7gen For Dummies - ActorExtractor

Darth Fyer · 07-14-2006, 08:59 AM

Actor Extractor - Extract 3dmm actors/props for modifying
Click on the dark grey 'actorextractor' button to the right.
The ActorExtractor window opens.
In the CFG settings tab, there are the following input fields: Expansion name, Author name, 3dmm path, Shortname and some display text Directory/exp
- Expansion name: This will be the name of your expansion.
- Author name: This is your name. The editor of the expansion.
- 3dmm path: This is the root of your 3dmm directory. Mine for example is c:\Program Files\Microsoft Kids\3d Movie Maker\
- Shortname: This is the name of the VXP! To make things easy, name this the same as the Expansion name (seen above). This is also the name of the folder that the expansion fill be stored in. The folder will then be located in the location where 7gen was installed. Please read this before making a name for your Expansion
- Directory/exp Displays what you typed in the Shortname field.

In the Actor/Prop to extract tab, there is a list of all of the actors, animals and props from 3dmm. You can scroll down the list by clicking on the list and then using your 'up' and 'down' keys to scroll. Alternatively, you can use the mouse by using the scroll bar on the right hand side or use the wheel on your mouse.
- Make tilesheet: This option is ticked as default (i think). It generates an editable Bitmap(BMP) of all of the textures from the selected actor/prop . NOTE: WHEN EXTRACTING A PROP WITH NO TEXTURE (SPHERE, CUBE, ETC) MAKESURE THE TILESHEET CHECKBOX IS UNCHECKED
- Recompress sections: This option is also ticked as default. It basically just makes the file size smaller. Anyway, just leave it ticked.

In the 3dmm IDs tab, there is an input box and a couple of buttons.
- ID: This is where the ID for your expansion will be placed. (see Generate ID button)
- Generate ID button: Click on this button to automatically generate an ID for your Expansion.
- Get ID from 3dmm2.com: This button no longer functions. It takes you to a website that no longer exsists.

In the Contol tab, there is a long bar, stretching from one side of the window to the next, and a buton 'Extract Actor/Prop'.
- Loading bar: This is the progress of the 'Extraction' process. (see Extract Actor/Prop button). Once the blue bar reaches the right-hand side, the extraction is complete. (look in the folder, specified in the Shortname heading above, for all of your actor/prop files)
- Extract Actor/Prop button: Click on this button once all of the above data has been entered. You are now moments away from editing your own actor. For editing your tilesheet, click here. (Note: the link is not yet inserted. Check back later.)

Ali Fighter · 08-03-2006, 11:13 PM

Wow, nice explanation man!

But when will the link be coming? I mean, is there a program which i can physically change the features of the actors? Including their clothes etc?

Darth Fyer · 08-04-2006, 05:35 AM

I'm glad someone is finding this tutorial useful....

The following is for changing all of the textures on any actor/prop. If you want to change the shape of an actor in any way, you have to use Pencil++. I have no idea how to use this program, so if you need help with this, ask around.

-You open the larger sized image (in the folder location you extracted the actor to) in paint or a similar program. You will now see a 'tilesheet' of all of the textures that appear on that actor (shirt, face, back of shirt, shorts/skirt, lower legs/socks, shoes, hair and some characters have other textures, eg Ramu's crystal thingy on his head). Play around with it until you get what you are after. Once you have your 'desired costumes', save the image (bmp).
-In the same folder that you have the image in, there is a makevxp.py file, double-click that to create your actor.
-Finally open the newly created expansion found in the same folder (opening it will install it straight into v3dmm) scroll down the list to find the actor, double-click it to add it into the active expansions list.
-'Launch v3dmm' (click the button at the top left).
-For testing purposes 'create a new movie' then pick a blank scene. Open your actors, move to the final page of the actors to find your newly created actor. Click on it then look at it in 3dmm. If the actor is not how you like it, close 3dmm, open up the image file again and do the above steps again.

I'll get around to typing up a more in-depth explanation soon enough.

If you encounter a problem with these steps i have listed, post it here and i'll fix it up.

Mabdog · 08-04-2006, 07:03 AM

I'm sure this would prove very helpful if I could install the goddamn thing!

Darth Fyer · 12:35 PM

Edit:............

For instructions on how to install 7gen, read this... http://www.3dmmstudio.co.uk/misc/7gen_instructions.txt

Bacon Stein · 08-22-2006, 02:39 AM

I did everything the instructions said, but 7Gen won't run on my computer for some reason. Is it because I'm using XP?

HMC · 08-22-2006, 02:53 AM

No, because most people are using XP, and most people can use 7gen just fine.

Mabdog · 08-24-2006, 05:28 AM

.... how do you edit the actor? I went to c:\Program Files\Microsoft Kids\3d Movie Maker\ and it wasn't there.

HMC · 08-24-2006, 05:33 AM

Uhh, what are you doing? 7gen extracts actors into its own folder in your 7gen directory. Inside this folder are the datafiles and, if you chose to extract it, tilesheets, which you can edit and create a vxp with by clicking makevxp.py.

Tanynep · 01:04 PM

There's an error when I try to extract the actor : 'Bad path, prop.3th/actor.3th not found'... I think it's because 3Dmm path has a limited number of characters, but what should I do then, since I can't rename my 3Dmm folder ? Reinstall 3Dmm ?

EDIT: I've found a way to solve my problem in another thread

Mabdog · 08-24-2006, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HMC

Uhh, what are you doing? 7gen extracts actors into its own folder in your 7gen directory. Inside this folder are the datafiles and, if you chose to extract it, tilesheets, which you can edit and create a vxp with by clicking makevxp.py.

wow.. thanks, dude. And if you want to.. say.... give patrick a hat... you need to use 3dmm pencil? Is there a tutorial for that?

Darth Fyer · 08-25-2006, 01:01 AM

No tutorial yet... I will look into it at some stage.

Darth Fyer · 08-25-2006, 01:53 AM

I've decided that i will have a look at Pencil, bare with me as i have never used it before. I'll do it in little bits and pieces and get HMC to look through it to see if i have done the right thing. I'll try to get 'Part 1' up today.

Diabolic · 08-26-2006, 04:48 AM

You are my new best friend!

HMC · 08-26-2006, 05:56 PM

Darth, I know you want to be helpful, but don't feel obligated to just jump into writing tutorials for things as you try to learn them. Besides, it would be difficult to write a single tutorial for Pencil. You'd likely only need a tutorial for individual tasks, which we already have a number of tutorials for.

Darth Fyer · 08-27-2006, 03:22 AM

yeah, i had a think and a look at Pencil and i don't really know where to start, its not like 7gen, where there are 'predefined' tasks. Anyone have a request i could do for 'part 1'. I might try to find all of the different tuts for pencil on this site and organise them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diabolic

You are my new best friend!

Are you referring to the 7gen tutorial or my post about the Pencil tut? If it was about Pencil, what is your request for a pencil task?

Mabdog · 08-27-2006, 04:42 AM

uhhm... I'm wondering how to make actor fonts.
oh, and how to remove actor's body parts. (blank bmdl?)

Darth Fyer · 08-27-2006, 04:49 AM

Well you can just make the texture of the part of the body you want gone the 'transparent' magenta. But it will make other parts dissapear if it shares the same texture. As for the actor fonts, what is an 'actor font' exactly?

Diabolic · 09-07-2006, 12:33 PM

I was talking about the whole 7gen tutorial. I've never bothered to use 7gen, and now I can make the skins I need myself.

Darth Fyer · 09-07-2006, 01:12 PM

OOoohhh ok. Cool, glad you like it.

Video Game Guy · 09-11-2006, 10:55 PM

Can u make different actions for the actors?

Shootfast · 09-12-2006, 12:36 AM

Yes, very slowly and painfully. In fact its a process so painfull, that even the modeling vets on here arn't about to begin trying it.

STEP 1. extract every BMDL in your actor

STEP 2. convert them all to obj

STEP 3. put them all together in your chosen 3d suite (like a 100 piece 3d puzzle)

STEP 4. Rig your actor with either a biped set (3ds max) or JK/IK bones

STEP 5. Animate till your little hearts content

STEP 6. Re-skin your actor and export to md2

STEP 7. import md2 with md2tovxp

Mabdog · 09-12-2006, 12:51 AM

Joshiii-Kun · 09-12-2006, 05:53 PM

Augh, that sounds like a horrible process.

On the other 'news', good explanation

Ramu · 11-01-2006, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shootfast

STEP 1. extract every BMDL in your actor

STEP 2. convert them all to obj

STEP 3. put them all together in your chosen 3d suite (like a 100 piece 3d puzzle

What's a BMDL? And how can I convert them to obj?

07-14-2006, 08:59 AM	#1
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656	7gen For Dummies - ActorExtractor Actor Extractor - Extract 3dmm actors/props for modifying Click on the dark grey 'actorextractor' button to the right. The ActorExtractor window opens. In the CFG settings tab, there are the following input fields: Expansion name, Author name, 3dmm path, Shortname and some display text Directory/exp - Expansion name: This will be the name of your expansion. - Author name: This is your name. The editor of the expansion. - 3dmm path: This is the root of your 3dmm directory. Mine for example is c:\Program Files\Microsoft Kids\3d Movie Maker\ - Shortname: This is the name of the VXP! To make things easy, name this the same as the Expansion name (seen above). This is also the name of the folder that the expansion fill be stored in. The folder will then be located in the location where 7gen was installed. Please read this before making a name for your Expansion - Directory/exp Displays what you typed in the Shortname field. In the Actor/Prop to extract tab, there is a list of all of the actors, animals and props from 3dmm. You can scroll down the list by clicking on the list and then using your 'up' and 'down' keys to scroll. Alternatively, you can use the mouse by using the scroll bar on the right hand side or use the wheel on your mouse. - Make tilesheet: This option is ticked as default (i think). It generates an editable Bitmap(BMP) of all of the textures from the selected actor/prop . NOTE: WHEN EXTRACTING A PROP WITH NO TEXTURE (SPHERE, CUBE, ETC) MAKESURE THE TILESHEET CHECKBOX IS UNCHECKED - Recompress sections: This option is also ticked as default. It basically just makes the file size smaller. Anyway, just leave it ticked. In the 3dmm IDs tab, there is an input box and a couple of buttons. - ID: This is where the ID for your expansion will be placed. (see Generate ID button) - Generate ID button: Click on this button to automatically generate an ID for your Expansion. - Get ID from 3dmm2.com: This button no longer functions. It takes you to a website that no longer exsists. In the Contol tab, there is a long bar, stretching from one side of the window to the next, and a buton 'Extract Actor/Prop'. - Loading bar: This is the progress of the 'Extraction' process. (see Extract Actor/Prop button). Once the blue bar reaches the right-hand side, the extraction is complete. (look in the folder, specified in the Shortname heading above, for all of your actor/prop files) - Extract Actor/Prop button: Click on this button once all of the above data has been entered. You are now moments away from editing your own actor. For editing your tilesheet, click here. (Note: the link is not yet inserted. Check back later.)
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656

08-03-2006, 11:13 PM	#2
Ali Fighter Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 77	Wow, nice explanation man! But when will the link be coming? I mean, is there a program which i can physically change the features of the actors? Including their clothes etc?
Ali Fighter Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 77

08-04-2006, 05:35 AM	#3
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656	I'm glad someone is finding this tutorial useful.... The following is for changing all of the textures on any actor/prop. If you want to change the shape of an actor in any way, you have to use Pencil++. I have no idea how to use this program, so if you need help with this, ask around. -You open the larger sized image (in the folder location you extracted the actor to) in paint or a similar program. You will now see a 'tilesheet' of all of the textures that appear on that actor (shirt, face, back of shirt, shorts/skirt, lower legs/socks, shoes, hair and some characters have other textures, eg Ramu's crystal thingy on his head). Play around with it until you get what you are after. Once you have your 'desired costumes', save the image (bmp). -In the same folder that you have the image in, there is a makevxp.py file, double-click that to create your actor. -Finally open the newly created expansion found in the same folder (opening it will install it straight into v3dmm) scroll down the list to find the actor, double-click it to add it into the active expansions list. -'Launch v3dmm' (click the button at the top left). -For testing purposes 'create a new movie' then pick a blank scene. Open your actors, move to the final page of the actors to find your newly created actor. Click on it then look at it in 3dmm. If the actor is not how you like it, close 3dmm, open up the image file again and do the above steps again. I'll get around to typing up a more in-depth explanation soon enough. If you encounter a problem with these steps i have listed, post it here and i'll fix it up.
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656

08-04-2006, 07:03 AM	#4
Mabdog Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 5,670	I'm sure this would prove very helpful if I could install the goddamn thing!
Mabdog Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 5,670

08-04-2006, 07:26 AM	#5
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656	Edit:............ For instructions on how to install 7gen, read this... http://www.3dmmstudio.co.uk/misc/7gen_instructions.txt
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656	Last edited by Darth Fyer : 08-04-2006 at 12:35 PM.

08-22-2006, 02:39 AM	#6
Bacon Stein Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 8	I did everything the instructions said, but 7Gen won't run on my computer for some reason. Is it because I'm using XP?
Bacon Stein Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 8

08-22-2006, 02:53 AM	#7
HMC Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 8,715	No, because most people are using XP, and most people can use 7gen just fine.
HMC Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 8,715

08-24-2006, 05:28 AM	#8
Mabdog Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 5,670	.... how do you edit the actor? I went to c:\Program Files\Microsoft Kids\3d Movie Maker\ and it wasn't there.
Mabdog Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 5,670

08-24-2006, 05:33 AM	#9
HMC Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 8,715	Uhh, what are you doing? 7gen extracts actors into its own folder in your 7gen directory. Inside this folder are the datafiles and, if you chose to extract it, tilesheets, which you can edit and create a vxp with by clicking makevxp.py.
HMC Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 8,715

08-24-2006, 10:15 AM	#10
Tanynep Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 9	There's an error when I try to extract the actor : 'Bad path, prop.3th/actor.3th not found'... I think it's because 3Dmm path has a limited number of characters, but what should I do then, since I can't rename my 3Dmm folder ? Reinstall 3Dmm ? EDIT: I've found a way to solve my problem in another thread
Tanynep Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 9	Last edited by Tanynep : 08-24-2006 at 01:04 PM.

08-25-2006, 01:01 AM	#12
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656	No tutorial yet... I will look into it at some stage.
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656

08-25-2006, 01:53 AM	#13
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656	I've decided that i will have a look at Pencil, bare with me as i have never used it before. I'll do it in little bits and pieces and get HMC to look through it to see if i have done the right thing. I'll try to get 'Part 1' up today.
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656

08-26-2006, 04:48 AM	#14
Diabolic Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,229	You are my new best friend!
Diabolic Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,229

08-26-2006, 05:56 PM	#15
HMC Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 8,715	Darth, I know you want to be helpful, but don't feel obligated to just jump into writing tutorials for things as you try to learn them. Besides, it would be difficult to write a single tutorial for Pencil. You'd likely only need a tutorial for individual tasks, which we already have a number of tutorials for.
HMC Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 8,715

08-27-2006, 04:42 AM	#17
Mabdog Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 5,670	uhhm... I'm wondering how to make actor fonts. oh, and how to remove actor's body parts. (blank bmdl?)
Mabdog Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 5,670

08-27-2006, 04:49 AM	#18
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656	Well you can just make the texture of the part of the body you want gone the 'transparent' magenta. But it will make other parts dissapear if it shares the same texture. As for the actor fonts, what is an 'actor font' exactly?
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656

09-07-2006, 12:33 PM	#19
Diabolic Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,229	I was talking about the whole 7gen tutorial. I've never bothered to use 7gen, and now I can make the skins I need myself.
Diabolic Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,229

09-07-2006, 01:12 PM	#20
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656	OOoohhh ok. Cool, glad you like it.
Darth Fyer Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 656

09-11-2006, 10:55 PM	#21
Video Game Guy Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 1,231	Can u make different actions for the actors?

09-12-2006, 12:36 AM	#22
Shootfast Member Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 715	Yes, very slowly and painfully. In fact its a process so painfull, that even the modeling vets on here arn't about to begin trying it. STEP 1. extract every BMDL in your actor STEP 2. convert them all to obj STEP 3. put them all together in your chosen 3d suite (like a 100 piece 3d puzzle) STEP 4. Rig your actor with either a biped set (3ds max) or JK/IK bones STEP 5. Animate till your little hearts content STEP 6. Re-skin your actor and export to md2 STEP 7. import md2 with md2tovxp
Shootfast Member Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 715

09-12-2006, 12:51 AM	#23
Mabdog Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 5,670
Mabdog Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 5,670

09-12-2006, 05:53 PM	#24
Joshiii-Kun Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 16	Augh, that sounds like a horrible process. On the other 'news', good explanation
Joshiii-Kun Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 16