TF Animation Workflow for Unity
Added 2022-03-26 23:37:00 +0000 UTCWith just a few hours of work today, I built a blend shape TF with dynamic joint pivots in Unity based on what I accomplished in Maya.
VIDEO: https://r2y.com/vid/arm-unity.mp4 1080p 60fps
The example is simple but the method is similar, with the joints' pivots moving inside the blend shape without extra deformation. Unity isn't quite designed for this because modifying a bind pose for a mesh at runtime modifies the mesh asset itself, so I had to write an event handler to restore the bind pose before returning to edit mode. I also had to customize a shader to blend between PBR albedo/normal/roughness maps. Good enough, it all works!
This opens up doing some interactive TFs in VR like we talked about last year.
*rubs hands together wildly*
Last year I had "transformed Vince" in VR with animation and sound, but no TF animation. It was trivial to do a blend shape TF in VR by itself, but I couldn't animate the joints. Now I can combine everything.
Hair and fur growth will still be a hurdle. Hm. I also want to try this in Unreal Engine, which I guess has some XGen tooling. More stuff to learn...
What do you think about a TF carnival of delights in VR?
Cheers!
Paul
Comments
I'm in a holding pattern on the web site but anyone can friend me on Discord to chat! PaulStrong#6405
Paul Strong
2022-05-24 02:40:09 +0000 UTCI'm on it. I've actually been studying UE5 quite a bit the last couple weeks.
Paul Strong
2022-05-24 02:38:36 +0000 UTCAre you still working on your website or like a discord to chat about the current process
preston
2022-04-13 00:54:39 +0000 UTCNow that UE5 is out there is probably a bunch of room for next gen experimentation too
preston
2022-04-07 08:49:02 +0000 UTCMultiple "joints" can be used for pulsing, or multiple "additive" blend shapes can sometimes help. Normal maps come into play for vascularity and striations where the geometry of the mesh doesn't already handle it. The example animation has a very simplistic blend shape and the normals are handling the scaly skin appearance that develops.
Paul Strong
2022-03-29 22:05:31 +0000 UTCInterested in seeing how a whole figure would look transformed. it looks smooth, for sure. How can we add effects like muscles pulsing, skin striations, and vascularity with this?
J
2022-03-28 05:58:46 +0000 UTCTbis id amazing . I would do anything for a vr tf experiance >< you would make an amazing job of making us feel our biggest fantasies >< love the work
Philly Husky
2022-03-27 18:48:41 +0000 UTCThe animation looks pretty good and another VR animation could be a lot of fun.
Cohasset Alicorn
2022-03-27 06:09:59 +0000 UTCOh cool! I can’t wait to see where this goes. 😈
zack stantz
2022-03-26 23:42:21 +0000 UTC
