A) I have a zombie character mesh that is already skinned to the biped... I'm wondering how to create dismemberment animations, for example cutting off the head or limbs, or perhaps slice the zombie in half across the middle (example video (gore warning): [ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz_vrbUCCvg"]Kung Lao's Buzz Saw Fatality from Mortal Kombat (2011) in HD - YouTube[/ame] )?
What is the best workflow for me to reuse the same mesh and biped to create a second variation? Let's say the above was zombie A, later I want to add a zombie B which basically is the same body mesh, but clothed differently, has different hair, etc... but still using the exact same animation as zombie A.
Thanks for your time!
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Edit... Biped lets you save and load animations. That's one way to make a new version of ther same character. Another is to simply change the material.
A) So does that mean I'll need 2 copies with 2 separate bipeds both animated at the same time? On top of that, each half will have to have opposing alpha maps applied to imply that the character was dismembered? I need them to be rendered simultaneously in 1 frame. The intended output is pre-rendered sprites for a 2-d game (imagine a game with Diablo I graphics).
Oh I've never played with animation saving and loading with bipeds. Will give this feature a try. The various zombie variations have different geometry though (changing the material won't be enough) so I foresee additional skinning work per model variation is going to be inevitable...
About the skinning, you could give the "Skin Wrap" modifier a shot. Should save you some initial work at least.
However, another inevitable problem will arise. Skin wrap would be the perfect solution for - example - male zombie variations. When I add female zombies - and more importantly - children zombies - who have totally different proportions than the male base... I think things are going to get a little complicated.
I wonder how well would a saved biped animation of the male biped transfer to a female and child biped?
(Still currently not done with skinning the biped yet (yeah this is taking forever for me LOL) so I can't check these situations for myself yet... I'm interested in hearing from anyone who's been through a similar pipeline before)
Right now, only the male average is fully textured and skinned with nice envelopes, no weird stretching.. I have a basic animation cycle done for testing purposes. Should I...
1) Finish animating the "male average" model completely. There are a about 20 animation cycles that ALL model variations will reuse.
2) Next, apply Skin Wrap on the next base mesh (female, for example).
3) Use the "convert to skin" button, then adjust envelopes (because no doubt there will be some stretching).
4) Repeat with all base meshes.
The result I want is: 6 fully textured, rigged and animated BASE meshes. With these base meshes, I will then create clothed/haired variations (utilizing Skin Wrap even further).
Does this look right? Have I overlooked any steps?