Modular biped rig?

MithosKuu

Hello, I'm going to be working on some low poly human characters for a personal project, in order to save time I would like to make one base mesh with separate meshes for different heads/helmets, armor pieces, etc all using the same rig for easy customization (Think Halo: Reach spartan customization) I was wondering if there was any specific way I had to model or rig the body so that all the different parts would animate along with it?

Warheart

In terms of getting the pieces attached to the rig there's not really anything specific you need to watch out for in this workflow that I can think of from the details you've given. You probably want to have a look into the skinwrap modifier for transferring skin weights from one piece to another (assuming you're using Max).

It'd be easier to give pointers if you gave a few more details about how stuff is actually going to be set up and what it's going to be used for.

e.g.:
How is your customisation going to be controlled once everything is exported? Are you putting this into a game engine or is it just going to be pre-rendered?

MithosKuu

Pre-rendered for now, although I might throw them into a game engine later. What I plan to do is have a base body/under suit, with different chest, helmet, and pelvis pieces, in order to quickly put together a squad of marines, each somewhat visually distinct, yet all sharing the same base mesh and rig so as to not have to rig multiple different bipeds.

Warheart

Yep, sounds like a good way to do it. Sharing skeletons and animation is a very sensible way to go if your characters are all similarly proportioned. You can actually get away with a fair amount of variation in terms of the volume of flesh surrounding the skeleton as long as the rotation points of the joints match.

For reference:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0-r1qsVK5o[/ame]

If I'm not mistaken all the characters in Uncharted 2 share a skeleton (someone on here might be able to confirm this). It's a smart way to go if all the characters in the game have to be able to perform a similar move set. It saves loads of cleanup time transferring animations from one skeleton to another and can also save a lot of memory.