Devblog - July 2022 (Patreon)

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Rig

During this month, I once again greatly focused on rigs. I finished my rig generator’s update but not without issues, as I am not too comfortable using Python, but it now works flawlessly. I applied new edits on Cobble and Talas’ rigs, then made sure that old animations were still compatible.

Regarding Talas’ shoes, the process ended up slightly more complicated since I did things the wrong way to begin with, thinking I would need a single rig for every use: one that could be used to follow Talas’ movements when he walks around, but also when he takes off or puts on his shoes.

The main issue is when deformations are way too complex on their own, preventing the two use cases to work fine. When Talas puts on or takes off his shoes, his rig needs to be malleable enough so that the 3D model can correctly bend and match his foot’s shape. Inversely, when Talas moves, the shoe’s deformations must be simplified and tied as closely as possible to the feet to avoid any sort of clipping.

I ended up making two similar models with very different rigs. In the player’s eyes, this cheat is invisible. The two models will seamlessly be switched in-game.

Animation and Rig edits

Regarding the rig tied to deformations, I also worked on the animations related to it, as it is part of the research and development process.

This allowed me to notice issues and to correct them directly. I also added new functionalities to my rig generator, specifically regarding deformations.

ModularAutoRig_BeltRig.mp4
ModularAutoRig_DeformLayer.mp4 

Obviously, because nothing is easy, anytime I made an edit on the rig, it had a tendency to break its animation, forcing me to develop the fixed part all over again.

AnimationTest_1.mp4
AnimationTest_2.mp4
AnimationTest_3.mp4
AnimationTest_4.mp4 

The rig is finally done, and I almost completed the animation when Talas takes off his shoes.

TalasExitHisShoeAnimationTest.mp4
https://youtu.be/di6F29ULqzo

During August, before leaving for EuroFurance, I will complete the animation when Talas puts on his shoes and begin the coding part, so that all this works in-game, and to make shoes usable by Talas.

Thank you for reading!