character CUSTOM SKEL NPC: Gorc

[Tempust85]

Never used CAT. Plus not sure how the dotXSI exporter would handle CAT skeleton-- if it would need "ignore" treatment like the CS Biped.

 

Plus MotionBuilder is set-up to easily retarget animations onto a 3dsMax CS Biped... not so for CAT.

You use CAT the same way you use CS biped - as a shadow rig. No need to be telling any exporter to ignore a shadow rig, just do an export selected - it's what I do for MBII. I just find CAT to be more versatile.

 

Now incase you aren't aware, JKA uses specific bone names and angles so make sure everything matches up to the stock standard humanoid skeleton, just different proportions. It will refuse to load a model if it's missing a few key bones and you need matching bone angles for torso & head pitch and yaw when looking around. I found this out the hard way.

[Archangel35757]

You use CAT the same way you use CS biped - as a shadow rig. No need to be telling any exporter to ignore a shadow rig, just do an export selected - it's what I do for MBII. I just find CAT to be more versatile.

 

Now incase you aren't aware, JKA uses specific bone names and angles so make sure everything matches up to the stock standard humanoid skeleton, just different proportions. It will refuse to load a model if it's missing a few key bones and you need matching bone angles for torso & head pitch and yaw when looking around. I found this out the hard way.

 

True, "export selected" would work for CAT... but this is going to be an NPC with it's own custom skeleton and animations.  So his current pose will be the root pose.

[minilogoguy18]

Yes but DT is right about names and which way XYZ is oriented, it's the reason why my AT-ST's foot didn't interact with the floor correctly. Tags only judged collision but foot roll on a sloped surface was bone orientation.

 

It doesn't have to match the _humanoid exactly but there are certain bones that need the right names and be oriented the right way.

 

Shadow rigs are the best way to go as well.

[Archangel35757]

Yes it will be a shadow rig referenced to a CS Biped. I will follow proper bone names and orientations. I can use the Wampa, or any other NPC skeleton, as a go-by.

[minilogoguy18]

I can't wait to get my grimy mitts all over this.

[Tempust85]

Yeah, root pose and proportions can be whatever it's just the bone names and angles that must match up. Wouldn't be an issue if Raven made this coded stuff into an external file.

 

Just use the player humanoid as a reference, just easier and this big guy will have everything a normal player has. Can't wait to fight him as him, best way to test out the animations.

[minilogoguy18]

@@Psyk0Sith You know you pretty much signed yourself up to do Pic as well right?

[Psyk0Sith]

Haha yeah, i reminded myself of that fact when i finished the bakes XD

[Archangel35757]

@@DT85 - if the root pose can be whatever for an NPC (not using the _humanoid) then why/how could bone angles match? They wouldn't necessarily... I'm not grasping what you are saying.

[Tempust85]

Bone angles, by that I mean the bone axis and they MUST be matching against the base JKA humanoid. My bad, I suck at explaining things which is why you hardly ever see tuts from me.

[minilogoguy18]

Certain bones like those for the neck and feet that interact with the world without the use of a animated sequence rely on a certain axis of the bone being up, forward and right. For instance, for feet to properly interact with sloped terrain and make the feet angle match +Z=up +Y=left and +X=forward, when I had it wrong on my AT-ST the feet would roll in the opposite direction of the terrain when walking on slanted ground. The tags literally had no control over this like I originally thought.

 

Open a model in ModView to see the angles needed and maybe even experiment yourself with a custom skeleton model to see how wonky things will act if the axis of the bone isn't right. So yes the global position of the bone doesn't really matter or the global orientation but the LOCAL rotation values in relation to the bones parent in the chain matters.

[Archangel35757]

Ok... it isn't bone angles-- it's bone coordinate axis orientation.

[Psyk0Sith]

One thing led to another and this happened.

 

 

 

 

 

Normal mapped version of course, (can't display proper metal or skin with that shader) Rigged to a CS biped, it would be ready to animate for a skilled max user.

[Bek]

One thing led to another and this happened.

Didn't even take the dude out for dinner huh? Just textured him all up.

 

It might be a bit late to change, but his fingers are very thin, which is a bit odd when you look at the rest of the body. 

I think they should be scaled up a bit.

[minilogoguy18]

Yeah, I kinda agree that the fingers could be a bit thicker.

 

Is this thing ready to fondled? I really wanna try to make a nice set of basic animations for him.

[Psyk0Sith]

They need to be adjusted, it's a side effect from retopo using a 4 sided cylinder. Pretty close to being ready i guess.

[Archangel35757]

@@DT85 - You can retarget to CAT rigs using MotionBuilder as well. But I'm going to stick with CS Biped because it can use the Motion Mixer and MotionFlow in 3dsMax. Plus I'm familiar with it. Maybe can experiment with CAT in the future.

[Tempust85]

Will be following your re-targeting progress closely, very interested to how it turns out.

[minilogoguy18]

It's been quiet around here but know that I'm working every day after work on a rig specifically designed around this character, it's proportions and it's going to far surpass the AT-ST and _humanoid rigs.

[Archangel35757]

I haven't been given the root CS Biped (or proxy mesh) for MotionBuilder retargeting.

[Psyk0Sith]

@@Archangel35757 Check your pm's

[Archangel35757]

Ok... I have the Gorc CS Biped scene now. I need to use my transfer skin weights script to transfer skin weights from the CS Biped onto either nulls or a boned skeleton (constrained to the CS Biped). After that, the next step is to transfer & characterize the skeleton in MotionBuilder. I will provide update videos of my progress. Stay tuned.

[NumberWan]

The work on the appearance is just wonderful. I guess, we can't imagine a better variant for Gorc. But I would like to see a more guerilla+ET approach, like in the originals, despite we have a Gamorrean here. I think, this would show a newer look to the species, as well as fall into the idea, that both Gorc and Pic came through many deformations, turning into unrecognizable abominations. If you listen to Gorc in Dark Forces II, he sounds nothing like oinking, which is common for the porceline species in Star Wars.

 

The armor however looks just like it should, even though the original concept establishes a different apparel.

[Psyk0Sith]

My version of Pic won't look like a Gamorrean, he will look creepy but not as creepy as the first pic that's for sure.

 

 

 

 

[minilogoguy18]

Well he's a kowaikian monkey lizard, not a gammorean lol.