Using BoneBreak for dismemberment

[Chosker]

ok I've seen a few threads about this but never with a clear answer. I just discovered this so I'd thought I'd share it with this nice community
Now I present you the working way to use BoneBreak and cause dismemberment in-game!

Ok I've updated the tutorial slightly.
I found a slightly easier but much more effective way to have the verts imported and work correctly, by using the ‘Full Weight Swap’ option instead of ‘Partial Weight Swap (Gore)’. This also needed a few extra lines of code but it’s now included as well
The tutorial is now only accesible at my blog, but there's a direct link for you [right here]

hope it's of use.
and yes, you guys can re-format and add it to UDKC if you give me credit

[sergeantgarbage]

Man is a Champion.

[Shindawg]

Is 'Bip01-Head' supposed to be 'b_head' (for default skeletons)?

[Chosker]

I believe it is, but Bip01-Head really is supposed to be whatever bone you want to break
I've already tested breaking the torso and the arms and works just the same
as long as that specific bone has a phys body inside your PhAT setup then it should work

[Shindawg]

Man this is so awesome. Gonna start work on my new gore-ready model!

[Shindawg]

After importing the Base and then Duplicate, I receive no prompt asking whether to have Partial or Full...

[Chosker]

uh that's weird. I'm using the April2011 build (May2011 crashes on me). the partial option is the default one though, so maybe it'll work anyway

[Shindawg]

Yeah, I'm still using old 2010-05. For some reason newer UDKs lag like crazy for me. It seems like the weights themselves are not getting imported correctly for me... when I select a bone I want to break, the verts just go crazy. I've triple-checked my Maya files to make sure the weights are done properly (One with smooth weighting and one with 'broken' weighting'). Could my UDK just be too old?

[xXSLAD3Xx]

Shindawg, are you just re-importing it through the 'File' menu? Or are you importing as alternate bone weighting?

[Shindawg]

Yeah, I'm following the tutorial exactly and importing through the Alt. Bone Weight option. It still won't work. My Broken Mesh weights appear normal if I import the Mesh seperately to have a look, but it's when I import them as an alternate bone weight that they screw up. I can't tell you how many times I've checked and re-checked my Maya files to make sure the skinning is correct.
This seems to happen with just about everything to do with bone weights. The initial Meshes always import fine, but if I want something like a morpher or in this case bone break weighting, the verts just go loopy.

[NYAKOPHARR]

it would be super nice to have a video tutorial on this somewhere...

[Snake0391]

you sir are awesome, thanks so much for this tutorial

[eviltenchi]

my question: is it possible to reattach the body part?

[Vordhosbn]

Is it possible to break a physic asset this way?
I have created a simple rope mesh made of 10 long boxes. I wanted to break it in the middle after causing impulse or damage. When i imported two 3dsmax objects exactly as it was said here, one with regular weights, one with left and right parts not affecting each other and then created physics asset and set middle bone to be breakable, bones are breaking, but mesh is stretching in game and in PhaT. In AnimSet editor everything is fine, no stretching there.
Then I realized that i have to use BreakConstraint function. How should I do it? In a class extending KAsset I can't use BreakConstraint, but when i extend SkeletalMeshActor I can't use physics (or maybe I am but I don't know how to do it). Or maybe there is easier way to break physics affected skeletal mesh into physics affected colliding pieces (would be best to make it possible to break between any two bones depending on impulse location instead of damage location).

[Chosker]

Ok guys, I've slightly updated the tutorial. now it's slightly easier to make the import for the body part meshes (less steps involved), and the new method doesn't leave vertices behind (when everything seemed correct in the editor) like the old method did.
head to the first post for a link to the updated tutorial.
To anyone having problems with this: follow the whole thing again from start to finish.

btw this tutorial only covers the full weight swap which works great when you only need to sever a body part (ie. chop the head off the body) but doesn't look good for a body part off of where multiple parts can be chopped from (ie. a chest off of which you can chop the head and both arms). since I'm using the latter in most of my body parts I ended up figuring out how to make it work properly using partial weight swaps. if enough people have need for this I'll write a followup mini-tutorial


eviltenchi: I'm pretty sure you can't re-attach the body part in a similar way that we're breaking it here. I believe I've read some stuff about creating new constraints but I've never needed it so I have no idea, and it probably would be messy to say the least. At the worst case you can probably just reset the pawn.

Vordhosbn: this way is breaking a physic asset, in fact if your mesh doesn't have a physic asset you'll get nowhere.
as the tutorial mentions you need to use the BreakConstraint function, right. I do it all in my Pawn class but I'd say it should be the same in a KAsset. The BreakConstraint function doesn't on the pawn itself but on its mesh, that's why it's called Mesh.BreakConstraint(blah). from a KAsset you'd need to run it from its mesh, probably SkeletalMeshComponent.BreakConstraint(blah) which I believe its the mesh.