Dunno about formats before FBX, as I wasn’t making art for games back then, just cinematic renders of logos and such. Had never even though about rendering outside of a 3d program either, since all of what was needed was covered - albeit mortally slow.
anyway, currently, make human produces a mesh that you can manipulate as you wish numerically. Put in measurements, get an almost accurate mesh.
Unwrapped and weight painted - which is the big part.
Now, my theory is that just like they handle that mesh creation:
A base template is used -probably- on which the vertex are shifted/distributed - Not actually sure, would have to triple check that by creating and comparing min/max length chars.
If this system works (and it does, it produces decent bases) then it could possibly be altered to do the same for a piece of clothing?
import a base list of vertex/model because of UVs, let the program manage, stretch and redistribute based on the pre-set values.
Naturally, with a bit of work, the same could just be done inside of blender. After all, there’s only about 24 measurements or so to handle.
Now, the system obviously works off an indexed set of vertex, or you’d have to adjust stuff manually.
Maybe it would be worth it to mathematically adjust garments instead?
Example,
select the underlying geometry, automatically inflate the object to be above the underlying mesh (which should be simple since you just shift on vertex normals based on the underlying shape).
At which point you need a way to alter the length, while preserving or adjusting the initial weight paint accordingly.
I do almost all of this manually in minutes.
Having a system that just adjusts it for you would actually be both fun to make and a time improvement…
the plus side is, it wouldn’t really need much more than your character base mesh and a clothing asset.
the down side is you have to manage your own geometry/remove the underlying as needed. merge as needed etc.
the extra plus side is you can use the asset into anything, since it has nothing to do with the engine…
Food for though with the new year coming in…