Rigging and volume preservation

PeteHawk

Hi people,

I'm been looking through quite a few methods of helping the mesh deform when it's rigged. There are a few good methods, but when you start narrowing it down to the unity engine, there isn't much choice and I'm a little stuck on what is the best method.

So here's the scenario. I have a short fat worm like character, think of him in the shape of an ice cream cone. What tools would you guys think of using to bulge and preserve the mesh when he's bent?

Ps: this is for a mobile game too if that adds any more limitations

Zodd

Need a little more info, so from what i understand the worm-cone-like character is already rigged? how is the deformation achieved? with pre-animated bone animation in the package it was modeled in? or is it some physics driven animation?
In case it was pre-animated you could add a few more bones to control the bulging <- this would also call for more geometry detail in the problematic(bulging) spot, and some additional vertex influence painting.

PeteHawk

Zodd wrote: »

Need a little more info, so from what i understand the worm-cone-like character is already rigged? how is the deformation achieved? with pre-animated bone animation in the package it was modeled in? or is it some physics driven animation?
In case it was pre-animated you could add a few more bones to control the bulging <- this would also call for more geometry detail in the problematic(bulging) spot, and some additional vertex influence painting.

Thanks for the help, it's a very basic character. And doesnt need too much work done. Rigged in Maya, smooth bind with an influence of 3. I've un-parented them up so I can use translate. It's just I've never rigged a worm so I wasn't entirely sure where to head.
Out of curiosity would the bone count be 13 including the bone ends since they have an influence. Or do we not count them?

Zodd

You could paint weight influence in maya using component editor to fine tune the deformations that happen, Also one more thing comes to mind, if the problematic spot is that first pair of bones that are bent backwards making that sharp V shape on the back you might wanna try and add an edge loop ( or two ) so you can bend them smoothly making a "U" shape rather than "V" < if this makes any sense if not ill do a paint over.
But if the character wont be shown in some close up ( taking more than like 30-40% of screen ) you could leave it like this i doubt it will be noticeable.
And yeah 13 bones in total ( joint actually, since they are the only things that can have influence over the skin )