Custom Outfit Guide in Blender

Important

This guide here is much more helpful and was written by someone far more skilled at Blender than I am.

This guide covers how to set up a custom model in Blender to later be imported into Unity, then Fire Emblem Engage. This example is using Blender version 3.5, but any version afterwards should be able to follow these same steps. In this example, I will be importing Saber's outfit from Honkai: Star Rail (which is based on her outfit in Fate/Stay Night).

Here's a video on Blender rigging using Saber's Honkai Star Rail outfit. Model setups are of course going to be different depending on the game they came from, but this is one method to go about the process and what the guide below will cover. Again, the other guide linked above is much more well made so go ahead and take a look at it as well.

Important

Having basic knowledge on how Blender works is recommended. I'll list instructions along with key press combinations, but this guide is written assuming you know how these work.

Obtaining a Base Game Model

First, download AssetStudio. Then set the Unity version to 2020.3.18f1.

Drop in the reference model you want to use. Zephia's body is easiest to work with when it comes to female outfits (uBody_Msn0DF_c553).

Select the check mark for uBody_Msn0DF_c553, then select "Model" -> Export selected objects (merge)

Setting up the Custom Model

1. Import the custom model and a base game model
   
   

2. Scale the custom model's size to it's about the same size as the base model. You can click the model's container in Object Mode, then press the S key in a blank area and move the mouse to scale it. You can alternatively press S followed by X, Y, or Z to scale it on a certain axis.

Important

Make sure the bones are scaling as well.

3. Next, Shift+Click this eyeball icon on the Empty named "uBody_Msn0DF_c553 (merge)" circled in red. It'll hide Zephia's model and Armature for a short bit so it makes the hands and neck deleting part of the custom model easier to see. Also hide the custom model's Armature circled in yellow, but don't shift click it as we still want to see the custom model.
   
   

4. Next, select the custom model, then press Edit Mode. Whenever you want to make edits directly to a model, Edit Mode is the way to go. The model, however, must always be selected in Object Mode before you go into Edit Mode.
   
   

5. Upon going into edit mode, the whole model should become orange like this (since every vertex is highlighted). If it's not, then press A in a blank space to highlight the whole mode. Then press P in a blank space and choose either "By Material" or "By Loose Parts" depending on the model you're working with. This will split the model down further into a lot of different pieces. Go into Object mode after that, and you can delete the body parts (head, hands, hair).

Important

If you want to import custom hair or accessories into Engage later, it's recommended to keep a backup of your Blender project before you delete these parts. That way, you can access them quickly when you get to that point.

This is after I've deleted the hand and neck vertices. We only want the outfit to be here.

Note

If you select an object and you only want to delete certain parts of it, you can go into edit mode and select the wireframe circle icon on the top right. Go into edit mode and drag the mouse over the vertices you want to delete, then press the Delete key on your computer.

You can also use the L key to select parts of the mesh that are linked. See details about the Select Linked feature in the Blender docs.

6. Next go back to Object Mode. Select the top most object in the Armature. Then, Shift+Click the bottom most object in the Armature. This will select all of the objects in between. Then in a blank space, Cntrl+J to join all the objects back together.
   
   

Working with Bones

7. Next, we are going to delete unnecessary bones that the custom model no longer needs. Make the custom model's Armature visible again (In my example, "Saber_arm") and make the object "Msn0DF_c553_Skin" of the original model visible. Just these two. After that, select the bones of the custom model, then go into Pose mode.
   
   You can see that when I rotate the head bone (named 頭) with the R key in Pose Mode, the outfit is not affected in any way. This means we can delete all these associated bones.
   
   In Edit mode, select all the bones contained within the unnecessary bone (頭 in my case) and delete them.
   
   If you go into Pose mode and move the main bone of the model around (全ての親, in my case), the whole model should move and no part should be left behind.
   
   Delete as many unnecessary bones as you can. This can help prevent distortions when you work with character hair later.
   
   

8. Next, is the part where we line up the limbs. In Pose Mode, we need to rotate and move around the custom model's bones so it aligns with the base model. A tip: You can click the red X, green Y, and blue Z circles in the top right corner to change viewing easily. It also helps rotations stick only to one axis. I'm rotating "腕.L" in this scene using the R key.

Note

If you wish to constrain your rotations without changing your viewport alignment, first use the R key to start rotating, then use the X, Y, or Z key to start constraining on that axis.

See the Axis Locking section in the Blender manual for details.

You can use the S key to scale individual bones. All the bones that are parented to them will change size as well. This is useful if the arms of the custom mode are too long or short. Scaling the shoulder or first arm bone will proportionally change the size of the whole arm. Make sure everything is lined up from the top as well. (The character's left arm is aligned, while the character's right arm is not yet)

Note

Don't worry about covering all the skin. As long as the custom model is close enough to the base body, then it's good for now.

9. Now for the neck. In Pose mode, find the bone of the custom model's neck and adjust the size so the shirt wraps around the neck like this. Select the bone and scale it using the S key followed by the X or Y key.
   
   

Working with the Armatures, then Merging Them

10. Now we can move onto the next part where we save the pose changes we made to the model. Go into Object mode and select the outfit. Then in blue wrench tab, click "⌄" icon and select Apply.
    
    Then, select Add modifier and add an Armature.
    
    Then set the custom model's Armature name ("Saber_arm", in my case)
    
    The custom outfit should become distorted after this. In this outfit's case, it's in a a Y-pose. This is intended.
    
    Select the Armature and go into Pose Mode. Then, select "Pose" (as highlighted in blue) -> "Apply" -> "Apply Pose as Rest Pose". This should revert the model back to the pose you set it to be.
    
    

Note

The whole reason we did step 10, as I said earlier, is to "save the pose changes". It basically saves the rigging state we made to the Armature and allows us to transfer this pose to other Armatures.

11. Now, for the next step. In Object Mode, within "uBody_Msn0DF_c553 (merge)", delete all Empties that end with "_piv". We don't need those. Be certain you don't delete anything else since the other Empties are important.
    
    
    

12. After that, we parent the custom model to the "meshGP" Empty. Make sure "meshGP" is visible. Click the custom model, then Cntrl+click "meshGP", then in a blank space, press the P key then choose "Object (Keep Transform)"
    
    

13. Do the parenting thing again but this time for "Msn0DF_C553_Skin". You can delete the "Msn0DF_C553_Dress" and "ShadowMesh_Dress" objects now.
    
    

14. Next we merge the armatures. Select custom Armature, then Cntrl+click the Engage model's Armature (uBody_Msn0DF_c553), then in a blank space, Cntrl+J to join them.
    
    It should look similar to this now. You can delete any Empties outside of "uBody_Msn0DF_c553 (merge)". In my case, I'll delete the Empty named "Saber" right above it.
    
    

15. Since we merged armatures, this field for the custom model has become blank. We need to reassign it to the new armature: "uBody_Msn0DF_c553".
    
    When you drop down the green stick figure also named "uBody_Msn0DF_c553", you should see the main bones of both of the armatures here. Of course, "全ての親" will have a different name depending on the custom model you're working with.
    
    

16. In Pose Mode, move around different bones of the custom model to find the primary bone of the armature (the one that moves the entire model around). In my example, I found that "グルーブ" to be that bone. Go into edit mode and parent that primary bone to "c_trans" as seen here in the green bone menu. We're going to do this for more bones later, but only do this one right now.
    
    Delete any unnecessary bones once again in Edit Mode (if there are any).
    
    Go into Pose Mode once more and move the "c_trans" bone around. Both models should be moving together now.
    
    

Rigging properties

Important

• There are two methods (that I know of) to transfer an Engage model's rigging properties to a custom model. This guide will cover both methods: Weight Paint Transferring and Bone Parenting.
  
  
• Bone Parenting provides greater precision and accuracy as it preserves the custom model's bones, but it takes a longer time to complete and requires a bit of patience. I personally prefer this method when working with dresses and kimonos, but what you do is your choice. This will be covered in step 17A.
  
  
• Weight Paint Transfer provides slightly less precision and accuracy for complex parts, but can be very helpful when working with very similar parts such as legs. This will be covered in step 17B.
  
  
• You can follow a mix of both step 17A and step 17B. In my Saber outfit here, I separate the mesh into different pieces with "Separate By Material" like we did earlier, and merge the different pieces together into two objects based on the steps I wanted to apply to them. As you can see here, I decided to do the Weight Paint Transferring method for the pants and shoes while also following the Bone Parenting for the dress and arms.
  
  

17A) Using the Bone Parenting method, this is the part where we compare bone similarities. I'm going to showcase a different custom model in this step since that model's bones are in English.

I'm going to start with this left leg as an example. Here in Pose Mode, I'm rotating "l_leg1_jnt" (which belongs to the base game's model). We're going to need to find the equivalent of it in the custom game's model.

That happens to be "Bip001 L Thigh"

Once we find a matching pair, we go to Edit Mode and parent the custom bone to the original bone. In this case, "Bip001 L Thigh" is parented to "l_leg1_jnt"

Note

• Let me explain each of the three pictures a bit more.
  
  
• First in Pose Mode, I moved around a base game leg bone, "l_leg1_jnt". The custom model didn't move with it because they weren't related. To solve this, we trial and error around with the custom mode's bones to find a bone which moves similar to it.
  
  
• Second, I found that rotating "Bip001 L Thigh" produced similar movements. Because they were both similar, they can be paired via parenting.
  
  
• Third, in Edit Mode, I set the parent of "Bip001 L Thigh" to be "l_leg1_jnt". Then if you go back to pose mode afterwards and rotate "l_leg1_jnt", they should both move together.
  
  
  Now we need to do that for "l_leg2_jnt", "l_leg3_jnt", and "l_leg4_jnt" respectively. You can see where we're going with this. "Bip001 L Calf" moves similarly to "l_leg2_jnt" in Pose Mode, for example, so we parent "Bip001 L Calf" to "l_leg2_jnt" in Edit Mode. Some of the bones you can see with just the names themselves if they are in English (ex: "Bip001Spine1" is parented to "c_spine1_jnt").
  
  Here's what I parented for the left leg in this side example.
  Bip001 L Thigh -> l_leg1_jnt
  Bip001 L Calf -> l_leg2_jnt
  Bip001 L Foot -> l_leg3_jnt
  Bip001 L Toe0 -> l_leg4_jnt
  

Note

• If you rely only on method 17A, you'll have to do this for almost every important bone that the base model has (legs, arms, neck, spines, and so on).
  
• Go to 15:48 of my Outfit Guide for FE Engage (Advanced) guide if you want to see what I do for Saber's dress.
  
  

17B) Using Weight Paint Transferring is where we simply transfer the weights from the base model to the custom model. In Object mode, select the mesh you want to transfer weights to. Go to the upside down green triangle icon in the bottom right menu and under the Vertex Groups tab, select "Delete All Groups".

Deselect the custom mesh. First, select the base game's model (make sure it's visible first). Then, Cntrl+click the custom mesh that no longer has any vertex groups. While they are both selected, go into Weight Paint Mode.

Select "Weights" -> "Transfer Weights"

In the tab in the bottom left, set the parameter of "Source Layers S..." to "By Name".

If you move "l_leg1_jnt" in Pose Mode now, both the custom and base legs should move together.

Deleting Excess Body Vertices

18. Now that all bones are parented and weights are transferred, we need to delete certain vertices of the base body so it no longer clips through the outfit. First, select the base body and go into Edit Mode.
    
    

19. Select the vertices you think might clip or will be unnecessary to see by dragging the mouse over them and delete them. Going into wireframe view makes selecting a bit easier, but you don't need to.
    
    You can also move individual vertices as well. Select them, then press the G key to move them.
    
    Keep going until you're satisfied with the appearance. This is almost always what the outfit will look like in game.
    
    

Resizing and Vertex Painting

Note

Be sure to do steps 20 and 21 for every custom mesh you have. This does not need to be done for base game meshes.

20. This part is necessary for outlines to appear on the custom model in game. In Object Mode, select your custom model. In a blank space, press Cntrl+A and select "All Transformations".
    
    You can see here that the location and rotation values were set to 0 and the scale values were set to 1.
    
    Set each of the scale values to 100. This will greatly enlarge the model, but it's part of the process.
    
    Once again, in a blank space, press Cntrl+A and select "All Transformations" again.
    
    Then, set each of the scale values to 0.01. This is the scale value needed by models for outlines to appear (I have no idea why this value, but it is what it is).
    If you prefer to keep your model at scale 1.00 in Blender, an alternate approach is to remember to set the export scale to 0.01 at the FBX exporting step - the downside to this approach is needing to remember to set it every time.
    
    Now it's back in place.
    
    

21. Next, select the white circle icon on the top right, then go into Vertex Paint Mode. The textures will disappear, but this is part of the process.
    
    Select the white rectangle next to the black rectangle, and set the RGB values to this.
    
    Now you can begin painting the mesh to be red. I like to set the paint brush radius to be massive like this so it's easy to paint the whole mesh.
    
    Now the whole mesh is painted! I'll have to go back to Object Mode and repeat steps 20 and 21 for my other mesh as well so the legs can have an outline.
    
    

22. Alright, we're done with the Blender side of things! Congratulations! We can export the project as an FBX. These are the export settings I'm using.
    
    

Unity Side of the Project

Note

• Follow this guide here for how to get the model into the game: Custom models (Unity).
  
  
• Follow this guide for setting up Spring Bones so you model can have physics in game Spring bones (optional).
  
  
• You can also go to 15:48 of my Outfit Guide for FE Engage (Advanced) guide for a complementary resource (do not rely solely on it as, for some reason, my screen recording program doesn't display certain Unity menus).
  
  

Finished outfit in game:

Here's one tip that the "Custom models (Unity)" guide doesn't cover:

Enable "Update When Offscreen" so your model doesn't disappear during certain situations (such as Engage Attacks, Somniel dining, and photo mode).