Construction Set Better Bodies-Cs body parts

In this tutorial, I will explain the easiest way to alter the BB skin textures for a race, using Adobe Photoshop.

In case you are wondering, you should NOT use the .dds files in the Textures folder for alterations. There are several reasons for this: the .dds format is a compressed format; and it is easiest to alter only color or surface details rather than the entire image. These details are already split for you in the developer files.

You will also want to get the DDS Photoshop Plug-in. Place it in your Photoshop\plug-ins\file formats folder. And get the required dlls which contain msvcr71.dll and msvcp71.dll and extract them into your Windows\System folder.

SKIN ELEMENTS:

You will find my Photoshop Source files in the Psychodog Studios Download page, under "Better Bodies Developer Files": http://www.psychodogstudios.net/bett.../downloads.php

Because of the size of the files, the default races with both sexes are found in four separate files: Elf males, Men, Elf females, Women. Each has four races.

Each race is made by combining several different layers, then saving as a flattened .dds file. The layers you may find are:

Race base color layer (set on "Normal" and 100 percent opacity and fill) ;
Muscle layer(s);
Body hair layer(s);
Surface detail layer(s);
Augmented color layer(s);
Clothing layer(s).

Some races may have only the skin tone layer and the muscle layer, depending on the file version I make available to you.

Base color layer is what gives the skin its color, hue, saturation, and basic lightness or darkness. Since the body is not the same color all over, this layer is not monochromatic, but is more or less ruddy depending on the part of the body. It will be set to "normal" mode and 100 percent opacity.

Muscle luminosity layer is perhaps the most important element of the skin, since it is the darks and lights that make up the deeper modeling of the body: the muscles, tendons, and bones that shape the surface of the skin. In essence, it reinforces the shape of the mesh and adds some softness and definition to the otherwise flat polygon surface.

It is a luminosity layer because it has no specific color but only lights and darks; it can be used in any of the luminosity modes in photoshop, which include Overlay, Soft light, Multiply, and of course Luminosity. These may be set to a lower opacity--the stronger the effect, the lower the setting.

Surface detail layer is the micro-luminosity of the actual wrinkles and bumps and scars and veins and fine hair on the surface of the skin. Skin is not entirely smooth, and this layer is what gives the skin surface it's texture. It is also a luminosity layer and is done in a desaturated medium.


Augmented color layers are optional layers of spot color or color adjustments that can be applied over parts of the body.

Clothing layer is sometimes a "normal" layer applied over every other layer, or sometimes applied beneath a muscle luminosity layer.

The top layer should be a Texporter image or flattened wireframe image displaying the mapping of the body and all its intersections of polygons. It will not be set for viewing, and some files may be missing it to save data space. I normally supply one Texporter image for each sex and size of texture; you will need to look for it in the other texture files if the one you are using does not have it.

THE .PSD FILE

The normal file for the mirrored body texture for Better Bodies is a square 512x512 pixels at a 72 dpi resolution. The unmirrored version is 1024x512

I used a transparent background.

The .psd format is the original format, created in Adobe Photoshop 7. It is actually composed of uncompressed bitmap files.

To view the changes you make in game, you will need to save it as a .dds file, and place it in the Data Files/Textures/BB under one of the old skin names. OR, you will need to copy a NIF and assign the new texture name and directory to it.



ALTERING THE BASE COLOR (BACKGROUND) LAYER

The easiest way to alter the color for a new race is to copy and alter only the Background layer and Save As a .dds file.


1. If you are going to make a really different color, the first thing you should do with the new base skin layer is copy it and go into Image>Adjustments>Desaturate and make the image completely gray and black. This is so you can colorize it next.

2. Go into Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation/Brightness and select the box to "colorize", then take the Hue slider and the Saturation slider and make the whole square the approximate skin tone you desire.

3. Another way to quickly color the image is to use a piece of skin from a photograph or scan or head texture you wish to match as a "color layer".

A. Open your head texture in Adobe photoshop.
B. Select the entire face.
C. Copy and paste into your.psd file as a new layer. Place the layer directly above the base skin layer you are working with.
D. Transform (Control-T) the layer (make bigger) so that the face fits over the torso so that the eyes match up with the nipples; you may need to blend out details such as eyelashes, etc and change the eye color to a nipple color.
E. Change that new layer property to "Color". That layer should color the skin to the same tone and get you started. When you like what you see, merge the visible layers into your Base skin layer.

4. Using your "map" as a guide to landmark placements, begin adding in colors to the elbows, knees, hands, and feet. With the brush set on "color' begin tinting the image as you would with a watercolor. It is a good idea to create independent layers for the sharply defined features such as fingernails and nipples.

5. Give your skin some micro color variations unique to your race. One way to do this is by using the various filters. My favorite shortcut to a believable skin is to use Filter>Texture>Grain>Regular or Clumped, set on an intensity of less than 10 and a contrast of 50 (neutral).
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MAKING THE NEW SKIN SURFACE DETAIL LAYER

Create detail layers as needed for your new race.

I think you can do almost everything for the bodies in 512 x512 and 72 dpi EXCEPT the fingernails, nipples, and of course body hair.

For details, I work in 300 dpi. There is some blurring, when reduced to 72 dpi because the hair is less than one pixel width. The resulting pixel is then blended instead of a solid color.

Eventually, this skin luminosity detail will be merged with the base layer for an individual skin; but for now begin with a Copy>Paste of the base skin color layer you have begun and name the layer "Details" or something; set the layer on "luminosity".

1. Make copies of any features you have on separate layers and merge them into the Details layer.

2. Desaturate the Details layer and make the Skin Base layer visible beneath it.

3. Using a filter such as "Texturizer", make some micro bumps or grain over the entire skin. One I often use is the Filter>Texture>Texturizer>Sandstone>Scaling-50/Intensity-3/Light direction-Top.

4. In places on the body where the skin is stretched most tightly or is normally smooth, take the blur tool and smooth out the bumps.

5. For leg hair, I select the areas to be texturized and use a combination of Filter effects, such as the Texture>Texturizer>Sandstone followed up with Brush strokes>Angled Strokes.

6. The final thing I do is bring in the unblurred details and merge them onto the layer. The bellybutton, knuckles, fingernails, nipples, etc. can be merged into this layer once you are satisfied with the graining.

7. With the Base color layer visible beneath, use the SAVE AS .dds to make a file you can see in game, and adjust the opacity of the grain until it looks right. You may merge the two layers at this time, or keep them separate. If kept separate, it will be easier to make adjustments later on.

8. Tattoos and body markings can be made in a dark color on a transparent background and then set in one of many modes beneath the muscle layer. I like to use "color", "multiply", or "exclusion". But really, you should experiment with them all.

ALTERING THE MUSCLE LUMINOSITY LAYER

This could be the most difficult of all the layers to work with. For a new race, you may need to accomodate any additions to the modeling; or you may wish to make the musculature more pronounced or less so. Otherwise, you can leave this layer alone and do your Save As .dds now.

The muscle luminosity modeling is made up of three distinct lighting modes: direct incident light, reflected light, and absence of light (shadow).

All three must be present on the form, or the modeling will look fake.

For the muscle layer, we are going to work downward from the tone of the base skin layer. Highlights above that tone are used sparingly to avoid a chalky appearance.

This does take highly developed drawing skills.


1. Copy a muscle layer with "soft light" properties, or use a flattened image of your race so far and desaturate it.

2. The easiest way to develop this layer is to select it only and use the burn tool to darken the deeper areas.

3. Darken and soften the edges of the form for each muscle group, with lighting coming from directly above. Go back into the darker shadows with a dodge tool and bring up reflected light.

4. As a final touch, you can use a combination of dodge and sharpen to make highlights. Do this sparingly to avoid a chalky look.

5. Apply this layer as a soft light or multiply or overlay above your other base layers and adjust the contrast/brightness to achieve a satisfactory appearance. Use the Save As .dds command to see the effects in game, and adjust as needed.

USING MULTIPLE LUMINOSITY LAYERS

You can use the muscle and surface detail layers in different luminosity modes, and in combinations of modes. A good way to achieve depth is to make multiple copies of the luminosity layers and use them one on top of the other in different settings and opacity to create the right "weathering" for your race. Another advantage to using multiple layers is that you can increase contrast without increasing the highlights, if you use them as "multiply" or "normal" or other mode that ignores the lightening effect of highlights.

Please see the parallel tutorial on Creating Skin Textures for useful tips.



ALTERING OR SWAPPING HAIR AND DETAIL LAYERS

The body hair from one race may be used on other races with a little tweaking to the mode and/or opacity.

If you are going to make a new hair pattern, the hair should be drawn in at a high resolution on a transparent background, such as 200 or 300 dpi and then shrunk down to fit.

I use a variety of tones for the hair, taken roughly off the skin tones and darkened to my preference. Each hair is drawn in separately, and then the rubber stamp tool is used to make thicker areas.

It is applied to the body in varying opacities as Normal setting, usually, above the muscle layer but sometimes below it.

FIRST-PERSON HANDS

Your new race will likely need new first-person hands textures. Those files, also found in the downloads section of Psychodogs, were originally .psd format also (with muscle and skin tone layers) and were flattened into the .dds files for the game. If the .psd file isno longer available, create a new .psd file in photoshop and import the male and female .dds images to use for muscle layers.

Copy and Desaturate the .dds layers: one for muscle and one for skin tone. Set the muscle layer on "soft light "above the background tone layer and begin working with the skin tone to match your new body.

One way to get the correct skin tone is to copy parts of the body texture and set them as "color" layers above the hands. When you get the tone that matches the wrist, you can save as .dds and look at it in game.

Fingertips normally have more color than other parts of the hand.

MAKING THE NEW RACE
By Cali and Fariel

Applying the Texture To Your NEW RACE NIF

Better Bodies only requires the one body Nif which is used for all the separate body parts, apart from the first-person hands, during Race creation. You will find the Nifs for default races in the Data Files/Meshes/BB folder. Choose the one that is most similar to your new race, but you can change attributes later.

Before you make a race make a copy of a Better Bodies Nif and also the hands Nif and rename them to the name of your new race. Put the new Nif into the Data Files/Meshes folder. I use the bb folder.

Open the renamed BB Nif for the body parts with NifTexture or NifText and edit it to take the new .dds file you just made.

Do the same for the first-person hands, and then the heads, and the hair, and the vampire head and hair.

Reavance assigned separate material panels to each side of the body so that the body can be textured asymmetrically instead of mirrored. It still has one Nif, but it uses two texture panels that are identical except for any changes you might make. This allows for tattoos or scars to cover one side only. He also did the same for first-person hands. The Nif points to two materials; simply assign left and right texture panels.

Creating the Body Parts

Open The Elderscrolls Construction Set (TESC) and in the Data Files, check Morrowind.esm and Better Bodies.esp. Let it load.

Go to Character>Race. Click "New" and give your race an ID and a common name. Check the "playable box also. You can give your race a description and any attributes now or later. Click OK.

The race is made by making body parts, which include the normal body parts, plus head(s), hair and first-person hands. It is a good idea to use an existing race as an example, for this we will choose Dark Elves

Go to Objects>Body Parts, and browse for the first Dark Elf body part entry: b_n_dark_elf_f_ankle. Double click on it, so a window appears.

Change the name to your new race name b_n_waternym_f_ankle. If your race includes both sexes then add f and m to the name as well. Assign it to the new race using the drop down menu.

Now go to the "Add Art File" button and browse to the folder where you are keeping the renamed Better Bodies nif for your race, and select the one for waternymph. Remember, you only need the one Nif for all body parts.

Do the same with all the other Dark Elf female body parts, changing the ID and the Race it’s for and the art file.

It is a good idea to save before you do the hands as it does sometimes crash at this point.

When you assign the hands, be sure that both the small and first-person hands have ID names that look like b_n_waternymph_hands, and b_n_waternymph_hands.1st so that the game can sort it properly. The construction set can be funny about the order you do this so it's best to make the normal hand body part before the 1st one.

When creating a vampire head for your race be sure to name it b_v_racename_f_head_01 or b_v_racename_m_head_01. Do not check playable but do change normal to vampire.

Now create a test cell to see how your new body looks, go to World>Interior Cells then click new, name it _test and click ok. Go to the cell window and load your new cell. Now go to the NPC tab and create a new NPC by right clicking the tab and choosing New, name your NPC "_tester", and select your race. You do not need to worry about the other fields as we are only checking the race works properly. Save, then drag your new NPC into the render window. The test cell and NPC can later be removed using Tesame when you clean your mod.

It is best to check the body after you have finished all the body parts as the construction set will sometimes crash if you have an NPC in a cell while adding body parts. Especially when you do the first person hands.