I am creating my character model which is a skeleton and he is very low poly, very boxy, and I just was wondering if I needed to make the model several different meshes grouped together or parented somehow, or if I should make the different pieces (“pieces” being ribs, arms, legs, head, etc.) not connect when I am editing the model(I am using Blender). Really I just want to know how I should set this up so I can continue animating instead of going to all that trouble to find out something wasn’t done right. When the character dies I just want all the bones to fall apart. I’m not asking for blueprints or anything like that at the moment, just a tip on how the character model should be set up.
Meshes should be separate from each other, they still can be one total polygon object. But internally have no topological connection. Then for skinning you have to make sure your weights are local only. Means that no bone from the arm can influence the torso or vice versa for example. So that when the bones fly off, you dont see polys stretching after them. Thats it in blender.
In the engine you just setup the physics asset constraints so that linear is breakable and specify a force. Turn it on once the character dies. Apply force, Boom profit.
Awesome, exactly what I needed. Thank you so much.
However, when you say they can still be one polygon object, does that mean (I’ll just give an example for lack of a better way to explain it) - you are in edit mode, you add an object, that object can also be modified now, but although there are two shapes (cubes) that can be edited, when you go into object mode it is just considered one shape/object.
Just making sure before I go ahead and start “separating” all the pieces
My knowledge comes from Modo and while I started with Blender I’ve forgotten how it works there. But I’ve done this rather recently soo…
In Modo there are “Mesh Containers” which contain Polygons, Edges, and Verts. I created multiple “Mesh Containers” and each contained a key piece. Like a hand, head, torso, foot… you get the idea. The workflow was Create Container > Model the component > Rinse and repeat until model is done > Create the Skeleton > Bind the Skeleton to all of the containers > Animate > Export FBX
Edit: What you call “Object Mode” is what Modo calls “Item Mode” and “Mesh Containers” are an Item. So when I’m in “Object Mode” each hand is a separate object and can be selected as such.
Ahhh, okay. So I could make all of my objects and parent them to the same armature and animate like that? Since there are many different objects would that create any problem later in designing the game as far as making blueprints and stuff in Unreal? Could I group all of it together or would I need to create constraints for every piece?
THIS:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zzEoq3CZ7M is actually very similar to what I need to do. It isn’t exactly explained as thoroughly as I need it. I just need to know what to parent the pieces to and what do do on the Unreal side with the constraints and such. Also still wondering how having a character made of different pieces works, or if it just works the same as a character made of all the same piece does.
Well my character is less “blocky” and has more pieces and bones… I think teleporting in a fractured mesh would make for some weird kind of pop-in animation if the character was mid jump or anything other than still xP