I wasn’t able to find any documentation relating to this so I thought I’d try my luck here.
I use Blender to make most of my 3D assets and a big part of my process involves making
Shape keys, for things like facial animations and body deformations. I also use a subdivision
modifier to make it so that the model is easy to edit.
When it comes time to export the new assets into Unity, the BlendShapes only appear if the
modifier was applied, because otherwise the object’s mesh seems to export as a separate
object. However you can’t apply modifiers to an object that has Shape keys and creating
Shape keys for a mesh that had it’s subdivisions applied is extremely difficult, as you lose
a lot of the precision that fewer vertices offered.
I guess what I’m asking is:
What’s the best way to create drastic transformations and dynamic body size sliders
without sacrificing quality, from Blender to Unity preferably.
Is Megafiers worth the price tag?
Would really good mesh deformation even be possible without Megafiers? Are there
alternatives available?
I’ll be checking back often, if anyone has solutions I’d be glad to hear them, thank you.~
You are asking 2 questions. 1 for morphs (I use max) and another for drastic morphs for body resizing.
I don’t know what subdivision modifier means in Blender. I’m guessing a mesh smooth or tessellation modifier. If so this isn’t the best/optimal way of creating characters and morphs for game assets.
In max the morph modifier is created below the skin modifier and (now) exported with the mesh. With the process I use there is never a mesh smooth to deal with.
When I do pre-rendered animations I set the morph modifier below a mesh smooth or turbo smooth modifier. This allows for low resolution morph creation but with the added bonus for having a smooth mesh at render time.
I’d suggest not using a mesh smooth modifier for your game characters. Or if you do you should collapse your modifier stack (max term - I don’t know what blender calls it) and then perform your morphs.
You basically answered your second question. I don’t own it but from what I’ve seen around here Megafiers is the way to go for morphing objects. I don’t know how it is for dealing with real-time animated characters.
@medhue could possibly add some more blender relevant information if he’s available.
I’d have to agree with theANMATOR2B. Either apply the subdivision surface modifier, or whatever, or don’t use it. A model is a model. Once you get the shape down, then just apply all your modifiers and move on.
Please forgive me if I’m wrong here, but Megafiers was created before Unity blends shapes were actually a feature. Now that blend shapes are inherently part of Unity, then what exactly is the point of Megafiers? Of course, I could be all wrong here. I use blend shapes all the time, whenever possible. When I export models with blend shapes out of Blender, I always use the ASCII FBX format.