Combining Meshes & Seams Rpg Customization

Is there a certain method or feature that is best to go about customizing a character like you would do in a mmorpg. I am hoping to get as good of a customization as possible, preferably something like the more modern Korean Customization. Something that at least sets it up so I could work to get it as close as possible, potential wise.

I am still learning all the features and things you can do, but there are just soo many. lol…

Here is what I was experimenting with, making a hole in the side of the head and having a perfectly fitting ear model that can be exchanged, but there is a seam thanks to lighting of normals I believe. Is there a better method?

I am using Blender BTW.

I think that is made with the skeleton (armature), same weeks ago i saw i video on youtube about it.
You can scale and deform assigned verticels with the armature.

Edit: I found it and its called “morphing”

You can use the DataTransfer modifier on the ear to copy the normals of the head. First make a vertex group for the edge vertices of the ear (those that are the same as on the head), then add a DataTransfer modifier and select Face Corner Data and Custom Normals. Add the vertex group for the edge in the bottom right. As long as the hole vertices and ear edge vertices are the same you can replace the rest of the ear with any mesh and it will still work.

You can also use this technique for getting smooth normals on hair (make a sphere, scale it and copy the normals from that) or attaching arbitrary geometry to other geometry using this method: Quick Tip #15 : Edge Loop Skirting - YouTube

Ezycod~
Hmm, That seems useful. The thing is, from what I seen it looks like it is a morph of a single object. So if you made it for the player and turn from human to some other race with a weirder ear shape it would use the same model. That means it would possibly mess up the uv maps visuals a bit I would assume, and if you try to make it only on a ear model, you still run into the ears being a separate model.

But I am not well informed in this area so I could be mistaken, or just missing a proper idea on using them properly.

Cyaoeu~
I will give that a look. Thank you.

Alright, I tried it, but I get this as a result. I selected the ear, selected the verts that are around the edge that basically connect to the head, assigned the vert group to them , and then I made the modifier as you suggested. I even tried many of the other options and did not find a solution. =/
6edf3f8fccf27f26776c1dc5a91ebceb8775adec.jpeg

Yeah that doesn’t look right. Can you share the .blend file?

Interesting, While preparing it to give to you I seem to have fixed it. Did not understand what I did different though. I think I just needed to assign the source object again, kinda like refreshing… weird…

My question now is; How do I go about texturing models like this that have separate parts, in order to make sure that they all blend to the body properly.

Also, it seems that you cannot just export it this way expecting them to work? Do you know the method I should use to work this into the final model. Usually I would export to a alternate program for texture baking, because they are usually better. Hmm. I am just missing something in my work flow process when working with separate models together. Sorry and thank you for the help.

You need to apply modifiers on export (and import normals in UE4). For the textures you can have a version where the parts are still attached (with a seam at the attachment point), then just make sure the UVs are the same for the combined ear and the single mesh ear. For baking it’s better with separate bakes if you really need them, however it’ll be a lot of textures. You could make a flipbook style texture with the different bakes maybe if the UVs are small and you can fit a bunch of them in one texture.

Making it blend properly is a lot easier with something like Substance Painter where you can paint at edges of UV shells in the 3d viewport. Then for actually editing the meshes it’s easier to start from the one you’ve got already, create duplicates and edit the duplicates so you get the same UVs.