low-poly shoulder rigging and topology?
polycounter lvl 9
Is it impossible to get okayish shoulder deformation with hard weights (one bone per vertex) with a low poly mesh? Characters are around 500 tris. Segmented bones, vertex morphing and excess amounts of bones can't be used as it's for mobile device with tens of characters.
My problem is the motion where arm is raised above the head from the front in an arc. Edge loop collapses at 180 degree rotation and top vertices are pushed inside the torso. I've tried with and without shoulder bones but I don't seem to get it work. Topology is typical tube topology (example by Ben Mathis here: http://wiki.polycount.com/ShoulderTopology).
One solution would be to make the arm as a floating mesh but I would like to keep it connected if only there were some bone configuration/topology that allows tolerable deformation.
edit:
Shameful, but I half solved it by flipping triangle edges where things were worst. I tried it before but it apparently works only after posting to polycount. But I'm still very interested about other solutions!
My problem is the motion where arm is raised above the head from the front in an arc. Edge loop collapses at 180 degree rotation and top vertices are pushed inside the torso. I've tried with and without shoulder bones but I don't seem to get it work. Topology is typical tube topology (example by Ben Mathis here: http://wiki.polycount.com/ShoulderTopology).
One solution would be to make the arm as a floating mesh but I would like to keep it connected if only there were some bone configuration/topology that allows tolerable deformation.
edit:
Shameful, but I half solved it by flipping triangle edges where things were worst. I tried it before but it apparently works only after posting to polycount. But I'm still very interested about other solutions!
Replies
1 bone per vert is pretty harsh and I wouldn't expect much especially in joints that rotate on more than one axis like the shoulders, hips, wrists and ankles.
2 bones per vert is pretty janky but manageable.
3 bones per vert is pretty standard and 4 is probably more than most characters need.
EDIT: hahaha about posting on polycount and then finding a solution. That's always how it goes doesn't it? "Oh I'll try it one more time. Son of ... it worked!" Thanks for posting a solution it will probably come in handy when google causes someone to resurrects this thread in 6mo-3yrs. =P