Characters limits
by Howard Dortch · in Torque Game Engine · 06/22/2004 (6:43 am) · 12 replies
This is a multi part question.
1. in the demo how many polygons are used for the orc?
2. What are the limitations on character animations like for eyes blinking mouth smile that sort of thing?
3. For dressing a character like adding helmet, armor different boots etc, are there any limitations for I guess you would call them mount points?
1. in the demo how many polygons are used for the orc?
2. What are the limitations on character animations like for eyes blinking mouth smile that sort of thing?
3. For dressing a character like adding helmet, armor different boots etc, are there any limitations for I guess you would call them mount points?
#2
Facial expressions and so forth can be controlled via Torque killer animation system that allows you to blend animations on top of and with other animations that are currently running.
Armor and so forth can be placed on another model in a variety of ways including mounting to mount points, nodes on the DTS, or other methods. You have the code so the sky is the limit for what you want to do here.
06/22/2004 (7:07 am)
The Orc is about 2300 polygons. A typical character model for a FPS with Torque is roughly 2000 to 3000 polygons.Facial expressions and so forth can be controlled via Torque killer animation system that allows you to blend animations on top of and with other animations that are currently running.
Armor and so forth can be placed on another model in a variety of ways including mounting to mount points, nodes on the DTS, or other methods. You have the code so the sky is the limit for what you want to do here.
#3
In general, once the system in place, most of the work falls on the artists, and that is an area where I have ZERO experience unfortunately. So my question is, what can be done to keep the workflow for the artists as easy/minimal as possible, and still have clothing/armor sets that can be modified runtime?
I would assume that you're looking at a basic "nude" model, and then as you mentioned, have mount points for armor, and define requirements for the armor pieces that fit your mount points. You did however mention "nodes on the DTS", which is beyond my experience...I know that animations have named nodes, but I asked this question earlier in a different thread and didn't get much of a response--do (can) DTS objects have name-able and runtime modifiable "nodes"?
I know there isn't a whole lot of pointed questions, but I'd be very interested in getting general opinions from the community, especially artists, but developers as well, as to feasible designs to have this functionality., So, Thanks! "Talk amongst yourselves"...
06/22/2004 (8:32 am)
@L(ogan): I'm trying to put together a workflow for changing out armor/clothing as well for animations. You are correct, the sky is the limit (well, at least your coder's and designer's skills are), but I'm curious as to what models and workflows are feasible.In general, once the system in place, most of the work falls on the artists, and that is an area where I have ZERO experience unfortunately. So my question is, what can be done to keep the workflow for the artists as easy/minimal as possible, and still have clothing/armor sets that can be modified runtime?
I would assume that you're looking at a basic "nude" model, and then as you mentioned, have mount points for armor, and define requirements for the armor pieces that fit your mount points. You did however mention "nodes on the DTS", which is beyond my experience...I know that animations have named nodes, but I asked this question earlier in a different thread and didn't get much of a response--do (can) DTS objects have name-able and runtime modifiable "nodes"?
I know there isn't a whole lot of pointed questions, but I'd be very interested in getting general opinions from the community, especially artists, but developers as well, as to feasible designs to have this functionality., So, Thanks! "Talk amongst yourselves"...
#4
Imagine you go the path with "nude" models. Let's equip mr nude with an armor and sleeves using a mountpoint. How would this work with animations? Let's say the model bends over, will the mounted object act the way it should? I tried this once and didn't get the results I wanted.
Then again, I'm not a programmer.
06/22/2004 (8:39 am)
@Stephen Zepp: Altough I'm not Logan, I'll bring a question or two and a few cents also. Imagine you go the path with "nude" models. Let's equip mr nude with an armor and sleeves using a mountpoint. How would this work with animations? Let's say the model bends over, will the mounted object act the way it should? I tried this once and didn't get the results I wanted.
Then again, I'm not a programmer.
#5
06/22/2004 (9:11 am)
I haven't tried it yet but there was another thread about having multiple meshes, and showing and hiding them, and changing the skins on them to handle clothing, armor etc. If you did it that way, I would think you could animate the clothing, and it would move properly with the character.
#6
06/22/2004 (9:14 am)
@Euastacia Green: Wouldn't they be different objects too? I can't think of a way to animate bones on different objects so that they are aligned with each other. :S
#7
06/22/2004 (9:40 am)
My artist is playing with some methods to add bones and weight maps to the clothing as if they were a part of the model then when mounted it acts properly. Will have more info soon as I see the model. It has lips and eyes as well so lots of experimentation gona happen soon. Just didn't know if I was going to have to write custom animation engine code or if it could be controlled from scripts.
#9
In regards to armor there are a variety of ways that come to mind to do this, they are as follows:
a) Create the armor suit as a seperate DTS object and then in code have this dts shape placed exactly where the player is (ie. ground transform to ground transform) and also have it mirror the sequence(s) being played by the player.
b) Have the armor more as seperate pieces and then mount them to the individual bones on a player DTS. Phil Carlisle did this a long time ago for a Realm Wars test and you can see the results in the 'why Mod' banner here on GarageGames.
c) Mount the armor and/or armor pieces to mount nodes on your player DTS
06/22/2004 (5:58 pm)
I actually did a test with cloth animation using the default set of Torque player bones to deform and move a cape around on a character (this was done so that the model could use the default Torque DSQs). Although this test did work out great there was a bit of unavoidable clipping that occured. If you want to check the model out for your self you can find it on the digital boneyard.In regards to armor there are a variety of ways that come to mind to do this, they are as follows:
a) Create the armor suit as a seperate DTS object and then in code have this dts shape placed exactly where the player is (ie. ground transform to ground transform) and also have it mirror the sequence(s) being played by the player.
b) Have the armor more as seperate pieces and then mount them to the individual bones on a player DTS. Phil Carlisle did this a long time ago for a Realm Wars test and you can see the results in the 'why Mod' banner here on GarageGames.
c) Mount the armor and/or armor pieces to mount nodes on your player DTS
#10
Actually the link he posted is incorrect. This is the proper link:
http://www.digitalboneyard.net/resources.php?action=view&id=26
11/08/2005 (1:37 pm)
Quote:
If you want to check the model out for your self you can find it on the digital boneyard.
Actually the link he posted is incorrect. This is the proper link:
http://www.digitalboneyard.net/resources.php?action=view&id=26
#11
11/08/2005 (1:41 pm)
Sadly that link don't work right either. 
Torque Owner Stefan Lundmark
We didn't manage to make it work 100 % with the standard mountpoints in TGE because of animation and large objects like backpacks or armour. You might wanna search in the resources for a bit on this.