im confused on how to jbeam something. when i look at the files of a mod im trying to fix up it only shows a few nodes for each part of the vehicle but if you were to export it using the jbeam exporter, there is way more nodes than that. i want to know do you only have to use a few nodes or whats goin on.
I don't use the Jbeam exporter myself, but from what I have seen in mods of people who use it, you are not supposed to use it on the original mesh, you need to make a really low-poly one with visible edges and corners and stuff. That can be really confusing for someone who is new to Jbeam. Imo making Jbeam from scratch while checking what it does in the game in real time is easier because you can test everything instantly and change anything when needed. How do you know how many nodes you need? It mostly depends on the shape and size of the object you want to Jbeam. For example look at the Moonhawk bumper (I don't have a better picture for an example atm): You have to imagine how the shape of it would look if it was simplified. Experience will tell you how much you should simplify it. I would do it like this (sorry for my bad drawing skills): Now you can imagine where you would put nodes. Nodes will be the points where the mesh deforms. The obvious positions are in the corners, but if you want it to bend in half you also need to put nodes between them. I would do it like this: After you position all nodes, you have to add beams. I think the exporter will do it for you, but when you are going for scratch Jbeam you have to do it all yourself. First you would need beams that follow the shape, then cross-beams that are inside the structure and connect all corner nodes to each other, then beams that attach the part to the rest of the car... The full node-beam structure could look like this in the end, and remember that there are also lots of beams inside the mesh: I hope I managed to explain at least the general idea. The nodes you need are the ones that would be in a simplified version of the shape + in the points where you want the structure to bend.
This is a pretty common way of showing how to Jbeam something. Sometimes even between modders we share drawn jbeams to have a better idea of how to make them
The built in Jbeam editor has been broken for like half a decade lol, you should use a coding-oriented text editor like Notepad++
Personally I probably still won't use it, I prefer seeing how every little change affects the behavior in the game itself and not just how well it fits the 3D model shape. But it might be a good alternative to some people probably, I don't think waiting months for it before starting to practise traditional Jbeam is worth it though.
