Clothes with Physics

[Sypron]

Just a quick question regarding clothing and animations. Is it possible to include things like havok and physics to make dynamic clothing that moves freely? For instance, a cape that falls when you stand still, trails as you run or jump and lags as you turn, similar to how the necromancer tapestries work. Is this type of thing possible? (Yes, I know it would only work on the model you apply it too, that's irrelevant)

 

Thanks.

[thomas84]

I know it's possible as far as Havok is concerned, it's just a matter of adding some stuff to the model. Whether it's possible to do in Oblivion, I don't know. From what I understood, there were licensing issues that prevented user mods from using the technology, but I've been out of the loop for a year or so and didn't do much research into the matter at the time either.

[Vagrant0]

Just a quick question regarding clothing and animations. Is it possible to include things like havok and physics to make dynamic clothing that moves freely? For instance, a cape that falls when you stand still, trails as you run or jump and lags as you turn, similar to how the necromancer tapestries work. Is this type of thing possible? (Yes, I know it would only work on the model you apply it too, that's irrelevant)

 

Thanks.

Supposedly the engine supports it, but Oblivion itself has it disabled or limited. Although technically, it is currently being used in relation to dead bodies. The skeleton has havok, the clothing is weighted to the skeleton. I'm not sure if this is actually all the engine allows, but I would imagine that any weighted clothing would need its own set of bones, which would at the very least, make any new models very hard to make. Additionally, with the way the game handles animations, you would only be able to see the effects of this on a dead body. Making this sort of thing on a living, moving person would probably result in alot of the elements just constantly bouncing off eachother.

 

So essentially, no you can't. Things with physics can't be animated (weighted), things with animations (weights) can't be physiced.

[Sypron]

I should probably give you the full story, as being vague doesn't get anyone, anywhere. I'm moving into 3D modeling (over the holidays, when I get a decent 8 week break). I already have planned out the first thing I want to formally make, once I have the skills to do it. As part of the cuirass (the thing I'm making is a suit of armor) I want to have, kinda like a skirt hanging off. Much like:

http://obliviondownloads.com/Images/ProductPage_Images/TES4-Knights01.jpg

This. The part I want to make have physics is the part from the waist down. Now, assuming you could put free moving physics into this, you wouldn't need to worry about that part being animated. Is it possible to make the one model have independent animated (weighted) and physiced pieces? (Animated from the waist up, phyisced from the waist down)

[Vagrant0]

I should probably give you the full story, as being vague doesn't get anyone, anywhere. I'm moving into 3D modeling (over the holidays, when I get a decent 8 week break). I already have planned out the first thing I want to formally make, once I have the skills to do it. As part of the cuirass (the thing I'm making is a suit of armor) I want to have, kinda like a skirt hanging off. Much like:

 

This. The part I want to make have physics is the part from the waist down. Now, assuming you could put free moving physics into this, you wouldn't need to worry about that part being animated. Is it possible to make the one model have independent animated (weighted) and physiced pieces? (Animated from the waist up, phyisced from the waist down)

No, much for the same reason as why weapons when equipped don't retain their physics. Any sort of free flowing mesh would need bones. Aparently you can't have one set of bones (the item) bound to another set of bones (the skeleton). Try it using a boned/physiced mesh as a weapon mesh, even though it bends when dropped, when equipped it becomes rigid. In your case, even if it did work, you would still need to make that part seperate from the chest and legs, which may create other issues.

 

As for the problem, the only way you can really do anything like that is through weighting. If you're good, and can spend alot of time tweaking it, you can get a fairly good effect by using a small weighting on a single point so that that area moves slightly when another bone gets moved. No matter what though, you will still end up having points where alot of clipping occurs (crotch mostly) this is because weighting can't change dynamically, so when a bone moves, everything weighted to that bone will move the same proportional distance.

[Sypron]

Thanks for clearing that up. I guess I'll just rig it to animate with the legs, much like the KotN Cuirass does and several other game ones do. You can lock this now, thanks again.