GDC 2005

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(No Transcript)
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The Universal Character System in Saints Row 2
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What was in the original Saints Row?

• Customization System
• The Player
• Paper Doll Systems
• Randomized NPC Classes
• Unique Meshes
• One-Off NPCs

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Character Goals of Saints Row 2

• More Powerful Player Customization
• Greater Variance in NPCs
• Better Quality in All Characters

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Solution for Saints Row 2

• One unified system to drive all characters in the
  game
• The player
• Randomized NPC Classes
• One-Off NPCs

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Main Topics

• THE BASE BODY MESH
• CHARACTER COMPONENTS
• NPC ASSEMBLY
• PROS AND CONS

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THE BASE BODY MESH
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The Base Body Mesh, Subtopics

• The Base Body Mesh Itself
• Global Morph Targets
• Normal Map Blending
• Local Morph Targets

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What is the Base Body Mesh?

• Naked human body model used as foundation for
  every character
• Neutered
• Average
• Androgynous
• Racially Ambiguous

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VA Base Mesh
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Global Morph Targets

• Creation morphs that affect the entire
  characters body
• Gender
• Fat
• Muscularity
• Age

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VA Global Morph Targets
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VA Global Morph Target Examples
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Normal Map Blending

• Normal maps help define more detail than geometry
  can alone
• Since the body type can be arbitrary with 4
  sliders, we need to generate a normal map
  specific for each possible body type

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Video Normal Map Blending
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VA Normal Map Blending Curves
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Local Morph Targets

• Enable fine control over the shape of the face

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VA Local Morph Target Groups
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VA Local Morph Target Examples
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2. CHARACTER COMPONENTS
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Character Components, Subtopics

• What are character components?
• Layered Clothing
• Shader-Based Customization

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Examples of Character Components

• Hair, Facial Hair
• Layered Clothing
• Accessories
• Tattoos
• Piercings

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Character Components (cont.)

• Individual meshes built around the base body mesh
• Contain all the morph targets so they can fit all
  character shapes
• Contain their own shader-based customization

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Layered Clothing

• Template System
• VID-Hiding System

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VA Layered Clothing Slots
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VA Layered Clothing Templates
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VA VIDs
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VA VID Hiding Sheet
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Shader-Based Component Customization

• Colors
• Pattern Maps
• Logos

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Video Clothing Customization
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Pattern Maps

• Drive the colors of clothing and accessories
• Allow random or player chosen colors
• Use a special map format where each color channel
  represents one of three pattern masks
• Uses its own UV channel to be better optimized

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VA Pattern Map Example
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Logos

• Adds another option of customization
• Any item can have an arbitrary logo and logo color

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VA Logo Map
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3. NPC ASSEMBLY
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NPC Assembly, Subtopics

• What is an NPC in Saints Row 2?
• Character Assembly Tree
• Randomized NPC Classes
• One-Off NPCs

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What is an NPC in Saints Row 2?

• An NPC is essentially a table file describing how
  to assemble the character
• Game generates a random NPC from this table each
  time an instance of this character class spawns

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Two Types of NPCs

• Randomized Classes
• Pedestrians, Workers, Gang Members, Police
• One-Off Characters
• Major Story Characters
• Other Unique Characters

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VA NPC Young Male Generic
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VA NPC Cop
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VA NPC Assembly Tree
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VA One-Off Characters
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Building One-Off Characters

• Custom skin texture maps
• Custom sculpted morphs
• Custom clothing
• Assembly

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5. PROS AND CONS
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Pros

• Automatic consistency
• Re-use of assets
• Universal animation
• Easy to globally balance colors
• Templates aided in asset creation
• Morph and rig propagation was virtually automatic
• Universal facial animation morphs

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Cons

• Gameplay and cinematic animations had to be
  somewhat generic
• Every character and component needs to follow
  strict guidelines
• System required heavy testing
• Character rendering less efficient to support
  modularity
• Relies on solid foundation thats difficult to
  revise later
• Technical problems during exporting

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Numbers

• Base Body Triangles 6,222
• Creation Morphs 115
• Bones 126
• Component Slots 53
• Player memory 6.16 MB 2
• Total Components 1200
• Total VIDs 235
• NPC slots 8
• NPC instances 150
• NPC memory 25.28 MB
• Total NPCs 218
• Animation Memory 17 MB
• Total Animations 4,000

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Summary

• The Base Body Mesh
• Character Components
• NPC Assembly
• Pros and Cons

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Questions?