how do they go about doing that ?

AA3D

ok this question has been bugging me for quit a while .
and finally i found the place to ask it .

in video games where the character can change cloth or armor
how do they go about doing that ( from a modeler perspective )

do i model the head , body and cloth separately ?
example : check the link http://www.3drt.com/3dm/characters/warriors-construction-kit/fantasy-warriors-construction-set-shots.htm

as u can see in the link the modeler made a bunch of heads with a bunch armor's
even each piece in the armor is separate ( glove , boots and torso )
this way he can get a number of different models with the least effort

-question here is how is that done ( the work flow ) keeping the textures in mind .
-what to do first and what to avoid doing .
-do i model all of them separate then glue them myself or there is a tool for that ?

or maybe this is all wrong and the modeler separated the models just to show his work ?
i dont really know

also should the character that will wear these armors have a complete body
means do i have to delete whats hidden under the armor or not
cuz in most causes with me his body pokes out of the armor when i animate him ?

i know these questions can be answered by trial and error
but im working in a project that is big for me right now
and i dont want to make lots of errors so that i dont lose moral and give up with the project

thx in advance
and sorry for my english

James Ordner

There are several different ways to do it. Contact your programmer(s) and work out a system that works for both of you (for example, modeling the different parts separately and having the programmer link them all together). Just make sure you are both aware of how the system will work before you start, so there are no problems down the road.

JohnnyRaptor

As above poster writes, there's a lot of ways to do customisation.

Regarding how the customisation in your link is done, at a glance, I would say you will be supplied with a scene with a skeleton with animations on set keyframes and all the separate meshes skinned or ready to be skinned to that skeleton. This way you can mix and match your characters appearance and gear and then export to unity for implementation.

AA3D

James & Johnny
thx alot guys for the replies

Deadly Nightshade

Different ways to do it however the following should give you an overview:

-You have a basic character mesh for the character (nude character more or less).
-Several basic character meshes are sometimes skinned to the same skeleton for the animation. This is the case in games such as World of Warcraft (male and female models of each race have the same animation sets, even though the models are different: just look at the Tauren race for example: male tauren is significantly larger than a female).
-Basic character has one material
-Gear: Armor and Weapons, are modular - never combined with the basic character mesh but instead attached with code.
-Gear can be attached either to the skeleton's joints, or just to locators added on the rig.
-Gear can also be scaled with code (again: this is the way they do it in WoW - just look at shoulder pads for say, a goblin and a tauren. Same model, different scale)

But ask yourself what it is that you are gonna do. If it's just a portfolio piece then there's no need to split up every piece of gear into a separate material (you get more drawcalls and maps than needed). But if you are in production of say, an MMO or something, going modular is the way to do it. But yea, if you are in production then a lead artist, tech artist or at least a coder should've come to you already explaining how the system is setup.

motionblur

There's actually a really cool thread about this topic that helped me really much on the issue:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91509