Creating a customizable character

commador

Hello all. As the thread title states, I'm trying to create a character model that can customized by the player. I'm tooling around with a small group currently as a "proof of concept" on a project, and one thing we want to do is have some customization. I have figured out most of the issues except this one. I want a single character that can have areas (chest/arms/legs) which can use different pieces of armor. Ive planned about five pieces for each area so there would be 25 total pieces. To keep it simple, I have planned to map all the pieces to one texture map (the pieces are small, not much detail loss) so there wouldn't be five map groups in texture memory. The question I have been working to is how should each piece be exported? Should I group all 25 parts in the same file, or export each piece separately? If anyone has a better way to do this please explain it to me as I would be extremely grateful.

Daz

Exported to what engine, in what format? So If I've understood the question correctly, you're trying to figure out whether or not to treat the parts as intrinsically part of the character, only their invisibility turns on or off at runtime, versus having them as separate, attachable items? Is that what you're driving at? Honestly this is an engine/programming issue as far as I see it, but perhaps I've totally misunderstood your problem.

Rick Stirling

I'd create them as separate objects and let code figure out how to handle them. The reason is that you won't then need to hae all 25 in memeory at once, just the 5 you need. You saved yourself storing 20 bits on unneeded geo in memory at all times.

Likewise, I'd texture each object on it's own sheet, so that you pull in only the texture detail that you require. Memory? See above.

commador

Yeah, I was trying to ask if I should export them as an entire group or completely separate. I guess I just could not articulate what I was asking clearly enough. They will be treated as attachable items over a "base character". I figured that handling them would be a code issue, but I did not know how to get to that point. Thanks for the advice guys!

BTW, Daz, the engine is just a home cooked XNA one and the file format is .obj

tygereye107

This brings up another thought: What if I want to swap out pieces of armor, or hair, which have bones and animation in them? For example, a character can have 3 hairstyles (diffeent sorts of ponytails or dreadlocks for example). Do all versions of this characetr need a unique mesh? Could all versions use the same animation data?