Selection and bounding boxes

[Randomdays]

Still increasing knowledge on mesh editing. I had assumed you set these up during map editing, but I guess I was wrong. When working with these;

1) What's best to work/view these, Blender or Nifscope?

2) Does the bounding box have to be a box? If I have a house with a peaked roof, can I adjust the box to match so the character can walk up and down the roof ?

3) If you scale the mesh up or down do the boxes adjust with the mesh in size or do you have to do that manually?

4) I'm not sure exactly what a selection box is for. Is this a FF function so that you can click on the item to interact with it?

Thanks for any help

[cmdrkoenig67]

Hey RD,

1) I've only used NifSkope to work on meshes (the bounding boxes show up fine in Skope).  I do have Blender, but I have yet to figure how to use it.

2) Bounding boxes can be boxes, but most of the time they have a similar shape to whatever object they are on.

3)  If you scale up the mesh via the scene root, then everything should scale up with it.

4)  I could be wrong, but I believe the answer is yes...It makes it easier to select and target the mesh, as far as I know.

Dana

[Randomdays]

Thanks Dana

1)how do you view the boxes in nifscope?

2) if there is no selection or bounding box, can you add it in with nifscope?

[cmdrkoenig67]

Thanks Dana

1)how do you view the boxes in nifscope?

2) if there is no selection or bounding box, can you add it in with nifscope?

1) Most of the time they are visible and you can highlight them by clicking on them.

2) That's a maybe and a Yes...I haven't tried moving selection boxes from mesh to mesh, but I've transferred bounding boxes from one mesh to another before.

[Randomdays]

Not sure if I've seen one then. Did any of the houses I send you have either or both?

[hoss20]

   If you're not seeing the boxes when you open a mesh in Nifskope, you can go to the Render menu and click on Show Hidden. This will show hidden pieces, the bounding box, and selection box. If you just want to see the bounding box, find it in your nif tree at Bip01. Open the Bounding Box tree and right click on the NiTriShape and click on Flags and uncheck the "Hidden" box.

[cmdrkoenig67]

Not sure if I've seen one then. Did any of the houses I send you have either or both?

No, I don't think any of them have bounding and/or selection boxes.

Dana

[Randomdays]

Thanks guys. So Dana, you were able to add the boxes by swapping one from another mesh?

I'm getting ready to release the cars I converted, but without the boxes I don't think the player can interact with them, either picking one up or standing on it.

I haven't tried the converted rat that Bearded worked on yet, but I would imagine he added the boxes to it.

[cmdrkoenig67]

Thanks guys. So Dana, you were able to add the boxes by swapping one from another mesh?

I have for other object meshes I've worked on, but I haven't for the new buildings yet...It will take a bit of searching to find bounding boxes that fit them well.

I'm getting ready to release the cars I converted, but without the boxes I don't think the player can interact with them, either picking one up or standing on it.

You can probably just use the bounding/selection boxes from all the in-game cars by copying them over to the new car meshes.

I haven't tried the converted rat that Bearded worked on yet, but I would imagine he added the boxes to it.

He did, the mesh looks great in the Character Tool, I have yet to try it in-game.

Dana

[Randomdays]

Allright, thanks. One last question. Are selection boxes different for different item types. IE character, building, vehicle, lampost, so you get the the diifferent action menus when you click on it. If you put a vehicle selection box on a building, would the character be given the choice to pick it up and throw it? A lampost box on a vehicle the option to swing the car at the target?

[bearded]

no, that's all handled by class in the template tab. for size, i imagine you could resize it in nifskope. i think the game would handle a sloping roof as a series of small jumps. i don't think the boxes matter for that, they seem to be there for selection and targeting. and to some degree collision.

[Randomdays]

Thanks Bearded. So, basically, they're generic and you could swap them in from any other nif and they would work?

[bearded]

as far as i know, yes. i just tend to make sure they are in there and ignore them.

[GogglesPizanno]

I dont think buildings actually need them, provided they are set up as buildings in the template tab, and have a a "destruction version" The game engine I believe creates one one based on the geometry if needed. That doesn't mean that you couldn't add one yourself if it was a more complicated mesh shape and you wanted more control over where characters interacted with it. But I think buildings are the only exception... every thing else needs one if you are going to interact with it.

[cmdrkoenig67]

I was guessing that they needed them, because they all seem to have them in  .

Dana