Feature Feature #4: Body Morphing

[Eric.B]

Due to SuperBowl XLVII this week's Feature Feature will be a little short.


Feature Feature #4: Body Morphing

So we've designed a limber chassis, a strong engine, and a gearbox that can handle all that torque. Now it's time for the most important part! Designing the body!

In GearCity we use a concept called Morph Target Animation to allow you to customize the vehicle's body exactly how you want it. Each base body has at least 20 morphs and most have more. If you have played a game that allowed you to change a character's height/weight/beard length (think Elderscrolls as a good example) you've used a morph animation system.

After the body is morphed exactly how you want it, you're able to add parts, accessories, and tires.

But first thing first, let's walk you through the morphing system:






Our Design room... Nice and clean ain't it? We're doing well enough in game that we actually pay someone to scrub the concrete!









We select which model we wish to use as our base design.










At first our car has no paint. In future we may have a random paint applied to it. For now lets add some color. Click on "Paint" button to bring up the "Paint Menu".










We have 94 paint colors to choose from. 3 Shades of glass, 5 shades of leather, and 5 shades of metal. Click on the color you want then click on the object you wish to paint. In our case we click the car body.










A nice orange. I like orange.










Now let's edit the body. Click on the "Body Design" button to bring up the "Morph Menu".
On the bottom right is the "Morph Menu". The sliders on the right are the actual morphs. Let's slide "Shorten" and see what it does.










As you can see the entire body of the vehicle shortened. This is because our combo box is set to "Entire Body" with "Complete" sub-selection selected. Some morphs are hidden such as "Entire Body Length" and "Entire Body Width" this is because the size of the chassis effects the body size. Morphs such as "Entire Body Shorten" and "Entire Body Height" are also restricted by the chassis size. Let's see what other area's we can change.










The combo box shows us other area's we can morph on the car. These areas can also be broken down into sub-areas for easier selection. Because we crowed source artwork, each car will be slightly different in morphs and morphable areas.









We use the actual shape of the body as well as surface area and volume to calculate the drag coefficient, cargo area, and many other important little tidbits. So make sure your bodies are designed for your focus market.






And there you have it. The Morph System in a quick nutshell. We'll be releasing a more detailed tutorial video on this as we get closer to beta. Next week we'll look at the parts/accessories/tire system. I'm skipping the Feature Car for this week. I'll pick it up again next week! Thanks all!


Any questions, comments, or suggestions for a feature feature please post in this thread: http://www.ventdev.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=235