Guidance for knight character- blender to unity model

[lodger]

Hello, all

I’m working on a project with a friend who is a veteran computer programmer who is just getting started with 3d/unity. I am doing the graphical end of things so I’m also somewhat of a novice to unity. At this point, I’m working on developing a knight sort of character for a 3/4 overhead tactical RPG. Please see the first picture for a rough mockup of what sort of thing i’m going for.

I’ve tried developing similar characters, but was really dissatisfied with how my armored characters were deforming (see screenshot). This brought me to several questions:

1. Because armor does not bend, would you recommend having shoulder armor, armor on the side hips, and helmet modeled as separate objects parented to a weight painted basemesh or would it be better to create limbs, breastplate, head/neck, etc separately and have them be chunked together in one object and attached to an armature?

2. can it be an issue to have multipart models and put them together in unity?

3. Does anyone have any suggestions for best practices when developing this specific type of model for a low poly environment?

Thanks, and as a novice, I just want to say I really value your input.

-Lodger

Attachments

[Modron]

i would do it by making seperate pieces of armor, and parenting them to the individual bones that correspond to them. you can do this easily by going into pose mode with your rig, then shift right click selecting an object and hitting ctrl P.
(edit) sorry, got that backwards, you select the object first, then the bone.

[lodger]

Thank you so much for your feedback. I look forward to starting in on the new version!

[dukejib]

It all depends what you are going to do in unity.

For low poly characters, Good textures are a must. So be ready to spent lot of time on texturing.

It’s good to start with a Generic model and rig it for animation. Use separate pieces of armor and parent them to corresponding bones. check your animations in Blender, refine it (With separate armor meshes joined).

Export all your meshes (model and armor) separately. Import them in Unity3d. To join the armor pieces with model, drag and drop them on corresponding bone (It is always a good idea to name your rig bones) and voila. All pieces fit together in unity3d.

With separate pieces, it is very easy to create lots of diversified models.

I hope this helps.

[ridix]

Body armor is one thing, but it really depends on how real you want the armor to move. Shoulder armor is difficult. When arm moves it rotates from its attach point; top end of chest armor next to the shoulder.

The arm end has band attachment. This band can and needs to slide up and down the arm as you raise of lower the arm. Here is my quick study but this rig is not working too well when arm is swung forward and back. The armor rolls in a funny way.

[dukejib]

Very nice info provided by Ridix. By looking at picture of knight, The Shoulder armor is basically resting on the shoulder, not on upper arm.
I guess, its better to attach with Shoulder bone, instead of arm bone. and keep in mind, actual armor of that kind really hinders the arm movement when trying to raise is straight up.

Rework on your model, seperate armor for shoulder and upper arm.

[lodger]

thanks so much for your feedback, guys. You really gave me a lot to build on!