Modeling body underneath clothes

oBoogiemanx

Hi everyone. This is kind of a dumb question that has always bothered me. When you model a character that has clothing for a game engine let's say a shirt and pants - do you model the body underneath it or just the visible parts of the body? (neck, head, forearms, hands, etc) I've both modeled the body underneath and just the visible parts but I don't know which one is the correct way. Thanks in advance!

JordanN

I imagine it's based on the intent/purpose of the character. Games that feature clothing damage/customization go for the whole body. 

Generic NPC in the background or character who wont remove their gear are just modeled as one mesh. But I've also seen some models that do a hybrid of the two. 

They might model an arm but where the bracelet covers it, that section of the arm isn't rendered.

oBoogiemanx

JordanN said:

I imagine it's based on the intent/purpose of the character. Games that feature clothing damage/customization go for the whole body. 

Generic NPC in the background or character who wont remove their gear are just modeled as one mesh. But I've also seen some models that do a hybrid of the two. 

They might model an arm but where the bracelet covers it, that section of the arm isn't rendered.

When you talk about 'modeled as one mesh' you mean that for example the forearm is vertex welded to the end of the shirt?