Should I make my weapon as separate objects or just one object?

Development Asset Creation
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1

Hello,

I have a weapon that is an orb that is made of several rings that will turn in different directions.

As a reference: ArtStation - Armillary Sphere

Should I:

  1. keep each ring seperate and then just rotate them around the pivot point of each ring

  2. Or should I make just one object out of all the rings and rig it, then assign one bone per ring?

The first method is the easiest one to make, but I will have more draw calls since it will be different objects. The second one will imply a skeletal mesh with some bones.

2

The second option would actually make things easier in the long run since it would enable you to use an animation blueprint for your weapon, making it practical to handle animations.

3

And what if I keep the ring that needs to be controlled by the mouse as a separate object and then I just rotate the ring around its pivot point. And then the rest of the mesh would be rigged?

4

You mean you want to be able to control one of the rings of your weapon? You can use control rigs for that purpose :innocent:

Here’s a tutorial on it:

5

Right, but isn’t a control rig overkill for someting so simple as to turn a ring with mouse wheel input? I could just modify the rotation of the object itself?

6

But then they’re gonna be separate objects, which will lead to other impracticalities. It’s not an overkill in my opinion, just the most straightforward way which doesn’t affect performance if that’s your concern. In fact, syncing separate meshes to act as one is the unusual approach in this case, if I understood your objective correctly of course. I say don’t think much about it and just do it ™ :wink:

I hope I was able to clear up some stuff for you with my guidance :innocent: Good luck!