Animated player models with clothing question
Author
I''m thinking about programming a 3D game with players and NPC''s (bots), which should look relatively realistic (like sof2, mohaa, morrowind characters).
What I am wondering is, suppose I make a human model, eg. in 3DS, how do I handle clothing ? They should not look painted-on like in older games, but have proper shapes. eg. an open coat should look like it does in Max Payne. Women should also be able to wear a skirt or dress, or a cape. Of course all clothing should be able to be combined, an open raincoat over a shirt and eg. combat pants with the side pockets underneath, combined with several models of shoes and boots.
How is this generally done ? Making total human models of every combination seems too much work and too complicated. How is the clothing modelled and combined with the human body ?
Well... make each piece of clothing a separate model. For each vertex in an article of clothing, you also want to sometimes include a little tag; ATTACHED.
If a vertex is ATTACHED, then it will never change position relative to the character''s model/skeleton. If it is not ATTACHED, then it "hangs" from it''s attached vertices. From there, it''s just cloth simulation. ATTACHED vertices are "fixed", or "sewn", while unATTACHED vertices are hanging from the ATTACHED and other unATTACHED vertices.
Now, of course, some clothing will have to be modified for very different person shapes... you''d need a trenchcoat for narrow shoulders, and a trenchcoat for wide shoulders... or, you could have the ATTACHED vertices reposition themselves relative to the shoulder bones of whatever model they get worn on.
Just my 1.517 yen.
If a vertex is ATTACHED, then it will never change position relative to the character''s model/skeleton. If it is not ATTACHED, then it "hangs" from it''s attached vertices. From there, it''s just cloth simulation. ATTACHED vertices are "fixed", or "sewn", while unATTACHED vertices are hanging from the ATTACHED and other unATTACHED vertices.
Now, of course, some clothing will have to be modified for very different person shapes... you''d need a trenchcoat for narrow shoulders, and a trenchcoat for wide shoulders... or, you could have the ATTACHED vertices reposition themselves relative to the shoulder bones of whatever model they get worn on.
Just my 1.517 yen.
And the real bitch will be if you want to make sure the vertices that are free swinging don''t intersect solid body parts. I guess for that you''d have to check for radius overlapping of bone posiitons or perhaps other collision shapes built onto the bones. Could get slow and messy - especially if your clothing is very loose swinging - what if the long trenchcoat wearing character spins round quickly? The coat could get caught up on the wrong side of the character, get stuck between his legs, then as he attempts to walk, it would force intersection.
It''s going to a be a lot of trial and error to get it all right, but seriously, good luck. Realistic cloth in games can make a hell of a difference. I hope you pull it off.
It''s going to a be a lot of trial and error to get it all right, but seriously, good luck. Realistic cloth in games can make a hell of a difference. I hope you pull it off.
Don''t model the clothing as seperate objects. Just model any extra clothing geometry that sticks-out (coat tails, sleeve cuffs, flaired or baggy pant legs, skirts, etc.) right onto your base model... this will cut down on poly counts and prevent poke-thrus.
Give each peice of extra geometry it''s own unique surface material name, then you can switch these extra peices on and off in the game (depending on whether or not the particular character is wearing them). For any peice of clothing that doesn''t conform directly to the base character, you will need to rig with extra bones so it can be animated independently. As long as you animate the figure well, you shouldn''t run into any issues like Damocles was describing.
Hope this helps.
Give each peice of extra geometry it''s own unique surface material name, then you can switch these extra peices on and off in the game (depending on whether or not the particular character is wearing them). For any peice of clothing that doesn''t conform directly to the base character, you will need to rig with extra bones so it can be animated independently. As long as you animate the figure well, you shouldn''t run into any issues like Damocles was describing.
Hope this helps.
Author
quote:Original post by SuperSpy
Don''t model the clothing as seperate objects. Just model any extra clothing geometry that sticks-out (coat tails, sleeve cuffs, flaired or baggy pant legs, skirts, etc.) right onto your base model... this will cut down on poly counts and prevent poke-thrus.
Give each peice of extra geometry it''s own unique surface material name, then you can switch these extra peices on and off in the game (depending on whether or not the particular character is wearing them). For any peice of clothing that doesn''t conform directly to the base character, you will need to rig with extra bones so it can be animated independently. As long as you animate the figure well, you shouldn''t run into any issues like Damocles was describing.
Hope this helps.
Author
quote:Original post by SuperSpy
Don't model the clothing as seperate objects. Just model any extra clothing geometry that sticks-out (coat tails, sleeve cuffs, flaired or baggy pant legs, skirts, etc.) right onto your base model... this will cut down on poly counts and prevent poke-thrus.
Give each peice of extra geometry it's own unique surface material name, then you can switch these extra peices on and off in the game (depending on whether or not the particular character is wearing them).
Thanks, that looks about right. How can you model this efficiently ? EG long and short sleeves for a shirt, then various jackets, wouldn't this be a mess in eg. 3ds ?
And I am still wondering, support you make a nude model, put on a shirt, and a coat, how can you render eg. its back only as the polygons of the coat, and not draw 3 layers of polygons of which 2 are invisible ?
[edited by - Fidelio_ on September 9, 2002 10:19:38 AM]
note too good at that eh? 
------------------------------
p.s. excuse me english. im from L.A.
------------------------------
p.s. excuse me english. im from L.A.
quote:Original post by Fidelio_
Thanks, that looks about right. How can you model this efficiently ? EG long and short sleeves for a shirt, then various jackets, wouldn''t this be a mess in eg. 3ds ?
I''m not too familiar with 3DStudio, but in LightWave I use layers (much like in Photoshop) to keep my model organized until it''s all ready to be merged and exported.
quote:
And I am still wondering, support you make a nude model, put on a shirt, and a coat, how can you render eg. its back only as the polygons of the coat, and not draw 3 layers of polygons of which 2 are invisible ?
Well that''s the problem with doing it this way. Not only are you sending 3 layers of polygons to the renderer, but durring various stages of your animations you may have that layer of skin poking out through the outter layers. What you would need to do is break your nude model into various surface materials or groups which you can then "turn off" and not send to the rendering engine depending on what outer layers are worn.
Hope this helps.
Probably not helpful but a good occlusion algorithm will keep you from rendering your non-visible parts.
Do it morrowind style. Make each garment of clothing an individual object and then rig it up to a skeleton, and then when you''re rendering, use a pointer to the top level of clothing ( can be set when the character ''puts'' on the item of clothing ) to render only the top level of clothing?
This is a rough outline though, but it is how morrowind does it.
This is a rough outline though, but it is how morrowind does it.
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
