BlueLightSFM

Model Update

Added 2020-10-01 20:11:02 +0000 UTC

I wouldn't normally post commission related WIPs, but since this aligns with my other goals I think it makes sense. I had already wanted to do some model work, and with a commission that required some, I decided it would be good to give it a try.

I was able to quickly re-familiarize myself with the process for head swapping models as I did with Morrigan. More importantly, I've been able to surpass it in quality too. For all the effort that went into the Jill animation, I think I really learned a lot along the way. Mainly, I learned a lot about shape keys, sculpting, and drivers.

One of the last hurdles of the Morrigan model that I was struggling with was her neck deformation. The model was technically combined and the textures matched, but the actual weighting of the neck was mediocre at best. I didn't really fully understand the corrective shape keys and drivers at work. For the most part, I had them disabled but that didn't provide good results, and I really didn't know how to fix them.

After what I learned while working on the Jill animation, I pretty much instantly fixed the issues with Cassandra. Weight smoothing improved the weight painting a little. More importantly, smoothing out the corrective shape keys in sculpt mode fixes her neck depending on position. These are different shape keys automatically applied through drivers when her neck moves forward, back, or side to side.

Now, the model is pretty much flawless. I did in about a week what took probably over a month back when I initially made Morrigan. I can probably refine this down to take about 2 or 3 days. It's extra work for setup, but this really opens up possibilities for models that aren't available in Blender.