i've searched around and haven't found a solution that helps, so i figured i'd ask...
i've been experimenting with some simple editing of TSL character bodies. nothing major, just some simple moving of vertices. i've got the hang of the whole decompile/import to gmax/edit/export/recompile process, but i'm having a problem. i've noticed that when the model is imported into gmax, there are unwelded vertices in a few places, and they screw with the smoothing when the model is used in the game. when i weld the vertices in gmax and export, some, but not all of the welded vertices form spiky protrusions on the character's body in the game, the points of which seem to remain stationary in relation to the character's motion, such as when the torso shifts from side to side while running. this occurs even when the vertices have been simply welded and not moved.
i'm guessing it has something to do with vertex weighting? any ideas will be greatly appreciated.
You should not weld those vertices, the game will screw the texture if the welded vertices are not in the same position in the UVmap. More info about it here:
http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=157286)
When you weld vertices you are changing the number of vertices in the model, and when you do that Gmax recalculates the bone weighting... and it doesn't do a good job forgeting to give bone influence to some vertices... you will have to fix it manually, more info here:
http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=163521)
Hope it helps.
thanks for the link. it seems that some of the welded vertices were being left out in the cold as far as bone influence goes, so i'm fixing them manually. i'm not too worried about the UVW's getting screwed up, as all of the vertices that i'm welding have identical coordinates. it's as if seemingly random faces have become detached elements at some point in the conversion process. if any of the UVW's do get screwy, i know how to fix them. i've been building and texturing ships and hardware in max for years, i've just never messed around with any character models with bones before. it's all so new and frightening... :)
thanks for the help!