When creating an outfit or an armour first thing is to decide what body you want to make the clothes for. In this tutorial we are going to create first the _0.nif armour and once it is finished we will adapt it to the _1.nif bodyĬreate the _0.nif armour mesh Import into Blender all parts of the _0.nif body This means that you will have to create two meshes for each of the armours/pieces of cloth instead of only one.

With any intermediate weight, the game combines the _0.nif and the _1.nifĪn example of this is shown in picture Skyrim armour/clothing meshes and character weight.

With 100% weight, the game uses the _1.nif.

With 0% weight, the game uses the _0.nif.

The changes in the shape of the character are managed using 2 mesh files for each armour/piece of clothing (this also applies to the meshes that contain parts of the body): You can set the weight of characters or NPCs from 0% (the weight slider is completely to the left) to 100% (the slider is completely to the right). Skyrim has introduced a new feature for characters: the weight slider. Skyrim armour/clothing meshes and character weight

Import into Blender all parts of the _1.nif body.

Adjust the armour after testing it in game.

Cut parts of the body hidden by the armour.

Reduce the amount of polygons of the mesh.

Create the textures and the normal maps in GIMP.

Import into Blender all parts of the _0.nif body.

The main steps to create a custom armour or outfit for Skyrim are:

Optional but highly recommended: Growlfs TES5 Blender Animation Chain.

Creation Kit: available on Steam (Menu option View -> Tools and then select Creation Kit).

This will surely change in the future months and this tutorial will be updated when required. If you want to adapt existing armours or outfits to other bodies you will have to follow the steps explained here, except that you won't have to create the mesh (but you may probably have to adapt it to the new body), the textures or the UV maps.Ĭurrently the tools used for modelling are not completely adapted for Skyrim, there are some steps that require some manual adjustments. If you only want to change the textures of an existing piece of clothing or change its properties and bonus, just skip the first part of the tutorial. This tutorial shows all the main steps you need to follow to create an armour or an outfit from scratch for Skyrim.

3.2.7.2 Copy partially the weights from another mesh.

3.2.7.1 Completely copy all the weights from another mesh.

3.2.6 Reduce the amount of polygons of the mesh.

3.2.5 Create the textures and the normal maps in GIMP.

3.2.4.2 For objects or parts of the armour with complex shapes.

3.2.4.1 For objects or parts of the armour with simple shapes.

3.2.1 Import into Blender all parts of the _0.nif body.

Skyrim how to edit textures