Untitled Project

[sneppy]

this is just a test project i'm currently working on...

I'm focusing my work on improving character creation and gameplay, and for now everything will be related to Character Geometry materials code and animation. So I decided to share a bit of my work here just for fun.

This is the main character I've created to work on:

3dsMax Render:


UDK Render:


- The geometry is finished, but I may tweak a bit the hair and the shoes;
- There are some texture that still needs to be refined or created like the diffuse and normal maps for the shoes;

On some materials i tested some of the DX11 features, like SSS for skin render

currently I'm working on the camera code and related content:

- I made a 3rd person flexible camera, and the code is designed to be easily able to switch between different camera settings: by default I use a near offset camera when the player is walking and I will then implement a further camera for running.
- I created an animtree for the player and placed two AnimNodeAimOffset:
- The first one will drive the direction of the pawn sight calculating the sine of the rotation of the camera related to the pawn rotation: the result is that, from behind the player will look at what you're pointing, and from the front it will look in the opposite direction;
- The second node will drive the player spine bend while the player is walking and changing direction;

here is a first video that shows this features (but it's a bit fast):

Any comment is welcome

[sneppy]

Update #1

Working on animated normal maps.

This system will blend three normal maps to give cloth a more realistic effect in game. It calculates the delta rotation between pelvis and ribcage and, using a sine function, generate a value between 0 and 1. This value is then applied as a mask in a linear interpolation function inside the material.

In the test blend video green is relaxed, blue is right rotation and red is left rotation.

[Ashkandi]

It looks very cool mate.

[sneppy]

more progress on animated normal!

Added 5 "blending modes" (similar, for example, to the "blend Type" properties of AnimNodes) that change the way the engine calculates the blend value:
- Linear;
- Quadratic;
- Cubic;
- Inverse Quadratic;
- Sinusoidal;

In a graph (deltaRotation X BlendValue):
- Linear will be a line
- quadratic a parabola
- inverse quadratic a kind of curved V
- Cubic similar to quadratic
- Sinusoidal a sine function from - pi/2 to pi/2

so, for example, inverse quadratic mode with a small delta rotation will immediatly give a higher blend value than linear or sinusoidal mode.

this pic will explain better:


This mode can be used to change cloth behaviour

[sneppy]

Update #3

Finished Animated Normal maps (for now)

added another variable to control the angle needed to blend between 0 and 1.



a lower value will result in a more dilated function, so a higher rotation will be required to get a complete blending

And a final video with some different animation (sinusoidal, 7.0)

[sneppy]

Improvements on Player Controller: now the Pawn will always move forward

I still have some problem with animated normal map

[JohNLA]

Nice work manipulating the normal maps. It adds a lot of realism and is very impressive.
I feel the characters face could use a few tweaks. The ears look small compared to the position of the eyes and nose. Also the nose points a little skyward. Take my criticism with a grain of salt, as I have been drinking tonight and probably shouldn't be posting.

[sneppy]

Working on another character in 3ds Max for another user project:

[Chosker]

love the normalmap per-angle blending! I've seen it done in the latest Pro Evolution Soccer games and I've tinkered with the idea but I decided it was too much work
the video would look loads better if the shirt was a medium gray instead of a dark almost-black gray though

[sneppy]

Actually, i had the idea after playing Fifa

[x-tremer]

Wow, that blending looks really nice! Join you guy to this this project :P Cheers!

[sneppy]

I just wanted to share my last progress

I kept on working on the character in 3ds Max and mudbox to model the clothes and here's what it looks like now in 3ds max Viewport:





and here's a render:



The character counts now more then 20k triangles (which is a bit high)



but more than 10k is only the hair:



the character is rigged with the same skeleton of the first character, but it still needs feet

[sneppy]

I also finally finished my work on animated normal maps, improving the system and adding flexibility:

- I fixed the bugs of the delta rotation between pelvis and ribcage sockets by using unreal function "FindDeltaAngle" rather then a simple difference;
- added properties to specify the sockets and the material slot: now, adjusting this option, this method can be applied to any character, or to any limb (for example you can control knee angle or arm angle);
- added a bool to enable/disable the system;

[sneppy]

Here's the character imported in UDK:

I've updated moving animations and now i will update the idle animation adding some variations.
Then I will create normal maps to enable Animated Normal Maps on this character and I'll try to import some apex clothing physics for the Jacket

[sneppy]

New Update: Started working on RootMotion

In the earlier video Root Motion was enabled but it was set to RMM_Translate and the result was that the Pawn velocity didn't match the animation velocity

Now using RMM_Velocity, the velocity match animation, but now I have some problem with jump animation