Next gen rigging separate meshes

[Westsidazrhidaz]

Hi all, im working on a mod that will be on crytek2 engine. I know in some games(like gears of war) they have 2 separate mesh for textures(head and arms, Body and legs), so i was wondering, when it comes down to rigging, how is it working, is it like a separate rig on each of the mesh then programmers somehow "attach" it in the game or is there a specific workflow. thx guys

[cookepuss]

That's a really good question actually. I'm curious to know that answer myself.

I'm not on the game end of the CG spectrum. What I do is primarily pre-rendered stuff. The only time I'll use a secondary rig is if the purpose is so far beyond the capabilities of my primary rig.

For example, I'm working on a CG short right now. One character is extremely nimble; So much so that the generic rig that I use on the secondary players would break for her extreme poses. Conversely, her "nimble rig" is too loose for casual situations that require more subtlety. In that case, I've got two rigs bound to the same exact set of weighted vertices. I'll switch `em on or off based on the circumstance/shot. Even though only one remains active at a given time, their global positions and rotations remain in sync with one another thanks to some scripting. I'm using morphs for the face so that's out of the equation.

I used to try and do that sort of stuff with one rig alone. It as a nightmare. After watching the "Incredibles" DVD, I realized that I had been missing such an obvious solution. I would always try to come up with one complex super rig when I could have been using multiple simpler rigs instead. IIRC, Elastigirl had multiple rigs too. She had her everyday rig and a "stretchy" spline-based rig. Again, so obvious a solution, yet not one that'd automatically spring to my mind.

Like you, I'm kinda wondering how or why a next-gen game would require dual rigs. I'm thinking that maybe they'd use one for selective damage, where body parts are blown off or something. Maybe use one for dynamics purposes and one for keyed. Then again maybe using separate rigs for facial and core body animations. (That's assuming that they're not using morph targets exclusively.)

Anyway, I'd like an answer to that question too.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? ;)