VICODynamics: a particle based Soft-Body physics Plugin

[Flesh Forge]

Just so I understand correctly: With Skeletal Meshes, you'd like to be able to use a collision shape as oppose to the physics asset. Is that correct? If so, this is definitely doable! It will require a slight update to allow you to specify your preference on the VD Component.

Regarding Morph Targets, I'm not entirely sure. In theory, yes it should work since the vertices are used straight from the provided mesh and the required morphing data can be retreated. But UE4 only supports morphing on Skeletal meshes where as I'm currently using static meshes in the VDMeshClothComponent. Whether or not I could setup my own pipeline for morph targets is another question. When you say 'to best fit the base character' I assume you mean the base character has morph targets and you'd like the VDMesh to respect the adjusted shape? There may be a different way to achieve this, thinking a bit out there though. Let me know if you'd like me to go into detail.

What I mean is, we provide a low poly skeletal mesh collision proxy with its own version of morph targets that we create, and it obtains its animation and morph values from the Master Pose Component from a master skeleton (we're doing this with skeletal mesh clothing e.g. for animation and morphs). I realize it's less efficient to do this because collision math vs. spheres has some shortcuts but the advantage for us is that say, you have a guy wearing a robe, and you then morph the guy to be very fat - the physics asset will not change to reflect that, so his robe will clip into his fat areas. APEX has the same limitation. If we could provide a custom collision proxy then we could have the fat guy wearing a robe. The transition between the zero state and the morphed state would probably need time to simulate but that's OK, we can probably just hide the character/clothing meshes for some reasonable time to allow for that and then make them visible.

e: While we're fine just creating a full low poly proxy ourselves, maybe a simple alternative would be to collide against a lower LOD (higher number, lower detail) version of the base mesh. (if Simplygon works vs. rigged meshes, which I have no idea if it does)

[Flesh Forge]

I think I might have miss understood what you meant for me to do. Could so explain that again, but maybe with pictures? Very sorry for my mix up on this.
John.

Yes some 1-2-3 step by step procedures to get the common tasks done would be really great. I work with Fred and we would both like this. Thanks!

[VICOGameStudio]

Hello !

Thank you very much for your quick response! I really appreciate it!

Sorry, it took me so long to respond, was testing some things out before I made a reply.

I'm still new to Unreal Engine, so I get a little mixed up on some things.

I tried what I thought you meant, but I may have misinterpreted what you said to do. The results I was the capsule not colliding wit the cape anymore, but it just fell through the case and the body. I get it to stop colliding with the capsule, but it won't collide with the body anymore.

I think I might have miss understood what you meant for me to do. Could so explain that again, but maybe with pictures? Very sorry for my mix up on this.

Thank you so much for your time! I really appreciate your help!
John.

Yes some 1-2-3 step by step procedures to get the common tasks done would be really great. I work with Fred and we would both like this. Thanks!

Absolutely! And to make it even easier, could you setup a quick sample project for me to set it up in? I'll put a quick video together for you guys.

[VICOGameStudio]

What I mean is, we provide a low poly skeletal mesh collision proxy with its own version of morph targets that we create, and it obtains its animation and morph values from the Master Pose Component from a master skeleton (we're doing this with skeletal mesh clothing e.g. for animation and morphs). I realize it's less efficient to do this because collision math vs. spheres has some shortcuts but the advantage for us is that say, you have a guy wearing a robe, and you then morph the guy to be very fat - the physics asset will not change to reflect that, so his robe will clip into his fat areas. APEX has the same limitation. If we could provide a custom collision proxy then we could have the fat guy wearing a robe. The transition between the zero state and the morphed state would probably need time to simulate but that's OK, we can probably just hide the character/clothing meshes for some reasonable time to allow for that and then make them visible.

e: While we're fine just creating a full low poly proxy ourselves, maybe a simple alternative would be to collide against a lower LOD (higher number, lower detail) version of the base mesh. (if Simplygon works vs. rigged meshes, which I have no idea if it does)

This is certainly doable, but it needs to be implemented. It would essentially be per-poly collision which would certainly give the desired results! I don't have this on my update schedule yet, so I cannot give you any ETAs. If you're up for implementing this yourself, I'm more than happy to assist anywhere I can! In addition to this collision resolution there would also need to be a bit of logic to impart velocity of the colliding body onto the colliding particles which would refine the look/results during fast movement. I do have this feature on my schedule to be implemented.

Hope that was of some help, let me know if you have any further questions!

[Flesh Forge]

Absolutely! And to make it even easier, could you setup a quick sample project for me to set it up in? I'll put a quick video together for you guys.

Thanks, exactly what would you want in this scene? A character and a skeletal mesh "clothing" model rigged appropriately for VICO? What else?

Does your plugin care about how a piece is weighted or does it only take the joint endpoints and convert them to particles? Is it possible to have a skeletal mesh that is weighted and only create particles for a selection of joints, and leave the remainder as constrained/deformed by their weighted joints? e.g. a garment like this:

This is certainly doable, but it needs to be implemented. It would essentially be per-poly collision which would certainly give the desired results! I don't have this on my update schedule yet, so I cannot give you any ETAs. If you're up for implementing this yourself, I'm more than happy to assist anywhere I can! In addition to this collision resolution there would also need to be a bit of logic to impart velocity of the colliding body onto the colliding particles which would refine the look/results during fast movement. I do have this feature on my schedule to be implemented.

I don't think we have the programmer resources to actually implement this ourselves but if you're willing to add this feature we would be happy to wait for it. There is simply no option for this anywhere so if you did build it into your plugin, you'd have a very useful advantage over your competitors

[VICOGameStudio]

Thanks, exactly what would you want in this scene? A character and a skeletal mesh "clothing" model rigged appropriately for VICO? What else?

Does your plugin care about how a piece is weighted or does it only take the joint endpoints and convert them to particles? Is it possible to have a skeletal mesh that is weighted and only create particles for a selection of joints, and leave the remainder as constrained/deformed by their weighted joints? e.g. a garment like this:





I don't think we have the programmer resources to actually implement this ourselves but if you're willing to add this feature we would be happy to wait for it. There is simply no option for this anywhere so if you did build it into your plugin, you'd have a very useful advantage over your competitors

Yes, just the bare minimum to setup your character with cloth.

For now, it only takes the vertices and converts them into particles. Fairly basic logic for now. That would be an awesome feature to introduce and is definitely going on the TODO list!

I understand and I agree, this would be a key feature for sure. It's near the top of my TODO list now, so I should get to it sooner than later.

[Flesh Forge]

Oh where did I get the idea that you were creating particles based on bone endpoints? Yes it would be super useful to just arbitrarily place particles and ignore the mesh/vertices.

Re: mixing rigged/weighted deformation with your particle deformation: Since this doesn't work the way I had thought, that's still OK, we can separate this sort of piece into two parts. I'll prepare a scene with a character and some suitable pieces and get back to you, thanks.

[VICOGameStudio]

Quick update:
Pushed a revision for both, the VICODynamics library and Plugin, with official support for the PS4 console!

Note: For pre-built binaries for either console, you need to contact me with proof of developer status.

[Flesh Forge]

Yes, just the bare minimum to setup your character with cloth.

Hey so here's a test character for you to demo with, if you like:



Also I know you're not starting on the morph target feature for a while but when you do, you'll have some reasonable morphs to work with:



The character is rigged with the same basic skeleton as the UE mannequin, I'll get her and some suitable garment models into a scene and retarget some animations for her tomorrow/next day and give you the scene. Thanks.

e: There's probably going to need to be a little back and forth, since I haven't gotten my hardware upgrade yet (should be soon) I'm not going to mess with the physics asset - once I get the new machine I'll do that. Thanks again!

[Flesh Forge]

doot de doo



the hand retarget is kind of janky but I'll probably just delete those keys

[Flesh Forge]

Almost ready:

[VICOGameStudio]

Looks good! Do note though, the morphing will be tested/worked-on at a later date.

We'll have to go back and forth a bit on the results you want to achieve, but this should make for a good quick setup video for you guys.

[Flesh Forge]

That's okay, I expected that (I'm sure at least a few months). I'm doing a couple of dynamic clothing pieces to include, feel free to use whichever you think works well. I'll get it sent to you tomorrow. Thanks.

[Flesh Forge]

So here's some clothing to test/demo with:







They all have their pivot set the same as the character's and should pop right on, if not please let me know and I'll work with you to fix that. There's a custom retargeting ref pose for the mannequin's skeleton and if you want any animations retargeted I can help you/do that for you if needed. There should not be any dependencies on other plugins, I'm pretty sure everything required is saved into the project files - please note, your plugin is not installed in this project.

The things we'd like to see explained are:
- How to set up the simulation to collide against the character's physics asset
- How to set vertex constraints to fix points of a garment so they'll stick to the surface of the character e.g. at the hem of the skirt or the top of the dress
- Whatever other features you have that you think are useful, e.g. if you have some form of weighting to control stiffness (tbh I don't know how much of this you've implemented vs. what you've got planned)

Here's a link to the project files, zipped:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0q0owwdr03...ainer.zip?dl=0

[Flesh Forge]

Do you have some sort of max distance setting that a particle is allowed to simulate away from its original position? I'm being asked about that, thanks.