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Let's talk about capes

  • twev
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    I still get elf ears and hair showing through my hats/caps.

    And the animation for crafting has ceased to function on all my 'toons.
    My characters just stand there until crafting is done and the scene revers back to normal view.
    The problem with society these days is that no one drinks from the skulls of their enemies anymore.
  • Tasear
    Tasear
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    jcm2606 wrote: »
    Minyassa wrote: »
    It's not that the game engine can't handle capes. We already have the animation precedent in-game for capes--just watch a camel mount, with the draped caparison and its tassels swaying in the breeze as it runs. That's exactly what would be done with capes, so it's already been built.

    What they refuse to do is spend all the time it would take to adjust each cape model for each motif piece it was paired with, because there's just no way. It would be ongoing development for every piece every time a new motif was added. That's just an infinite amount of work asking to happen. They'd have to do that or the pokethrough would have people screaming incessantly, and the only solution is waaaaaaaaaaaaay more man-hours than they are willing to pay for.

    As I said earlier, the solution to that is an IK animation system, which they already have for animating our feet. So long as any pieces in question have a collision mesh (which can be generated from a rendering mesh pretty easily, basically all public game engines literally just have a button you press to generate a rough collision mesh for the object), they can hook up an IK animation system for capes that allows them to automatically and coherently interact with other parts of the character.

    Briefly, an IK animation system is basically the reverse of a traditional animation system. If we were to animate a hand moving down and pressing against a table under a traditional animation system, we basically rotate the bones within the skeleton around the joints in a very specific way such that the hand rests on the table. Under an IK animation system, all the joints are automated within a very specific set of bounds, such that we literally just have to move the hand onto the table, and the skeleton aligns itself within the bounds, automatically rotating every bone to what they should naturally be.

    Done properly, an IK animation system can be quite fast (the slowest part is literally finding obstacles, the actual animation of the skeleton itself is very fast), significantly reduces the amount of work animators have to do (they just need to tell the skeleton where it should go, not how it should get there), allows for very easily blending between animations (since the rotations of everything are automated, it just takes moving the destination to blend between animations), and even allows for animations that would be enormous under a traditional animation system (having a character's movement adapt to what's around them).

    If capes were to use an IK animation system, all that would need to be done is to figure out where any obstacles are between where the cape current sits and where it wants to go (can be done by casting a ray from the current position to the desired position, specifically looking for obstacles), move the cape to where the obstacle is, and the cape's "skeleton" will automatically adjust itself accordingly.

    As I said, it's less an issue of can't do it, more an issue of won't do it. They already have an IK animation system in the game, there's literally dozens of papers about full IK animation systems, they just don't want to put the time, resources and effort into something that's very superfluous.

    It would be worth it's value. The could sell them in crown. There's also guild system. Guild loyalty keeps players logging in and interacting daily.
  • twev
    twev
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    Tasear wrote: »

    It would be worth it's value. The could sell them in crown. There's also guild system. Guild loyalty keeps players logging in and interacting daily.

    And yet one rarely sees tabards worn by loyal guildies.
    The problem with society these days is that no one drinks from the skulls of their enemies anymore.
  • Tasear
    Tasear
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    twev wrote: »
    Tasear wrote: »

    It would be worth it's value. The could sell them in crown. There's also guild system. Guild loyalty keeps players logging in and interacting daily.

    And yet one rarely sees tabards worn by loyal guildies.

    Cause it's in the front of outfit. Just swap Taberds to back...
  • twev
    twev
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    Tasear wrote: »
    twev wrote: »
    Tasear wrote: »

    It would be worth it's value. The could sell them in crown. There's also guild system. Guild loyalty keeps players logging in and interacting daily.

    And yet one rarely sees tabards worn by loyal guildies.

    Cause it's in the front of outfit. Just swap Taberds to back...

    So, you're saying that you'd be satisfied with a guild emblem on the back of the tabard, or optionally on front and back?
    The problem with society these days is that no one drinks from the skulls of their enemies anymore.
  • Tasear
    Tasear
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    twev wrote: »
    Tasear wrote: »
    twev wrote: »
    Tasear wrote: »

    It would be worth it's value. The could sell them in crown. There's also guild system. Guild loyalty keeps players logging in and interacting daily.

    And yet one rarely sees tabards worn by loyal guildies.

    Cause it's in the front of outfit. Just swap Taberds to back...

    So, you're saying that you'd be satisfied with a guild emblem on the back of the tabard, or optionally on front and back?

    Yes honestly
  • twev
    twev
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    Tasear wrote: »
    twev wrote: »
    Tasear wrote: »
    twev wrote: »
    Tasear wrote: »

    It would be worth it's value. The could sell them in crown. There's also guild system. Guild loyalty keeps players logging in and interacting daily.

    And yet one rarely sees tabards worn by loyal guildies.

    Cause it's in the front of outfit. Just swap Taberds to back...

    So, you're saying that you'd be satisfied with a guild emblem on the back of the tabard, or optionally on front and back?

    Yes honestly

    You have my vote for this.
    The problem with society these days is that no one drinks from the skulls of their enemies anymore.
  • Valdek
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    If Baldur's Gate could do it, these guys can too. Loved my wizard in Baldur's Gate 2 in his cloak...
  • Miraslova
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    Tasear wrote: »
    If we can have dragons... You think there's a new chance at capes?

    This isn't Blizzard, not gonna happen.
    "An it harm none, do what thou wilt"
  • Tasear
    Tasear
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    Pednick wrote: »
    Tasear wrote: »
    If we can have dragons... You think there's a new chance at capes?

    This isn't Blizzard, not gonna happen.

    😜 Said that about nercomancers for years.
  • OneForSorrow
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    We don't even have hair physics yet. Or we barely do.
    PC NA. Various alts, trying to find a main, I have no idea what I'm doing.
  • zaria
    zaria
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    jcm2606 wrote: »
    Minyassa wrote: »
    It's not that the game engine can't handle capes. We already have the animation precedent in-game for capes--just watch a camel mount, with the draped caparison and its tassels swaying in the breeze as it runs. That's exactly what would be done with capes, so it's already been built.

    What they refuse to do is spend all the time it would take to adjust each cape model for each motif piece it was paired with, because there's just no way. It would be ongoing development for every piece every time a new motif was added. That's just an infinite amount of work asking to happen. They'd have to do that or the pokethrough would have people screaming incessantly, and the only solution is waaaaaaaaaaaaay more man-hours than they are willing to pay for.

    As I said earlier, the solution to that is an IK animation system, which they already have for animating our feet. So long as any pieces in question have a collision mesh (which can be generated from a rendering mesh pretty easily, basically all public game engines literally just have a button you press to generate a rough collision mesh for the object), they can hook up an IK animation system for capes that allows them to automatically and coherently interact with other parts of the character.

    Briefly, an IK animation system is basically the reverse of a traditional animation system. If we were to animate a hand moving down and pressing against a table under a traditional animation system, we basically rotate the bones within the skeleton around the joints in a very specific way such that the hand rests on the table. Under an IK animation system, all the joints are automated within a very specific set of bounds, such that we literally just have to move the hand onto the table, and the skeleton aligns itself within the bounds, automatically rotating every bone to what they should naturally be.

    Done properly, an IK animation system can be quite fast (the slowest part is literally finding obstacles, the actual animation of the skeleton itself is very fast), significantly reduces the amount of work animators have to do (they just need to tell the skeleton where it should go, not how it should get there), allows for very easily blending between animations (since the rotations of everything are automated, it just takes moving the destination to blend between animations), and even allows for animations that would be enormous under a traditional animation system (having a character's movement adapt to what's around them).

    If capes were to use an IK animation system, all that would need to be done is to figure out where any obstacles are between where the cape current sits and where it wants to go (can be done by casting a ray from the current position to the desired position, specifically looking for obstacles), move the cape to where the obstacle is, and the cape's "skeleton" will automatically adjust itself accordingly.

    As I said, it's less an issue of can't do it, more an issue of won't do it. They already have an IK animation system in the game, there's literally dozens of papers about full IK animation systems, they just don't want to put the time, resources and effort into something that's very superfluous.
    Know IK very well, and yes it very cool.
    however using this in an massive multiplayer game there most players play on potatoes would not be an good idea.
    This will come on top of all the other stuff going on in major fights like cyrodil and trials.

    Grinding just make you go in circles.
    Asking ZoS for nerfs is as stupid as asking for close air support from the death star.
  • Sylvermynx
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    Biggest issue with IK is that with it on, horses don't stand normally. Long time horsewoman here, so when I say they don't stand normally, I do know what I'm talking about. They stand with their "knees" bent wrong.... Added to the clunky draft horse persona for the staple horses, it's just.... ugh.

    So, that makes me wonder how well ZOS would manage capes/cloaks using IK.... and my impression is.... not well at all.

    [Edited for stupid typo....]
    Edited by Sylvermynx on June 10, 2019 12:35AM
  • Valdek
    Valdek
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    A lot of people have commented on the physics of cloaks. I’m pretty sure that the way that the ‘tails’ on armour wobble around would work better than capes in most other games for starters
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