file to see your model shimmy and shake!
7. Setup files for Stepmania
8. Briefly explain animated faces.
9. Dance!
Fabulous Tips Constructing Your Model
1. Segmentation
It's very good to make certain parts of the model in different groups. For Gman, I made several additional groups in the event that I had to adjust him a bit later. I reccomend having the head, each individual hand, the feet, the upper body, lower body and arms to all be seperate from each other. This is an optional suggestion, but it can help make things easier in the end.
2. Polygons
The polygon count for all of the DDRPC chararacters is around 700-800 polygons. Sticking to that number will ensure that your game won't explode! It will also make the vertex count lower, thus making the assignment process later on MUCH easier.
Besides; I don't think the game would be the same if the models weren't all cute and low poly.
3. Position
If you're building a model, I think would be a good idea to build your model keeping the DDRPC characters in mind. By that, I mean the way they're all positioned. Arms and legs downward. Also, DO NOT model them with bent arms and legs! Keep it all straight! It will make everything else MUCH easier.
The Model
Step One: Sizing Your Model
Open your model up in Milkshape and go to File>>Import>>Autodesk 3ds
import the 3ds file that you downloaded from here. The dancer should load into the program...and she may look smaller then your model!
See that? Look at the difference! All I have to do is resize G man so that he’s about the same size as my dancer. I’m just gonna use the scale tool and scale him down to size.
It's VERY important that your model is the size of the other dancers. If not, your model will look messed up in the end.
Step Two: Arranging the Joints
This step is pretty easy, though slightly tricky at the same time. For some reason, importing the skeleton will turn your model into a booger if your model is in the same window as it. Export your model as an Autodesk 3ds file from the export menu. and save it to somewhere close. The Desktop perhaps?
Clear the window by going to File>>New. You might want to save your model in case you want to come back later for it. With the window all fresh and clean, it’s time to import a skeleton! I f you want, you can import a character.txt file and delete the mesh, leaving the skeleton for you to use. I’ve made a file with just the skeleton available for download towards the top of the page. Do whatever you want with that.
Import the skeleton by going to File>>Import>>Milkshape ASCII. Import those bones! You should see a mass of joints at the origin. Actually, it looks more like one joint. There are lots of joints there: one on top of the other. If you import my skeleton.txt file, you’ll see a sphere sitting in the middle of the screen. Just delete it.
Now go to file>>import>>Autodesk 3ds. Find your model and import it back into Milkshape.
All you have to do is go through the joints list and move all of the joints to the appropriate places on your model. I do this by selecting the move option. Then I go to the joint tab and highlight the joint I want to move in the list. That will select the joint in the actual work area. Then I just drag it to the correct area. You have to do this with every single joint. All 16 of them!
Note
When you select a joint from the joint tab, you won’t see the joint you selected highlighted in red or anything. Just drag it from the mass of joints at the center of the screen. You’ll see it then.
Demonstration!
Select the joint you want from the list of joints....
Drag it from the mass of joints at the center and put it where you want it.
Make sure you do this part correctly! The right and left leg joints should be at the right and left knee. The right and left foot should be at the ankle. Ect, ect.
And here’s Alex with all the joints in the right place.
There are afew important things to notice here.
1. the pelvis and torso bone should both be in the EXACT same place.
2. The bones should be placed on the model so that the center of the bone is at the point where the model is going to rotate (IE: The r leg bone should be at the right knee).
3. Inside the Zip file, I've included a MS3D file of Alex standing around with her bones properly placed. Use it as a reference if you get stuck somewhere. Just take into consideration that her arms and legs are bent. You WILL NOT have to rotate the bones if your model has straight arms and legs.
That’s step two! On to the worst step of them all: Step 3!
This won’t be too difficult for me to explain, because I’m not going to do it very well! You have to attach the skeleton to the model by assigning vertices to each joint. There are tutorials that explain this process. Take a look at these tutorials and learn the magic of assigning vertices! You’ll be doing this like a pro in no time! Actually, it might take some time. I'm just optimistic :D
Machinima
Modeling by ISO (Video tutorials)
Step 4: Moving the Joints
Now it's the time where our character turns into a blob! Be sure to save your work to another file before doing this. You may need to go back later and adjust your vertex assignment later! There's no turning back with this after moving these bones. You've been warned!
Ever wonder what those colored lines in your working area are? That's a little place I like to call...the origin! It's DEAD center! This is going to be very important to us in this next step.
What you want to do is hide your model. Hide everything except for the joints (which I don't think you can hide anyway). This will make things much easier for you!
Click the "anim" button in the bottom right corner of the screen to put Milkshape into Animation Mode. This is CRUCIAL! If you don't do this, you're going to mess up big time! Then, select one of your joints and drag it towards the origin. Move the bone DIRECTLY ON TOP OF the origin! Check this out at all angles! This must be as close as you can possibly put it! You don't have to do it in any particular order.
Perfect!
Do that with all 16 bones. When you're done, unhide your model. It's a blob! Hooray!
PLEASE do a better job then I did moving the bones to the origin! I'm anxious to get this stupid tutorial done, so I rushed it!
Step 5: Export and Edit!
Almost done with the modeling portion!
It's time to export your model! Before you do this, you should have your textures applied to the model. I'm sure you do already though.
Go to file>>export>>Milkshape 3d ASCII. The file's name will have to be "model". Create a new folder named after your character and save it into it. Find your textures and stash them in there too!
CONGRATS! The modeling portion is over! (Unless you want to do the extra step). I know that was a pain in the ass, but it's over with! Now there's just some simple text editing and maybe more texturing!
Go to the folder where you saved your model.txt and double click it to open it up in wordpad. Scroll down until you find a section that begins with Bones: 16. You're going to have to replace that section with a section that I'll be giving you in a moment. This will ensure that the bones in your model will be at the origin where they belong!
