Answered

Suitable project type for arm/hand only rig

Anonymous 3 years ago updated by Peter - Soxware Developer 3 years ago 2

Hello,

I've recently purchased UMotion Pro (I'm a newbie but want good tools to use from the get go) and I want to create animations for cartoonish arms and hands (left and right) with no other body parts. They are placed closely to a static object with no rig (jukebox) so it gives the feeling it owns those hands. I've added proper bones to both limbs but each arm bone hierarchy is not connected between them with a spine bone because I do not need to move anything else apart from each arm/hand. This will ultimately be used in a game called VRChat as an avatar.

Is the humanoid type project best for such scenario? I might add further bones down the line to make the object more lifelike (such as moving certain parts of it in a cartoonish matter) and increase complexity but I want a good foundation so any animation I will create doesn't get messed up.

Would there also be special considerations to have in mind?

Thank you and best regards.

UMotion Version:
1.23
Unity Version:
2018.4.20f1

Answer

Answer
Answered

Hi,
thank you very much for your support request.

Yes you are correct, generic is the way to go. The only real reason to ever use humanoid is when you want to use animation re-targeting (i.e. create an animation for humanoid character A but use it on other humanoid characters B, C, D...). More information about what makes humanoid special can be found in this blog post: https://blogs.unity3d.com/2014/05/26/mecanim-humanoids/

I might add further bones down the line to make the object more lifelike (such as moving certain parts of it in a cartoonish matter) and increase complexity but I want a good foundation so any animation I will create doesn't get messed up.

I highly recommend to add all bones that you need (or might need) before you start doing your animations and do not modify the skeleton afterwards. It's hard to re-use existing animations on a modified skeleton.

Let me know in case you have any follow-up questions.

Best regards,
Peter

Now that I think more about it, the generic type would be the choice since I cannot apply humanoid to a rig that does not have all the required body bones present as Unity will give out an error.

Do you have any further suggestions for the scenario I've described?


Many thanks.

Answer
Answered

Hi,
thank you very much for your support request.

Yes you are correct, generic is the way to go. The only real reason to ever use humanoid is when you want to use animation re-targeting (i.e. create an animation for humanoid character A but use it on other humanoid characters B, C, D...). More information about what makes humanoid special can be found in this blog post: https://blogs.unity3d.com/2014/05/26/mecanim-humanoids/

I might add further bones down the line to make the object more lifelike (such as moving certain parts of it in a cartoonish matter) and increase complexity but I want a good foundation so any animation I will create doesn't get messed up.

I highly recommend to add all bones that you need (or might need) before you start doing your animations and do not modify the skeleton afterwards. It's hard to re-use existing animations on a modified skeleton.

Let me know in case you have any follow-up questions.

Best regards,
Peter