I decided it would probably be a good idea to start my own thread and stop hogging the "What are you currently working on" topic. Anyways -

MORROWIND HEADS UPDATE PROJECT (wip title)

- an attempt to create better head meshes for Morrowind characters, similar to Skyrim/Oblivion system

- slightly higher poly count with modeled in jawline, ears and neck for more detailed looking characters

Premise

Morrowind is still a very popular game, which projects like OpenMW and Skywind prove on a daily basis. Thanks to advancement in all areas concerning game dev, as well as efforts made by modders to bring everything up to date, we will be able to give this game a face lift it needs and deserves. I opted for new heads as this is something I care about, want to see redone and currently drives me up the wall. We already have Better bodies, so it only makes sense to bring heads up to date as well.

CURRENT STATUS - pre-alpha/proof of concept

WNTBD (What Needs To Be Done)

- optimize the base head mesh

- make racial / gender morphs

- fit Better Bodies meshes for seamless look (currently the only thing that`s hindering the development, as it is out of my expertise)

- make high poly sculpts and bake normal maps (OpenMW will allow us to use them)

- hand paint textures

- beta testing

- ???

- profit

Pictures will be posted as soon as I have enough posts to be able to post them...also, this sentence makes no sense.

Questions, comments and assistance encouraged and welcome.

* space reserved for further information*

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x443/PxelSlayer/head.jpg

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x443/PxelSlayer/dunmer.jpg

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x443/PxelSlayer/MGEScreenshot011.jpg

It looks awesome but little awful without eye textures.

I'm waiting impatiently for this mod

(Sorry for my terrible English)

Awesome! I was just looking through your Tumblr earlier today. I'm with Peterbitt on this, I really like your hand draw style to actual faces converted into Morrowind. I get completely thrown out of the game when Morpheus walks by and tells me I'm diseased, or Johnny Depp calls me scum.

Will you be making any changes to Better Bodies?

This actually NEEDS to be done if this project is ever to go live. However, with BB meshes involving skins and weird placement, I have no idea where and how to start, so any form of assistance would be highly welcome.

I'm not sure if you'd need permission to make changes, but the BB creators where floating around reddit on /r/Morrowind a few months back, so you can probably get in contact with them still. Also, modders like Worsas and Bahamut know a lot about the body system, I think. They might be able to help you in some way.

Yes, I`ve seen that article on Reddit and had a thorough read. Still, this project would be finished much sooner if I had someone back me up and re-work the bodies instead of me spending weeks trying to figure it out myself. Not that I have anything against doing that. But it would go much faster. So, let`s hope one of those guys stumbles upon this thread and gets interested

Also, http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x443/PxelSlayer/New.jpg. Still have a long way to go, but making it is just plain fun for me, so why not

Your faces are gorgeous! Maybe it is not needed but it would be great to see them in 1024x1024 after the project is finished - for those who like it big

Recently I asked two extremely experienced modders (Bahamut and Akavir) on whether this is possible, so both were not sure that there is a way currently to avoid seems irrespectively of the combination of methods used - if I understood them right .

I'm looking forward to seeing completed! Great project.

Oh, wow - it's looking great so far. And I'm rooting for you in your efforts to fit the Better Bodies meshes! If the default head replacers you've already released are any indication, the end result is really going to be something.

Don't know how far you want to go with your new Better Bodies, but I always felt that some simple texturing details would help a lot to make them look a little more natural: http://www7.pic-upload.de/30.04.13/1fkk954fwg4k.jpg
Just a quick mock-up but it's apparent that BB is missing highlights and depth.

Yes, Better Bodies could use an update themselves, but let`s take it one step at a time.

The way to get this to work is actually simple in idea and solution, but somewhat complicated in execution. I`ll whip up some images and post them here as soon as I catch some free time.

And as for the seam - I`d rather play with characters that might have a slight seam around the neck, but have more detailed faces, correct ear placement and more hair options than with heads currently available (which too are great, don`t get me wrong). Besides, clothes, robes and armors would cover that seam 90% of the time.

Looking good! Only problem I see is the neck being a part of the head. IIRC skinned meshes cannot use morph animation in Morrowind. So either the head has to be separated from the neck or the head won't have any facial animations.

Cannot speak for OpenMW though, if it's possible there, forget what I just said!

ACTUALLY, there IS a way, and the solution is very, VERY simple. I don`t skin the head - I make it like all other heads with morphs for animation. By default, all vertices on a head mesh are assigned to head bone.

What needs to be done is take the bodies mesh, pull down top neck vertices, fit them to the seam of the head and assign them 100% to head bone. Maybe add another row of verts beneath that and give them a 50/50 neck-head weight for smoother shape distortion. And that`s it.

Ok, guess I got what you mean. Was just worried about the transition to the body, cause if it is not an excact circle, there will be a gap when the head rotates.

You also mentioned some issues with skin modifiers and vertex normals, what seems to be the problem with that?

To really explain it I have to make some screenshots in Max to illustrate the issue. Will post a detailed list of issues ASAP.

WOW MacKom well done! I cant believe someone finally got to do this, great job man! (sorry I didn't read all posts)

Did some further mesh testing through http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x443/PxelSlayer/Mer.jpg. There are some areas that need extensive work, as this is my first ever head mesh I made and poly distribution is not optimal. http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x443/PxelSlayer/MGEScreenshot003.jpg is slow, but steady ATM. Textures need more work as well. Still, it is nice to see Morrowind being http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x443/PxelSlayer/ingame.jpg.

I got to say that it's refreshing just to see a new head mesh!

Great work so far MacKom!

Looks really, really good!

?

Just a common Internet idiom. Nothing serious meant by it.

Was thinking about this too some time ago, it should work as described
the main problem is how to execute this well, the seam must be perfectly alligned, slight missalign and it will look bad
check the werewolf transformation i think it uses a similar trick (there is a separate head model with morphs applied)

personaly i think most rational thing would be wait for openMW (as its progresses really well) and then go for a whole character asset overhaul witch could become a community project.

Yea, the fix is rather simple, I`m really surprised this hasn`t been done fefore, but oh well...

OpenMW is something I`m VERY MUCH looking forward, but it will be a couple of months before it`s in fully playable state. So...why wait? Besides, if heads are updated before the release of OMW, we`ll only have bodies to worry about.

I`m willing to try and fit the BB bodies myself, but there`s one piece of information I`m still missing - base heads are at 0,0,0 position on the grid. How high along the Y axis do I have to move it for fitting the body seam, so that I have it at the position as it displays in-game? Does anybody know this?