Character deformation on hit/impact

Wasn’t completely sure under what category to put this, but how would one go about implementing a deformation of a skeletal mesh (Character) upon hit/impact by a bullet/melee weapon.

To clarify, change the appearence of a specified area that was hit, possibly just area with another asset that includes the dent/damage.

Thanks for any kind of learning material, if you could just point me in the right direction, that would be just perfect.

Thank you

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Physical changes usually happen at the mesh level.

You set up the characters as modular, then you swap the mesh part.

The downside is performance.

For something that works and allows dismemberment you would use the regular mesh normally. Swap to the modular one when hit by dismemberment stuff, change pieces around, and eventually hopefully dispose of it (remove from scene).

For stuff that’s persistent.
Fake Decals.
You just fake the effect with a decent decal and you fade it over time / remove it eventually. (It’s still a performance concern).

For very advanced stuff (say armors?)
You can map distortion into an RTV and use the RTV to deform the vertex position on the armor.
Its still a skeletal mesh.

Best usage case for this may actually be the way mud is done in rdr2.
Great detail. Adds actual body to the mud. And only happens on the side you hit into the mud, so it has to be driven by a render of some kind.

The downside is you need a special UV to go with the model…