[Maya] Blendshapes Across Separated Meshes? Best Work flow / How To?
polycounter lvl 5
We have a character that is split up into many pieces which will be used in a game. They need to be separated in order to do runtime customization and swapping. These pieces also should have / share blend shapes. This is fine for the head, as it is separated and contained. But we would like to have blendshapes that effect the body entirely, such as weight gain, muscular or skinny.
The problem here is that say for the arms, they are split into three pieces: upper, lower and hand. If I want to inflate them in size, they ALL must change uniformly for a good result. Doing each piece individual makes this impossible.
Currently what is done is the blendshape is done on a version of the character that is not rigged and not split up. Then this 'proxy' mesh is cut up, and then each corresponding piece is transferred to main rigged and split up mesh by selecting the proxy piece, shift + selecting the matching piece and then Deform -> Blend Shape Options - Create. This is of course extremely tedious and the character cannot be exported without the proxy mesh.
Is there an easy way to have blend shapes across this separated mesh with ease of creation / use? I have scoured the web but it seems no one has spoken about such a case.
Software: Maya 2016
Engine: Unity 3D 5.3.2p1
OS: Windows 10
Replies
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya-lt/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/MayaLT/files/Blend-Shape-deformer-Blending-objects-with-different-topologies-htm.html
If for some reason that doesn't work you could always assign a wrap deformer with the proxy as a control cage and bake the blendshapes into the cut pieces as you would normally.
Thanks again for your response!