Source Model Kitbash Tutorial

Tutorial by RobotHunter
Pics by styrofoam.mendoza and RobotHunter

1. Import qc of addon model to Blender first

2. Import qc of base model to Blender
3. Move one skeleton (either the base model skeleton or the addon model skeleton it doesn’t
matter) so it's easier to work with

4. Select the addon skeleton in the mesh menu (they should look like floating balls in the
general outline of a skeleton), go into Edit mode, select all bones again, then delete all bones of
addon model

It should now look something like this

5. Make sure the addon skeleton is deleted from the mesh menu as well
6. In object mode, select every body group of the addon model (i.e. a helmet with bunch of
bodygroups like goggles and night vision etc., select all of it), go into Modifier Properties
(wrench symbol), and select the base model’s skeleton. This tells the addon model to attach
itself to the base model’s skeleton. The addon model should jump onto the base model at this
point

7. Make sure "Lock Object Mode" in the Edit Menu is unselected. This is so that when you
select something, it retains the mode you set for it specifically
8. Select base model skeleton, then go into Pose Mode (this puts the skeleton specifically in
pose mode by default)
9. Select the addon model, go into Weight Paint Mode
10. Select the bone you want to attach the model to
11. With the bone selected, change the following settings in the “Active tool and workspace
settings” in the properties menu:
● In “Advanced” make sure "front faces only" is not checked (doing this makes sure you
weight paint the entire model not just the front part of the mesh)
● In “Falloff” set the Falloff Shape to “Projected” (when you weight paint, is passes through
the front of the mesh you’ve selected and paints the back as well)
● In “Options” make sure “Auto Normalize” is checked (all the other bones’ weights are
corrected in relation to the one you’re weight painting on [I think])
12. Select and weight paint every bodygroup of the addon model. When you’re done, the model
and all its bodygroups should be completely red when you select them (blue means the model
doesn’t move with the bone at all, red means that the model is dependent on the bone’s
movements)
13. At this point, if the mesh needs any final edits (i.e. if you added a helmet to a soldier model
and the chinstrap doesn’t fit him or you need to rescale the model) you can do that now
14. If you moved the model around after you switched it’s skeleton to the base model’s skeleton,
press ctrl+a, and click “apply location”
15. Select all of the addon model’s bodygroups, and export them as smd files

Bonus: Another way to do this without weightpainting is to rename the addon’s skeleton’s bones
that you’re editing into to the base model’s skeleton’s bones, so if you’re adding a helmet to a
soldier, you could rename the helmet’s helmet bone to whatever the base model’s helmet bone
is called. This will also preserve the weights so weightpainting shouldn’t be required