using morphs for better joint deformations - why not?

[Utilizator Mode]

hello, i never found the time to post about something that was bothering me for a long time.

i recall reading in one of the office hour logs about morphs, some guy asked LL why they keep ignoring people's mentions about morphs.

one of the lindens answered something something like, morphs would double the model data size and stuff like that so we will not even consider it, but we will implement custom bone structures so you can use that for facial expressions and fingers of your avatar.

i was wondering, does a morph really doubles the entire model data? doesnt it only double the data of the vertices that are actually effected by the morph? can someone explain me in more detail on how it works and why it cannot be done because its just such a shame. sure you can use bones for fingers and i can imagine using bones to make facial expressions, but what about the most important things that cannot simple be deformed with bones? like avatar transformations, mutation effects, and the most important use of morphs for me - proper mesh deformations using joint to morph. some deformations are just impossible to achieve through bones alone, you also need joint to morph to make body parts bend properly and not like a rubber hose :O

also regarding the custom bones systems. will they only work with the avatar? or can you actually make proper non playable mesh characters using it? that would be so awesome if you could make a 3D model, rig it, animate it, export everything to sl, rez it and let scripts run the animations that move the mesh.

[Schlomo Finkelstein]

I am with you!

Please if you have time check Croteam engine that performed mesh deformations via morph.

All multiplayer levels and characters were full of that. I mean all characters were based on morphs. There was also clever timeline script thing to tell how long eg. man aims the weapon and then how fast goes to basic stand mode after that. Characters had also attachement points and you could put other meshmorphs to those. That was many years ago and game was really popular as single/multiplayer with many many modifications.

If you start diggin there, look how many cool features it had. For example "zoning" system - for very fast performance or differnt kind of gravities in place.

I dont mean you go for SDK stuff for that and editor, but it is really worth reading what was done in the past for meshmorph. Check also forums for game!

Have good time!

[DanielRavenNest Noe]

The size of the morph data depends how it's recorded.  You can store only displacement values in the normal direction, which is one value per vertex, and thus 1/3 of the base geometry.  You could store only key values and then interpolate between them, which would be very compact.  Or you can record full XYZ values or displacements for every vertex, which would be as large as the original model.  Finally, you can implicitly or explicity give a default value, like zero for all but explicitly listed vertexes.  In that case the data size will depend on how much of the model is morphed.

[Utilizator Mode]

okay than if it is posible to make it small than i dont get why lindens where making such a problem out of it and refused it