Recap & Pipeline

The results from the tests and research done during  this period have lead to a final set up and a supposition as to how to best approach the creation pipeline for the production stage. This will be given in a short recap here below.

The first step is to model the human form character mesh in Maya. From this mesh create the bipedal and quadruped forms without changing the topology, by adding edges or vertices. This way the vertex order is not affected.

When the meshes are created test if the blend shapes are working for each model before initialize the sculpting phase. Also add additional meshes like tail, teeth, eyes, fur patch geometry and claws and make sure they are placed correctly so they do not create holes later on in the animation phase. Then sculpt each of the three forms in either Zbrush or Mudbox.

Once sculpting is done create the separate UV layouts for all three character meshes. Make sure that the UV’s for each character mesh is laid out on top of one another. Paint the textures and bake the normal maps from the sculpted models. Bake additional normal maps from the target meshes on the main meshes. This is the bipedal werewolf form baked on the UV layout of the human form and the quadruped werewolf form baked on the UV layout of the bipedal werewolf form. When baking these normal maps make sure that the main mesh has fully blended into the target mesh form.

The next step is to build out the rig structures for all three character meshes, with additional helpers for animation. Before skinning do delete the blend shapes that have been applied earlier. The blend shapes will be re applied in a later stage. Then skin each model to each rig and test the skin in UDK to see if it works. Create the animations for each character model.

To make the morph target, a posed model of the main mesh and a posed model of the target mesh need to be duplicated and a blend shape needs to be applied to these meshes. Once the blend shape is applied skin the duplicate of the main mesh in pose to the main mesh rig, a simple smooth bind in Maya should suffice.

Prepare the Root joint hierarchy and the models for exporting in UDK. Make sure to select the character mesh and all additional meshes with the root joint to export it in FBX with the checkboxes checked like below.

 

 Pipeline UDK:

The next step is to import the FBX into UDK. Make sure the imported file is a Skeletal Mesh. Also check on the checkboxes for ‘Import Morph Targets’ and ‘Import Animation’ under the tab Skeletal Mesh.

While importing one can place the models in a certain package, define it in a certain group and even change the name for the model.

Keep in mind that UDK will make one mesh out of multiple meshes when importing. When everything is done right one should have an AnimSet, a Morph Target and one Skeletal Mesh in your designated package.

Once everything has been imported check if the animation and morph targets work properly on the character meshes within the AnimSet.

The next step is to create the Material set up for the texture blending. This is done together with the Scalar Parameter Node, the Fresnel Node and the Add & Multiply Nodes. Make sure to use the baked normal map of the target mesh for the texture blending.

1.)     Colour map Human Form: The diffuse texture map from the human form character mesh.

2.)     Fresnel Node: A node which can replicate rim light on a texture, in this set up the Fresnel is used to make the transition of the blending possible.

3.)     Vector Parameter Node: A node to add additional colour to the emissive map and blending of the Fresnel. To make the transition in colour look more natural when blending

4.)     Emissive map Human Form: Emissive map. It can also be a different gray-scale map, which is used as an underlay for the colour map of the bipedal werewolf form.

5.)     Colour map Bipedal Werewolf Form: The diffuse texture map from the bipedal werewolf form character mesh.

6.)     OneMinus Node: A node used to show the visibility of the Scalar Parameter Node and give the 0 to 1 control for Kismet.

7.)     Scalar Parameter Node: The node that links to the controller in Kismet to animate the blending.

The textures for the additional meshes on the characters will either be added in the Materials for the character meshes or given their own Material(s) with the same texture blending node set up.

The result of this material set up gives one the opportunity to animate the texture blending in  Kismet. The image below shows a small breakdown of a matinee sequence used within the main sequence in Kismet.

1.)     Vector Material Parameter Track: A track to animate materials. To add key frames press enter on the timeline.

2.)     The Target Material: This is the Material for the track to use.

3.)     Parameter Name: The name of the controller in the Material. This is the name given to the Scalar Parameter Node in the Material

4.)     Track Values: These are the track values from the Vector Material Parameter Track. Setting these on zero and one on key frames in the animation bar makes the blending work.

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Once all the materials, for all three character meshes have been created they have to be added to the character in each character AnimSet. It is also possible to add the Materials to the skeletal meshes later on once they have been placed in the scene.

Next up are the AnimTree’s, five in total will be created. Three AnimTree’s containing the animations for each character mesh; human form, bipedal werewolf form & quadruped werewolf form.

And two AnimTree’s containing the morph targets from human to bipedal werewolf form and from bipedal to quadruped werewolf form.

After these AnimTree’s have been create the scene can be set up. One needs to place five SkeletalMeshes as Actors in the scene. One human form SkeletalMeshActor, one bipedal werewolf form and one quadruped werewolf form. These SkeletalMeshActors will play the animations of the character mesh.

The other two are SkeletalMeshMATActors, one human form in pose and one bipedal werewolf form in pose. These Actors will play the Morph Targets.

Make sure to add all the AnimSets, AnimTrees and MorphSets to the right actor. This is done by right clicking on the mesh and opening its properties.

To make all the animations and transformations work, all the timers and sequences need to be set in UDK Kismet. Create three matinee sequences each containing skeletal groups for each character mesh. These Skeletal Groups will contain the animations, texture blending and morph targets.

        1.)     Morph Weight: A track to animate morph targets. To add key frames press enter on the timeline.

2.)     Morph Node Name: This is the Morph for the track to use. This is the name given on the MorphNodeWeight in the AnimTree.

1.)     Morph Weight Track Values: These are the track values from the Morph Weight Track. Setting these on zero and one on key frames in the animation bar makes the morph work.

3.)     Anim Control Track: A track to animate AnimSet animations. To add key frames press enter on the timeline.

4.)     Anim Control Slot Name: This is the Animation for the track to use. This is the name given on the AnimNodeSlot in the AnimTree.

2.)     Anim Control Track Values: These are the track values from the Anim Control Track. Setting these on zero and one on key frames in the animation bar makes the morph work.

Once these are set the nodes in Kismet need to be added and connected. Set Key/ Button Pressed nodes to make the animation and morph play when a certain key is pressed. And add Toggle Hidden nodes to hide and unhide certain models at certain times. Make the connections, test the sequence and the real-time transformation animation should work.

Model Animations in Maya and UDK

Right, showing the actual result I mentioned in my earlier post, "Model Animations _ stretching problem and solution", took a little longer then anticipated. This was due to some other work I had to do and things I wanted to test out with the blends and animations in Maya as well.

Here below is a video of the animation on the block-out character in Maya. This video shows what the transformation animation should look like. The transformation is from Human form to Bipedal werewolf form.

In Maya the animation fluid, the reason for this is because I re-applied the blendshape on the human form and set keys for the blendshape in the animation bar.

Unfortunately I cannot export the models with this method in the .FBX export. Why? Because the export does not allow the set up of applying a blendshape after the model has been skinned to the rig. For some reason it exports both the human and bipedal rig but only the bipedal model, even when you want to export the human model and rig.

So for UDK I held the set-up of the idea I mentioned in my previous post. Which was:
Play the animation on the Human form model and rig -> Swap to the Human form model in pose and apply the morph -> Swap the morphed human model in pose to the Bipedal werewolf form model -> Play the animation on the Bipedal werewolf form model and rig. Which results in the video shown below.

As you can see the animation is not as fluid as in Maya, this is mainly because of the simple rig structure and simple skinning I applied on the model. With more practice and greater detail this is problem that should be resolved.

For the upcoming weekend I hope to finally finish writing out the pipeline and explain the structure and set-up of the matinee sequence in Kismet,UDK in greater detail.

Model Animations _ stretching problem and solution

First off I would like to explain why I haven't updated anything over the past week. The reason is because I have been caught up with other project and classes which required my attention. Unfortunately I was unable to work on this project earlier this week. I have managed to work on it over the past the days so here is a quick update.

I continued to test some of the animations on the block-out model of the human form, which I managed to get working in UDK. However I noticed something crucial I overlooked when writing down my initial ideas. Here below is a video showing the animation in maya with the blendshape.

As you can see in the video the animation works, but as the model changes size the rig remains the same. This results in that the position of the joints, where the model should turn its arms is off as to where the joint should be in the arm. The result is that the arms stretch, becoming longer then the arms from the bipedal werewolf form, the model that would be switched into.

This is a problem, that I should have forseen when creating the rigs and models but I simply overlooked. Though I am glad I noticed, since I already formed a solution. This is a simple set-up which I will explain together with a video shown below.

The video above shows the animation on the human form rig. But instead of letting the blenshape occur along the entire lenght of the animation, it now occurs in a certain pose. The idea is to set the character in this pose play the morph and switch the model in UDK, and then let the animation continue on the other rig.
I also posed the bipedal werewolf form and used the posed model as a blendshape target on the human form. You should be able to see the bipedal rig in the video.

This would create a set up like this: Human form model animation -> Pose and morph -> Switch human form model to bipedal werewolf model -> continue animation on bipedal werewolf model.
The length of the animation would not change, the only thing that will be increased is the speed of the blendshape/morph.

It is a simple, but most likely necessary adjustment, of which I hope to show some final result in UDK tomorrow.

Character Transformation _ Animation Sheet

Here below you will find the animation sheet for the character transformation. I have added both transformations on the page. The transformation will be controlled by buttons. So first the character will transforms from human form to bipedal werewolf form. And once in the bipedal form transform to the quadruped werewolf form. 

There are however a few poses the will most likely be improved during production. like the starting pose of the second transformation. I might work on the sheet to improve it, but this should give a rough indication of the idea of the animation.

Both animations will be 4 seconds or 96 frames. I hope that over the course of the upcoming weeks I can block out the test models, just to get the feel and as proof for the documentation.

This weekend I will be working on the final set-up for the matinee sequence which I hope to show next week here on the blog.

Materials transforming together with morphing

The past week I have been working on the materials of the torso/back model(s) and tried to get them working in UDK. The video below shows that the materials are now changing overal on the torso/back model when morphing. 

When you look at the morphing and the materials you might notice that when going from the human torso/back to the bipedal torso/back there is a switch in tone of color, going darker. This is due to the fact that I did not add the same material nodes on the specular material of the model.

I will implement this later when I will set-up, the entire 'final' matinee sequence in kismet, UDK. Which will also give the opportunity to transform back.
Additional features that would be nice to have, would be control as to how the fur grows since now it just blends on the entire model.
And perhaps fur patch geometry that would grow out on the back/ neck area to make the model look more full of fur.

For the upcoming time I will be working on the animation sheet(s) for the animation of character during the transformation and setting up the 'final' sequence. Plus check more in the additional features.

Quadruped Werewolf Form Character Sheet

So last weekend I finished the character sheet and a concept sketch for the quadruped werewolf form. The head, tail, feet and hands will transform further, gaining length and changing shape in comparison with the bipedal werewolf form.

I hope that in the upcoming week I can work on the material transformation in UDK and update it here. 

Bipedal Werewolf Form Character Sheet

I managed to finish a character sheet for the bipedal werewolf form, and a new concept drawing. I noticed just now that the back side of the werewolf on the character sheet might be slightly bigger then the front side. But atleast I hope it does show the character design.

Like mentioned in one of my first posts I based the bipedal werewolf on the werewolf from the VanHelsing and The Wolfman movies. I do hope you are still able to see the humanoid like face since I still want to capture that in this form, making it look like and in between form before the quadruped form.

Also this werewolf version show the ripped jeans. And I seem to have gotten lazy with the hands on the concept art sketch. Again later for documentation I will have to scan in all the drawings.