automatic shader node configuration
LOOK AT MY BEAUTIFUL NODE TREES 😭 I wrote a thing and now my shader trees are so tidy!!!
It takes a little work to get models exported from TS4SimRipper to play nice in Blender. The materials don't like to import nicely, and cause issues that at first I handled manually.
Specular texture node is loaded but not attached to the Principled BSDF shader
Normal map does not import at all and requires some fussing to get working - the normal map texture is half the size of the diffuse/specular textures
Glass layer base textures have color but not alpha outputs
Emission maps are not attached (and do not seem to export correctly - I always just get an empty file)
I'm not sure if I'm using SimRipper wrong? But in any case, I found solutions to the first three problems and wrote a script to do those things for me!
The Specular IOR Level node that is created automatically when importing a sims .dae file needs to have its alpha output connected to the shader's Specular IOR Level input
You need a normal map node connected to the shader's normal input, a vector mapping node attached to the normal map's color input with the scale set to (2,2,2) to account for the smaller size of the normal map textures, and finally create an image texture node for the normal map - attach the color output to the mapping node's vector input
For glass layers, the alpha output of the base color node needs to connect to the shader's alpha input - this is what makes glass layers transparent
AND I figured out how to get all the nodes aligned and pretty!!! I'm ridiculously proud of that part.
Setting all that up by hand is tedious and time-consuming, so I wrote this script. I'm working on getting it to a point where you don't need to run it through the scripting tab for ease of use, but in its current state it is definitely workable! At the moment it only works with SimRipper exports with either single mesh & texture or solid and glass meshes and textures - it does NOT work with all separate meshes/1 texture. You do need to have some version of Blender 4 for it to work - 3.6 is not compatible.
If any brave soul is willing to give it a try, I have a working draft up here! Open it in your scripting tab, select the collection in the outliner you want the model to go to, and then run the script. Choose a .dae file that was exported either with 1 mesh/1 texture OR solid and glass meshes & textures, and you should be good to go! You should be able to move/pose/etc the model just like you would any other model imported from TS4SimRipper.
Automatic shader configuration for TS4SimRipper .dae files imported into Blender 4.3 - ts4_model_import.py
There's still some manual configuration required. I haven't figured out how to handle the emission map problem yet, and while I normally put subsurf modifiers on most of my models I haven't included that in the script yet, as that requires manually fixing a issue with a vertex on the inside of the head that causes ugly shadows on the neck/cheeks/hairline when you render with Cycles.
Please let me know if you have any questions or problems! I have tested this extensively on my computer, running Blender 4.3, but have not yet attempted it with any other computer.
