Help with a rig for my character

Development Character & Animation
1

Okay, so I am wanting to design my character for my game. He is a space cop with a cybernetic arm that can have different attachments on it (these attachments would go into certain sockets so you can customize your load-out), but I’m not really sure how to go about creating the arm. I have a few methods of doing it:

  1. Design the character normally with a basic rig and then model the cybernetic arm and use it as a glove. The only thing is I’m not sure if I can have the ‘glove’ arm have its own animations/sockets to add things to.
  2. Model the cybernetic arm onto the character himself and create a brand new rig for that character specifically. On this rig I would add sockets to customize the attachments.
  3. Model the character without an arm and then make the arm and put it onto the character using a socket.

Which would be the easiest method of doing this. Also, any tips on how I could go about doing this would be great. If it seems too complicated I would probably swap and make it a first person shooter much like how Star Wars: Republic Commando was done. I really want the cybernetic arm to be a focus on the character, because it’s going to have his gadgets on it and with it being a customization load-out would add a new twist to make my game original.

Thanks!

2

Easiest would be 3 i think. With the socket you could easily swap the arm and select from several other arms during runtime and even from Blueprints pretty easily. Handling it with a socket would make the arm handle like a weapon, so you can reference to most weapon tutorials regarding animation, scripting, inventory, etc.

3

Our character design is set up to use various accessories like helmets, vests, and backpacks that we add as a component of a character blueprint. To make use of the item we just have to check or un-check “use in game” as part of the character set up menu.

4

Alright, sorry for the late reply, been trying to get a proper rig for my character. Thanks for your answers!!