Really like this! Looks great on an Argonian. Love that I can even wear it as I can't wear any other "full" helms. Not sure how GMSTs work, but TEStool found 72 of them in version 2.3. Glad I clean every file! Just in case. Thanks for the great looking helm!
Idea is good, but the model itself could be better. I suggest you to look up how closed helmets or armets looked like, since your helmet looks like one. https://wallacelive.wallacecollection.org/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=direct/1/ResultListView/moduleContextFunctionBar.navigator.item1&sp=10&sp=Scollection&sp=SfieldValue&sp=0&sp=0&sp=2&sp=SdetailList&sp=126&sp=Sdetail&sp=0&sp=F&sp=0
I like the overall look of the helmet a lot. There's one thing you could still improve. When using MacKom's heads, the pointy elf ears will stick out of the helmet.
https://imgur.com/6IdohWU
It's not much, but if you'd make the mesh just slightly bulkier in this area, it'll be fixed forever.
The design itself is good, but the model is not so great.
The part in the middle ist very high-poly (even though you say it is low-poly in the description?), it has over 11,000 triangles, which is a bit much for a single helmet, especially since this part is not even completely visible. Making it double-sided even increases the number of unnecessary polygons that have to be calculated. I see much potential for optimization there.
The other problem is that the vertex normals are not smoothed, which results in blocky shading and a vastly increased number of vertices, because every triangle is treated as a separate part (which means, every triangle has its own three vertices, instead of adjacend triangles sharing one or two vertices). By smoothing vertex normals and removing duplicate vertices you should be able to reduce the file size a lot even without changing the actual number of polygons. 1,5 MB is really large for a single mesh - just by removing duplicate vertices in Blender I could bring it down to 376 KB. I don't know which program you are using, but you can even do it in NifSkope -> Right-Click on the part you want to smooth (all three NiTriShapes need this), then go to Mesh -> Smooth Normals, then click ok. After that, right-click again and go to Mesh -> Remove Duplicate vertices. It will then give you the number of removed vertices. However, you need to do these steps several times, until it reports 0 removed vertices, only then can you be sure that all are gone. It would be easier in Blender, but I don't know if you use that.
Thanks, I'm very new to this so I'm not quite sure what I'm doing lol. I'll do it now. I am using blender, for the record. edit: I am using a newer version of blender to actually make the things, then converting it via an older one. Then using nifskope to make tweaks to it. So I'm just going to optimize it with nifskope I think, unless there's a disadvantage to that?
You can try it with NifSkope, sure. It doesn't matter what Blender version you are using, though. In Edit Mode, select all, then press "w" and select "Shade Smooth". That's in the newest version, I'm not entirely sure it is called the same in older versions, but it's probably similar. I can check tomorrow if you like. How do you get the model from the newer version into the older one? Are you saving the file with "Legacy Mesh Format" checked as a blender file or using a different format that you export and then import again? Because this can sometimes remove the smooth shading, best use the blender file with "Legacy Mesh Format" checked. You can also "Remove Doubles" in Blender (also in the menu that's opened with "w", just in case. The thing is, if the model is set to "Shade Flat" instead of "Shade Smooth" the edges between triangles are treated as "sharp" which means the exporter splits the model up into separate triangles. That means each triangle has its own three vertices, so there are three times as many vertices as triangles in the model (in the case of your helmet that means more than 33,000 - as I said, it is a bit much). With smooth shading adjacent triangles share vertices, so much fewer are needed to make the model. And it looks better, because with flat shading you can see where the edges between triangles are, with smooth shading you don't (of course, with a model as dark as the middle part of the helmet, you can't really see the difference).
Thank you again for this, it's incredibly helpful.
I got it down to 121kb by removing duplicates and decimating, haven't uploaded that version yet tho. I will in a sec. Is that a reasonable file size for a helmet mesh, or should i try to reduce the amount of triangles further? I think I also did the shade smooth thing, though I'm not quite sure. edit: uploaded now. edit: also made a version where rather than being double sided, the pieces are thicker (?) if you know what i mean. uploading now.
Yes, that's much better! The shading is correct now, and the polygon count is much more reasonable. Still a bit more than I would use for a helmet, but there should not be any problems with it.
Give Feedback
21 comments
Fingers crossed one day you'll release another mod or two. You have some great talent.
Not sure how GMSTs work, but TEStool found 72 of them in version 2.3. Glad I clean every file! Just in case.
Thanks for the great looking helm!
https://wallacelive.wallacecollection.org/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=direct/1/ResultListView/moduleContextFunctionBar.navigator.item1&sp=10&sp=Scollection&sp=SfieldValue&sp=0&sp=0&sp=2&sp=SdetailList&sp=126&sp=Sdetail&sp=0&sp=F&sp=0
https://imgur.com/6IdohWU
It's not much, but if you'd make the mesh just slightly bulkier in this area, it'll be fixed forever.
The part in the middle ist very high-poly (even though you say it is low-poly in the description?), it has over 11,000 triangles, which is a bit much for a single helmet, especially since this part is not even completely visible. Making it double-sided even increases the number of unnecessary polygons that have to be calculated. I see much potential for optimization there.
The other problem is that the vertex normals are not smoothed, which results in blocky shading and a vastly increased number of vertices, because every triangle is treated as a separate part (which means, every triangle has its own three vertices, instead of adjacend triangles sharing one or two vertices). By smoothing vertex normals and removing duplicate vertices you should be able to reduce the file size a lot even without changing the actual number of polygons. 1,5 MB is really large for a single mesh - just by removing duplicate vertices in Blender I could bring it down to 376 KB. I don't know which program you are using, but you can even do it in NifSkope -> Right-Click on the part you want to smooth (all three NiTriShapes need this), then go to Mesh -> Smooth Normals, then click ok. After that, right-click again and go to Mesh -> Remove Duplicate vertices. It will then give you the number of removed vertices. However, you need to do these steps several times, until it reports 0 removed vertices, only then can you be sure that all are gone. It would be easier in Blender, but I don't know if you use that.
edit: I am using a newer version of blender to actually make the things, then converting it via an older one. Then using nifskope to make tweaks to it. So I'm just going to optimize it with nifskope I think, unless there's a disadvantage to that?
I got it down to 121kb by removing duplicates and decimating, haven't uploaded that version yet tho. I will in a sec. Is that a reasonable file size for a helmet mesh, or should i try to reduce the amount of triangles further? I think I also did the shade smooth thing, though I'm not quite sure.
edit: uploaded now.
edit: also made a version where rather than being double sided, the pieces are thicker (?) if you know what i mean. uploading now.
While I don't have the depth of hatred for the vanilla helmet that you have, I'll definitely be using this!