Need input finishing foot mod (1 Viewer)

[cosmo777]

I've been working on a mod that improves her feet. I have been using stuntcock's Thicker Ass and Legs template as a base, so that I can use the actionscript for changing skin and tan tones are available. The problem is the new foot doesn't entirely cover the area of the old one, so when changing the skin/tan in game the old foot pops through:

(The red in the second picture shows the old profile of the right foot.)

So my issue is this:

1) Redraw the feet to completely cover the old.
2) Rework the script to erase the old calves every time the slider is changed
3) Release 4 separate SWFs for each skin tone

The advantage to 1) is it would be more compatible with socks, which the foot doesn't fit well (shoes seem OK). The problem is, the default feet have pretty derped proportions, and I am not crazy about trying to work with that. The left foot is especially problematic.

I have no idea how to implement 2) on my own, so there's that. As for 3), its a clunky workaround, as I'm interested in enhancing more of the basic options of SDT, and hoped the improved feet could be attached to other body mods.

 

[stuntcock]

2) Rework the script to erase the old calves every time the slider is changed

That shouldn't be necessary. I've checked the Template for clothes to Thicker-Ass 'n Legs.fla file and sdt-thickerAssAndLegs.fla; they both contain the following script:

import SDTMods.*;

var modType:String = ModTypes.BODY;
var overwrite:Boolean = true;

The overwrite bit is the important part; the mod should replace the default thigh and calf sprites when it's loaded, and those original sprites should not reappear until the mod is unloaded.

If you're loading the mod via moreClothing then that's more complicated, because moreClothing suppresses the overwrite option (for BODY mods) by default. We can alter the moreClothing settings file to disable this behavior, of course.

But if you're loading the SWF file manually (for testing purposes) then the problem should not arise. Could you please share your FLA file so that I can investigate?

 

[cosmo777]

The overwrite bit is the important part; the mod should replace the default thigh and calf sprites when it's loaded, and those original sprites should not reappear until the mod is unloaded.

Actually, it does load correctly at the start, but changing the skin will cause the old calf layer to pop out, and changing the tan will cause a similar effect. When I tested, I found if I erased part of the thighs, the old thighs would also appear when the skin was changed. This makes me think it went unnoticed, because the thicker ass and legs mod simply covered up the whole area.

Tell me what you think, if you want to check out the file.

 

[stuntcock]

Actually, it does load correctly at the start, but changing the skin will cause the old calf layer to pop out, and changing the tan will cause a similar effect.

Confirmed. I apologize for not reading your first post more carefully; you had correctly identified the exact nature of the problem from the beginning.

I've edited the AS3 script so that it should be more "forceful" about suppressing the normal skin (and tan) layers - and then restoring them when the mod is actually unloaded. We'll probably need to work out a different (or more subtle) solution if we want the mod to be fully compatible with moreClothing, but the current scripts should suffice for development and standalone testing.

P.S. the output folder for the FLA file was something custom (../SDT Loader/ayla or something like that). It was automatically reset when I published the file for the first time because that folder doesn't exist on my PC. If you'd like to setup the custom output folder again then please feel free to do so. Otherwise, please beware that the SWF output file will now appear directly alongside the FLA -- if you try to run the SWF file in your custom folder then you might be annoyed because "it hasn't been changed or fixed at all!" :)

 

[cosmo777]

Thanks for the help. It seems to be working.

Confirmed. I apologize for not reading your first post more carefully; you had correctly identified the exact nature of the problem from the beginning.

No problem, it was counter-intuitive that the old sprites would be reappearing underneath the new layer. It took me some time to figure out what was even going on. I'll need to clean up my WIPs and get them up ...soonish.

 

[cosmo777]

Found another issue, this time regarding the thigh part of the mod (I'll release a foot-only mod as well).

There's a symbol that acts a mask for lower chest clothing, which needs to be updated with the new thigh shape. I have the new symbol in my file, but need to implement it. Thought of grafting some other code to try and make it work, but you can probably do a better job.

 

[stuntcock]

There's a symbol that acts a mask for lower chest clothing, which needs to be updated with the new thigh shape.

You may already know all of this stuff, but I'll explain it for the sake of any future readers.

The second image shows the thong clipping partially through the thigh. That's because the CHEST section of the thong is drawn on a layer (g.her.torso.chestUnderCostume.panties) which naturally fits under the thigh. Masking is not required. The sharp pointy bit isn't a consequence of masking; it's just the BACK section of the thong being drawn on a layer (g.her.torso.backUnderCostume.panties) which is over the thigh. Again, there's no masking involved. It's slightly unusual for a BACK element to be drawn so far "forwards", but that's because @Konashion wanted the thong to visibly wrap around the girl's hip. If he obeyed the usual "border" (between CHEST and BACK) then the iliacus of the girl's thigh would sometimes clip through the thong and cause part of the fabric to disappear.

There are three approaches here:

• (easy) the main section of the thong is drawn entirely above the thigh. Fabric sometimes clips through skin in an inappropriate way
• (easy) the main section of the thong is drawn entirely beneath the thigh. Skin sometimes clips through fabric in an inappropriate way.
• (hard) the thong is drawn partially above and partially below the thigh. Extra layers are added to the visual hierarchy, and the game's anatomy and animation code has been improved. The thong will stretch, deflect, or deform as the thigh is extended. It's theoretically possible for clipping to occur, but this won't happen within the hip joint's normal range of motion (because we've fully tested and fine-tuned the game so that everything works correctly within that range).

@Konashion chose the first option.

The clipping behavior shown in the second image occurs even when using regular thighs in the vanilla game. We cannot easily solve it with a Mask adjustment. It demands manipulation of layers and a bunch of real-time deformation work (basically: it requires us to implement the third approach, in the form of a Loader mod). I once tried to do so, but abandoned my efforts because it required physics which were more complex than what my code could support at the time. And because it was part of a costume modding project which exceeded my artistic abilities.

The first image (showing the She-Devil Bikini) is much more straightforward. There's a mask applied to the CHEST element of BOTTOMS clothing (layer g.her.torso.chestCostume.bottoms). These clothing items are drawn above the girl's right thigh, so we must chop out anything which would ever occult the thigh. The end result is that the clothing appears to be drawn below the thigh, even though it's actually above. Why don't we simply draw it below the thigh? .... I don't know. But it's late and I may be overlooking something.

Anyways. I've managed to adjust the mask, but thus far it's a fairly "destructive" edit. The mask is positioned incorrectly, and so fabric continues to clip through the thigh; meanwhile a section of fabric near the girl's navel becomes hidden. I'll need a bit more tinkering in order to get the replacement mask correctly aligned.

 

[cosmo777]

I was reading over your Angela Balzac post, and thought of something. Anatomically, as the thigh rotates closer towards the chest, a crease will form that will visually separate the thigh from the torso, that I have drawn in the 2nd image:

Here is a possible implementation:

• "A", the reddish area, is a partial duplicate of the thigh that will go over the back layer. This does NOT include the extra crease line, so as to avoid it sticking out when the thigh is straighter.
• "B" is the extra crease line that watches the angle of rotation of the thigh, and extends out the more the thigh is bent. It could possibly also extend out as the thigh is straightened out for a better standing pose.
• "C" is a mask the crease line moves back into when it is not in effect (unless the crease is animated by a shapekey, which might look better anyway.)
• "D" is a mask that drops down to cover up the original thigh layer, in particular that pesky line.

This might all be overkill for my own mod, and more of a case-by-case alteration. The pelvis is definitely a tricky subject considering how it changes it's form with movement.

 

[stuntcock]

This might all be overkill for my own mod, and more of a case-by-case alteration. The pelvis is definitely a tricky subject considering how it changes it's form with movement.

Agreed :) Let's not worry about it here.

There's a symbol that acts a mask for lower chest clothing, which needs to be updated with the new thigh shape.

This behavior should work correctly now. The actual fix was absurdly simple, and so I'm kicking myself for the three hours which I wasted on a massively over-complicated attempt at a geometric solution.

The one "gotcha" is that Flash masks are the inverse of what you had originally created. Rather than being a black blob shaped like a leg, it would be a big black rectangle with a leg-shaped hole cut out of its middle. The funny-shaped rectangle is included within the edited FLA file, of course. So you're free to fine-tune its shape, or revise it to match any edits that you make to the outline of the thigh itself. But if you'd prefer to just leave it as-is then it will probably be fine.

The implementation is not vanilla-compatible. moreclothing compatibility broke due to the previous set of script changes (related to the reappearance of feet when switching to a different Tan setting). The mod is currently very "aggressive"; it hides the original legs as soon as moreclothing loads the medium-thick legs and then never allows them to reappear. Let me know if that's a concern for you. We could probably fix it, but doing so might slightly reduce the reliability of the mod when it's run in "standalone" mode. The feet might awkwardly reappear due to an unexpected combination or interaction of mods (especially any mods which screw up the moreclothing initialization).

 

[cosmo777]

Alright, both mods are done, get Better Feet here and get Medium Ass And Legs here (which comes with the feet).