4.1  Getting started

Start by downloading the model. It’s a ZIP archive that includes a .blend file and folder called pharah-thumbnails with images used by the poses library.

Move both of the files to the same folder, unzip them and open the .blend file. Select “Allow execution” (if Blender asks you).

4.2  Adding the model to your scene

To add the model to your scene:

• Go to File → Append... and select the Pharah .blend file
• Select \Collection\Pharah v3
• Save the file and restart Blender (for the script to start)

This will get the model working, but you will also need to copy the **pharah-thumbnails** folder to where you new .blend file is saved.

You can read more about the thumbnails folder

4.3  The custom controls & the poses library

The core concept behind this version of the model is the custom made interface which allows you to easily change and customize the model. It handles a lot of the magic behind the scenes (showing/hiding items, applying masks, changing shapekeys and so on).

With the file loaded select Pharah's body (or rig) and you will get a panel called "Pharah v3" in the 3D Viewport sidepanel. There you can control the model and combine any 4 outfits for unique combinations.

Here is a breakdown of the UI:

• Model UI controls
• Rig UI controls

4.4  Customizing outfit colors

A lot of the items have customizable colors (you can recognize them by their name “Color A”, “Color B” or “Colored leather"). You can change the colors by using the CUSTOM MATERIALS section in the Pharah v3 panel. Color A is usually intended for upper body items (such as tanktops) while color B is intended for lower body items (such as bikinis).

When changing colors you can also use the color picker, to match outfit colors, such as making the a tanktop match the security officer pants colors.

4.5  Customizing the materials

Sometimes, you might want to change more than the basic colors of some outfits, such as the roughness of a material. For some materials the nodes setup might seem intimidating for a beginner, but a simple way to change that without the risk of breaking anything is by adding a modifier node (such as an RGB curve) in the coresponding socket right before the Principled BSDF shader.

4.6  Fixing clipping problems

Clipping problems are some of the most common, and no model is extempt from them. An easy and non-destructive way to fix them is using a temporary shapekey.

First off, don’t edit the BODY (). Whatever clipping problems you get, edit the problematic outfit item.

Secondly, make sure the problem is real and persists in the final render. The Subsurface modifier () is disabled in the viewport on the body and outfits (for performance reasons), so either enable the Subsurface modifier on the body and the problematic outfit, or do a quick render. If the problem persists in the final render, then you will need to fix it by adding a new shapekey on the problematic model.

Let’s use the sports guards with a specific pose as a starting point. In the Outliner () select the object: OTFT–sports__guards () and go to Object data properties (). In the Shape Keys panel, hide all the other shapekeys besides the Basis one (if there is no Basis shapekey, just press the “+” button to add it).

Press the down arrow and select New Shapekey From Mix. This will create your new shapekey. Enable all the other shapekeys and then set the Value of your shapekey to 1. Press the Shape Key Edit Mode () button and edit the mesh.

That’s it. Once you’re done with your render you can just hide the shapekey

4.7  How to reposition outfit / armor items

Most of the outfit and armor items are unselectable by default (so that you can select the body directly and use the custom controls).

However a few items can be selected, and those are items that are intended to be repositioned (such as caps, helmets, and sunglasses).

4.8  How to use the bodymorph

The model comes with a lot of bodymorph options, such as controling the breasts size, how toned the body is and so on. To use these simply select the body and go to the shapekeys panel ()

NB: the model is designed to be used with the default shapekeys values and changing them could result in outfits not fitting properly

4.9  Missing poses library thumbnails

The poses library expects the pharah-thumbnails folder to be next to the .blend file. You will need to add it manually to make it work. If the folder is missing then this usually means one of two things:

1: You embeded/imported the Pharah model in another .blend file.
2: You downloaded the model from Blendswap (or another site that does not allow .ZIP files upload)

In both cases you will need to copy the pharah-thumbnails folder. If you don’t have it or can’t find it, just download the ZIP file again.

Why are the thumbnails not embeded?

Although I tried to embed all the images inside the .blend file, there was a problem with embeding the thumbnails for the poses library: if I embeded them then the thumbnails image quality would be noticeably lower, and the thumbnails would go missing the first time the user would hit **Undo**. So I decided to keep the thumnails as external files.

4.10  Pink materials / missing textures on macOS

On macOS, when using Eevee, you might get pink materials looking as if textures are missing. However all the textures are embeded properly.

The problem comes from the obsolete OpenGL drivers used on macOS and this is a known issue. I’m not sure if I will be able to fix it so the only workaround for now is using Cycles, which should work properly.

4.11  Posing knees and elbows

A lot of people seem confused about how posing knees and elbows work.

It’s simple: just select the arrow-shaped bones and rotate them.

4.12  Posing the chain and feathers boa

The Fetish outfit’s chain and the Elegant dress' feathers boa are controlled by curves. To pose them:

1. Make sure that Overlays and Extras are enabled
2. The curve is located 'inside' the chain / boa feathers and you might need to zoom in to see it. Select the curve and go into Edit mode
3. Select the vertex that's the farthest away from the origin of the curve and drag it, scale it or press the "E" to Extrude and add another vertex

4.13  Posing the hair

Starting with v3.7 the hair bones are under a separate rig than the body bones. This was done because the number of hairdos increased and I also wanted to add more hair bones, to provide better contol.

If you are having problems selecting and posing the hair bones:

1. Make sure that you are working on the correct rig (**rig.hair**)
2. Make sure that under Preferences → Viewport the option "OpenGL Depth picking" is enabled

4.14  Using the adjustment bones

One of the most common mistakes people make with this model is not use the Adjustment bones, which can result in weird deformations.

Make sure to use them (just rotate them) especially around elbows, shoulders and thighs to get nice looking deformations.

4.15  Using the textures PSD files

All the PSD files used for the textures are available for download. However, they are very messy and also contain a lot of obsolete files, so be warned. The best way to approach editing the textures is open the .blend model, see what textures are used and then find the matching .PSD files.

You can download the PSD files from MEGA or Gdrive.