Character - Clothes

#1 The most efficient way I think would be to have a different texture for each possability, rather then multiple for each costume. Then set the texture once and forget about it. Other ways I have seen have a condition statement evaluated at every render, VERY inefficient.

The Trusted One

#2 I have the same issue and i found two resources called "Hiding Nodes" and "Hiding Meshes"

Could some help understand how to implement this for version 1.5

Also if this way is not possible could some one help me on set textures and changing them via scripting (I am sort of an intermediate programmer and just started using Torque)

My email is nanaus13@yahoo.com

thnks in advance

-Saix

#3 Can anyone back up Trusted One's statement? I also have a character creation system where each part of the model has its own changeable texture. Is it really THAT much more efficient to have a single texture file for EVERY possible clothes combination, which covers the entire model? (Ugh...having that many files just sounds nasty!)

#4 Would this work?

www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=12197

Regards

Graham

#5 Scott, a lot depends on the complexity of your models and how many options you want to offer. If you just want to offer a handful of options (red team, blue team, green team, etc.), a full-body skin will work fine.

But if you want a wider variety of fashions, the Hidden Mesh resource mentioned above is definitely the way to go.

Even dividing your character mesh into the simplest body parts -- head/neck, torso, arms, legs -- yields a whopping number of permutations. If you have 10 "skins" for each, you're looking at -- check my math here -- 10,000 possible combinations. Break your model into finer parts, and you've got even more variety. There's no way a full-body texture can match that level of customization.

#6 @John "Doppler": You seem quite knowledgable at undertanding the hidden mesh resource...I read that source to the letter but i still can't figure any of it out (like some of the files i don't even have)..could i have your email or IM (yahoo,msn, or aim) so you can explain to me how to use it

Its ok if you refuse I just wanted to know

oh yeah also my email is nanaus13@yahoo.com

My Aim is kaioken16; yahoo = nanaus13; msn = email address

-Saix

#7 @John "Doppler": I agree that the Hidden Mesh resource is the way to go for thorough character customization. I am just trying to figure out if having, say, 5 different textures on a 5-part character model will have an extremely dramatic effect.

#8 @all: I just realized something...does the hidding mesh resource only work on TSE...does it work on TGE as well

could some one give me the basics or funtion to "unmount" and "mount" textures dynamically...i mean how to do you edit the character model via scripting

thnx in advance

#9 @Scott: Do you mean an impact on rendering speed? Impact on rendering is almost nil. I get the same framerates on a model with 12 hidden meshes as I do with a single mesh.

@Saix: It works fine in TGE; that's what I'm using. I'll be in touch via email shortly.