I modded a game (Space Engineers) that really effectively used empties in blender for various tasks like spawning sub-parts, pivot point usage and many other things. My plan/idea would have been to setup key body and weapon locations via empties and use it as a target for custom animations and other things rather then setting up bones. E.g. set optimal rifle stock butt location in model, set the same on a characters forward shoulder/clavicle location and try via code to match and lock the location on the body. Or must i rely on some form of bone/socket system?
I want to try and make a simple but dynamic code driven anim set where empties/bones with specific names are key locations to holster rifles on back or front of character, holding a rifle in a ready stance etc.
Also i’d use them also for hand location/orientation, fingers etc. The idea is to make it so that instead of making animations for various weapons, make general stance anims per weapon type (pistol,rifle,knife) and set the proper hand, trigger finger placements via empties on the weapon models themselves and use bone move to empty kind of system.
So essentially, i’d snap the weapon stock to the shoulder and use like IK/FK and move/lock hands to the proper weapon locations etc. It’s a broad idea and hard to explain but essentially, could i use empties or can i use bones/sockets on weapons for something like that as well as what’s more optimal for this kind of system if there is a choice?
If any of that makes any sense? xD
Regards.