Stretchy animations.

Aeranima

We all know Midna in Twilight Princess, if not it's not a problem. But remember the hand?



Yes that one. We're working on a game called "Jelly Kid" which will shape hands like that. The hands will pop out of the key-character's hair to be able to do a lot of cool stuff with it - meaning it will stretch a lot.

How would you suggest we accomplished this? Morphing meshes or stretchy bone structures? What will look best? And remember, the hand will be animated like the hand is shaped out of the hair.

Best,
Fred
Aeranima Entertainment

monster

Wow, that's tricky. Maybe spline IK with a custom attribute to change the length?

Maybe approach it like a tentacle instead of an arm. Search the web for tentacle rigging tutorials.

Shadownami92

Is it always going to be the same overall shape just stretchy? I think using stretchy bones might be better for swinging attack motions of sorts. Then you can use blend shapes as sort of corrective shapes for animations.

Also, how are you doing the hair for your game? That help determine some possibilities to use as well.

Aeranima

These are the abilities. So basically the hand will appear from the very top of the horns. (:

monster

Honestly, I would just create different models and animation rigs for each type, and use morph targets for similar hair models. Then have the coders give you a way to swap models durring gameplay.

1. Base Horns Model with Morph target for stressed/jagged animations.
2. Hand Tenticles Model
3. Helicopter Twist Model
4. Head shield

Mark Dygert

I agree with Monster, I think it would be nearly impossible to have one rig that does it all.

Aeranima

monster wrote: »

Honestly, I would just create different models and animation rigs for each type, and use morph targets for similar hair models. Then have the coders give you a way to swap models durring gameplay.

1. Base Horns Model with Morph target for stressed/jagged animations.
2. Hand Tenticles Model
3. Helicopter Twist Model
4. Head shield

Thanks man. We were thinking about swapping meshes during gameplay. Just wanted to bounce the possible ways here first to make up our minds.

Aeranima

Hugh wrote: »

you could even have a seperate rig for each hair model. Rather than re-rig the entire character. Just rig the hair model for its purpose so you can just import the fbx into one scene with the character rig. Allowing to hide and show each model as you please.

That's our intent. Re-rigging the character is a waste of time.