Bumping. Not sure if wasnt understood what I was asking. Soooo making a first person game with only the in game model versus a separate animation and mesh set for the arms/weapons. What things need to be thought out for this? From the camera placement and attachment to the animations.
What research have you done so far? I'm tempted to google it just for kicks, but have you done this already? Have you dug around in Unreal docs, Unity docs, whitepapers, etc.?
I believe oXYnary is referring to the fact that many first person games have a separate set of models and animations for both the first person perspective (these are high quality assets such as the gun in a player's hands) and the third person (or world) perspective (these are generally lower quality assets, such as the gun being held by an NPC.)
As for trying to answer the question, I would first have to ask, why? The assets are usually separated for performance reasons but first person weapons are usually animated completely differently from the cheaper "world" assets so it is going to be very difficult to achieve high quality if you want to stick to a lower technical budget.
If you are making a game that allows the player to freely switch from first person to third person and back, then you'll most likely want to just make two separate animations to obtain the best quality, otherwise it will be hard to avoid issues like clipping. If you plan the animation properly, then the animation can look fine in both perspectives though.
For camera placement, there's not really a set location it needs to be located at, just do some testing on where the camera would look best for both perspectives then just write code to switch positions if the player wants to change perspectives, alternatively it might also be easier to just have two cameras following the player and just disable the one in the opposite perspective when switching from first person to third person or the reverse.
This does it for me, it's simple old skool but very effective. There have been many deviations on this but few have worked, Routine has some bloody good FPS camera movement and one to keep an eye on.
Wait, Routine's running on an Occulus isn't it? So it's all motion captured from the player, right? Unless that's a bullshot trailer, pretty likely actually.
What research have you done so far? I'm tempted to google it just for kicks, but have you done this already? Have you dug around in Unreal docs, Unity docs, whitepapers, etc.?
Meh, you can put me in my place. Means that I'm probably searching the wrong terminology. Yes, using the same model for first person and for the other players view of you. No separate gun or arm models.
As for trying to answer the question, I would first have to ask, why? The assets are usually separated for performance reasons but first person weapons are usually animated completely differently from the cheaper "world" assets so it is going to be very difficult to achieve high quality if you want to stick to a lower technical budget.
Because its cheaper to have one model versus two, and then having to animate two sets for each and every animation. Cannot the FX of a weapon be made to be made to be seen from a very small radius from the player, hence you can still have all the bells and whistles, but only a player no clipping in you would see it.
Actually this blog post has the exact reasons (but no technical info) about the pros of doing a True First Person Perspective.
Also, no third person. It will be first person camera only, but it will be multiplayer, so I don't have to worry about the camera zooming in/out (except for eye/weapon zoom).
As in having to do two separate sets of animations even if I use the same model for the world and FP because the camera placement/angle. Versus it otherwise looking like that with one set of animations.
Its something I always see Jim Sterling do, look down to see if he can see his avatars body/feet versus floating hands in space.
Armagon: Yes, I think? I'm not using Unreal or Unity, and that guy only released source. I need more the points of whats required to implement it correctly in any engine.
Hmm, I was not trying to put you in your place. I was asking what have you done so far, to eliminate duplicate work. I'd search for "game first person camera" and see where the rabbit's hole leads.
If you want to use the same animation set, consider ways to suppress certain portions of the animation. 1st person in games is normally simulated and doesn't represent a real 1st person view - so plugging in third person stuff directly to first usually yields some not so desirable results. The same goes for prioritizing 1st person over third. I'd try to find a happy medium animation wise and look for ways to kill certain bone motion (excessive bobbing in first). Ideal would be having 2 animation sets on the same rig - you can use the same base animation and just modify it one way or the other.
Hmm, I was not trying to put you in your place. I was asking what have you done so far, to eliminate duplicate work. I'd search for "game first person camera" and see where the rabbit's hole leads.
That helped! The way I was searching I kept coming up with results about writing about third versus first person in games.
(Also Backslash, thanks. Question though. Did they actually go and do this on GTA5 after the fact? )
Replies
[ame]
As for trying to answer the question, I would first have to ask, why? The assets are usually separated for performance reasons but first person weapons are usually animated completely differently from the cheaper "world" assets so it is going to be very difficult to achieve high quality if you want to stick to a lower technical budget.
If you are making a game that allows the player to freely switch from first person to third person and back, then you'll most likely want to just make two separate animations to obtain the best quality, otherwise it will be hard to avoid issues like clipping. If you plan the animation properly, then the animation can look fine in both perspectives though.
For camera placement, there's not really a set location it needs to be located at, just do some testing on where the camera would look best for both perspectives then just write code to switch positions if the player wants to change perspectives, alternatively it might also be easier to just have two cameras following the player and just disable the one in the opposite perspective when switching from first person to third person or the reverse.
This does it for me, it's simple old skool but very effective. There have been many deviations on this but few have worked, Routine has some bloody good FPS camera movement and one to keep an eye on.
[ame="
Meh, you can put me in my place. Means that I'm probably searching the wrong terminology. Yes, using the same model for first person and for the other players view of you. No separate gun or arm models.
Because its cheaper to have one model versus two, and then having to animate two sets for each and every animation. Cannot the FX of a weapon be made to be made to be seen from a very small radius from the player, hence you can still have all the bells and whistles, but only a player no clipping in you would see it.
Actually this blog post has the exact reasons (but no technical info) about the pros of doing a True First Person Perspective.
Also, no third person. It will be first person camera only, but it will be multiplayer, so I don't have to worry about the camera zooming in/out (except for eye/weapon zoom).
I don't want to end up with this.
[ame]
As in having to do two separate sets of animations even if I use the same model for the world and FP because the camera placement/angle. Versus it otherwise looking like that with one set of animations.
Its something I always see Jim Sterling do, look down to see if he can see his avatars body/feet versus floating hands in space.
Armagon: Yes, I think? I'm not using Unreal or Unity, and that guy only released source. I need more the points of whats required to implement it correctly in any engine.
That helped! The way I was searching I kept coming up with results about writing about third versus first person in games.
(Also Backslash, thanks. Question though. Did they actually go and do this on GTA5 after the fact? )
I wouldn't know, but i'm sure they have the team and talent to make any system work.