questions about segmented models
by Jeff Highsmith · in Torque Game Engine · 10/06/2001 (8:18 am) · 6 replies
i have some questions for you modelling gurus out there. for the game i am planning i want a lot of customization of character models available to the player. beyond that, i want to make adding or subtracting parts of a model possible in real time. for example, i want the players to be able to pick up the breastplate they just found and put it on. is this possible (assuming the breastplate is the right size)? how would you go about cutting out the polygons obscured by the breastplate, so you dont render unnecessary polys?
also, i had an idea for tight fitting clothing and such. say for a pair of tight boots, could you just replace the texture of bare leg (or whatever) with the boot texture? how would you do this in real time?
thanks in advance
also, i had an idea for tight fitting clothing and such. say for a pair of tight boots, could you just replace the texture of bare leg (or whatever) with the boot texture? how would you do this in real time?
thanks in advance
#2
11/01/2001 (11:20 am)
couldnt this be done with mounts, ie like weapons and vehicles, add a mount point in the chect area of the model and a mount on the breastplate model, not sure how you code this sort of thing, im a modeler not a coder, but adding mountpoints would be the easiest way to go i think.
#3
01/05/2002 (11:24 pm)
Ahh, why don't you just change the skin of the model to reflect the new breastplate? That's much simpler, and less hardware-intensive, than adding extra polygons.
#4
01/09/2002 (6:55 am)
I was wondering about this too. While most of the time it is better to try to just change the texture to reflect the new armor, at some point you might just want something with a different shape. I haven't looked much into it but I guess you could use a mount to put the new breatplate on over the old torso, but it will leave all the old unused poly's underneath. Will that be using up resources for poly's that aren't even going to be seen ingame. 
#5
Idea 1) Use a gun mount point to as an armor mount point instead. This would then allow you to swap out something such as the breastplate if it had a different mesh (then just code the game to change the texture on the rest of the armor).
Idea 2) Treat armor like a vehicle?
Edit: Perhaps if I read things more thoroughly I would realize that someone else also brought up this idea already. My bad.
Logan
01/09/2002 (7:32 pm)
I have two ideas that haven't been presented yet (I don't know if they are valid but its worth a shot).Idea 1) Use a gun mount point to as an armor mount point instead. This would then allow you to swap out something such as the breastplate if it had a different mesh (then just code the game to change the texture on the rest of the armor).
Idea 2) Treat armor like a vehicle?
Edit: Perhaps if I read things more thoroughly I would realize that someone else also brought up this idea already. My bad.
Logan
#6
That said, I have to admit I don't have a clue if such a 'hole' in the model is even possible, so if not, feel free to ignore/flame me. :]
01/10/2002 (8:08 am)
Insted of mounting the armor over the chest polygons, leave that area empty (a hole) and mount an armor-less chest there. When you mount the armor, replace the chest piece with the armor. That way there aren't any polygons underneath to waste.That said, I have to admit I don't have a clue if such a 'hole' in the model is even possible, so if not, feel free to ignore/flame me. :]
Jeff Highsmith