UMA Wizard

hi tron, please try one thing:

if you noticed, i don't call the GetComponentInChildren inside the Start() because when all starts are called (including UMAs), the UMA is just made of the umadynamic, or in other words, the animator, capsulecollider, etc. are added on the Update() of umagenerator, not during the starts. since you are calling all these from Start(), at that moment they still don't exist.

try something like:

void Start()
{
loaded=false;
}

void Update()
{
if(!loaded)
DoYourConfigs();
}

please let me know how it goes.

 

Yay!!! You're the man! It fixed! Thanks a lot!

Just have a minor issue now because he's not moving. Well he tries hard but some strange force is pulling him back to the initial place
But that I'll handle that. Thanks for your help.

/cheer

 

glad it worked

 

One of the buggy things I refered on my first post is this:

MissingReferenceException: The object of type 'AvatarManager' has been destroyed but you are still trying to access it.
Your script should either check if it is null or you should not destroy the object.

 

hi tron, yes it is what you refer to about the wizard not being happy the UMAs were "messed with" not through him. ill have all those issues fixed for the next update. thanks for pointing it out!!

 

Hey esa

Regarding the Custom Class groups, it would be great to include a spawner script to both on Editor AND runtime (maybe with a little simple GUI). Something like this:
________________

Spawner

Class |_________| o //the chosen preconfigured class

How many |______| //how many UMAs to spawn

Random |X|

Radius |___| //spawn the UMAs randomly on a N radius circle

Rate |___| //delay between each spawn (f.e. 0=all togheter, 10=10sec delay)
________________

What do you think?

/cheer

 

Hi Erwin is there any simple way to upgrade the UMA. I just tried to upgrade to 1.21d. I have PT, Helper installed. Tried deleting the Wizard or writing over it. Both destroy the project. Also is it possible to have the Wizard put shoes, hats, etc. on an avatar.

 

hi tron, yes! we are on the exact same page. for the random i want to implment random profiles,.. kind of like ranges for the random. i'll have a demo about this by early next week.

hi mikie, you should be able to delete the uma wizard without problems, as to update it too. yes of course you can add shoes and hats and stuff into the avatar. let me try to prepare a fast video about that.

please send me the console ouput for the errors you are getting when you delete the wizard.

 

hi mikie, fernando's videos demonstrate the workflow to create shoes, etc. please let me know if this is more or less what you need. in case you have your own stuff, you need to do the following:

1. (for 1.21d) put the slot or overlay create with material builder either on the uma_content folder, or inside the umawizard/assets folder
2. if you have the uma/umaw environmente created already, press "remove umaw context"
3. open settings and press "scan folders".
4. your new assets should appear on either the slot and/or overlay. enable the proper filters.
5. press "store changes"
6. on the main window, press "create uma/umaw environment" again
7. your assets should appear on the meshes

if they don't please let me know. is this more or less what you needed? please also send the errors you are getting. i'm fixing lots of bugs for 1.22, so if you are able to send i would appreciate!

cheers!

 

Hi Erwin, yes I have 1.21d installed. Are you saying if I have some shoes I can install them on an avatar with 1.21d? Are there any movies that show this?

 

hi mikie, yes you can! give me an hour and i'll upload something. the video will assume you already have the skinned mesh available. cheers!

 

Would this work?

 

nice looking shoes!! there shouldn't be any problems. the video (without audio) is this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlC2_GEd5LI

i'm aware there are several bugs, so in order to avoid them just follow this, and you shouldn't have any problems:

(applies to 1.21d)

regarding settings:

there is a settings option in the uma wizard menu. you should open this on the following cases:

1. new just created project (in order to detect any imported assets)
2. every time you add a new asset (slot/overlay) on an existing project
3. press "scan", apply filters and the "store"
4. you need to press "remove umaw context", and press "create uma/umaw environment" immediately after for the changes to be detected.

i'll add audio during the weekend.

so, if you are adding your shoes to the project:

1. import the slots/overlays into either the uma_content folder, or the umawizard/assets folder
2. open settings
3. press scan
4. press store
5. close settings window
6. press remove umaw context
7. press create uma/umaw environment

then you should be able to add your new content.

let me know how it goes. this process is being considerably simplified for the next update. hopefully the impression of the wizard being buggy will be reduced. thank you for your patience!

 

mikie, i know the process is cumbersome, but the functionality is there. please let me help you in the process (and send a pic of those shoes on the uma btw, we all will love to see that). i assure you and all of you guys, that this will be solved for the next update. it has a huge amount of changes, the functionality that is already there will either become more stable or be improved, and the organization of all the features will be better. im also organizing the scripts, such that when you import the wizard you only select the features you are interested in, and not the whole bunch.

so please keep me posted about your progress and i'll help. i'm aware of which and where are the bugs and how to skip them. apologies for this annoyance. cheers!

 

Hey erwin

I'm still fighting with the controller/animator thing. I just can't make it work with a UMA. I've been on this for a week now. Just made a new scene, new UMA, new everything, but there's something that always fail. I'm trying now with a very simple setting, using your controller but the controller is not driving the animator lateral movement . The toon runs forward and animates like he's rotating but he doesn't rotate at all.

Yes, variables names are ok. Everything match (as I said, it work with any non-UMA char just by dragging it inside the parent object). So, something else is causing the issue. I'm so f tired of all this...

I don't know what more I can do. I'm so tempted to let it go, load back my old conventional chars and move the project forward...

Edit: Just adding that when I press any of the lateral keys (A; D) the UMA try to move (or moves if Animations in Place) kinda moonwalking style, staffing aside and he should be rotating - not moving. The problem is he doesn't rotate, I guess.

 

hi tron, i know the feeling, but don't desist! one other thing my script does is to disable the locomotion script that sometimes gets added by the umagenerator. can you check is not there fooling around? i'm sure it must be really dumb (these type of things usually are), i was stuck on my main job for two weeks.. i was desperate, and the issue was i was missing a "volatile" on one variable, and the compiler was stripping it away.. just one single word.

anyway, send me as much info as you can/are and i'll try to help. you can also send me info to umawizard@gmail.com if you are more comfortable that way. cheers!

 

@TRoNDaNeflin: UMA is so big and so new there are bound to be bugs and limitations all over the place. If you don't have the skill to fix the problems on your own (I know I don't), then you'll have to wait till UMA becomes more mature.

I've been following UMA since July, about six months before it was released. I realize that I'll need to do fairly complicated things with UMA, not just a simple thing or two. So I'll be pleasantly surprised if I can use UMA and UMA Wizard by May (which is not so far off). Till then I'm working on other areas of my game.

For the last month I had been using an asset store tool for prototyping my game play, but now that's in an uncomfortable bugfix / waiting state while new features are added, and the character controller I had been using will no longer turn left or right as a consquence, so I'm turning my attention elsewhere for a while. I'm going to work more on developing my environmental assets, and give the UMA devs, and the devs for that other tool, some time to get the kinks out.

It's just the way it goes, and it can be frustrating, but don't let it get to you.

 

Hey hopeful, thank tou very much for your words. Maybe I should do that...

But my problem and THE main problem of the majoraty of the guys I've talking with, relating UMA is, IMO, so simple to solve...

Put UMA working with the new U4 controllers - the ones from the Sample Assets Package. I know someone did it already but nobody is sharing that knowledge as I know... So, the main problem, I repeat, imho, is the controllers because the other part: aestethicals, new content creation and management, custumization in general is very well documented and, with the help of the 3th Party assets, like UMA Wizard and others, almost any noob like me is successfuly getting things done...

 

hi guys, thanks for your patience. yes the project is new, and making tools to support code made by other people has its tricks. nonetheless the dev group is great, we have permanent communication between each other. regarding UMA in general, this will just go up and up... it will be great! i have monitored all the avatar creation tools out there, and UMA potential or even current state is that of a very powerful technology.

in the wizard case i started a refactoring, reorganization process (again), to make it less buggy, more versatile and hopefully it will be also easier to isolate features from the rest, allowing documentation of things that are stable, and isolation of the beta/buggy stuff from the rest.

as it was suggested, ill integrate heavy validation, remove bugs, focus on visuals and GUI etc. plus add all the cool features we have been talking about. next update won't be 1.22 but 1.30, and it should take me at least two weeks to submit, but i do hope this is a game changer (and i'll be within your may deadline hopeful!! ). within the group we were speaking about the importance of having more content, and also relies on us, the devs of these tools, as they are meant to make the interaction with the technology easier. our only problem is that we are not full time on this (at least not me), but trust me i put all the time i can.

thank you all for your support and patience.

tron, im going through your stuff now. gmail server failed to connect, not suer if it was only here... i was scared!!

 

Maybe I'm missing something here, because I haven't been actively using any UMA stuff for the last month, but can't you make / use your own controllers? There's nothing that's unique to UMA, right? It's just a character controller using mecanim, and you put it on your character much like you would any character.

So, if you want to use the controller and animator from the Sample Assets, then can't you just do it?

Again, sorry if I'm not understanding some basic limitation. The last time I messed with UMA I thought I could supply my own controller and animation.

 

hi hopeful, yes you can use your own controller. the one that comes with 1.21d is an example. the code is simple and straight forward.

when you press "create uma/umaw environment" the wizard scans for all the available controllers and provides the option when you create the avatar. in case you added a new one after creating the uma/umaw, then press remove from the avatar wizard and press create again. it should then appear when you are creating a blank uma with the wizard.

tron is using the one from the sample assets. as soon as we have it working ill post it here with instructions.

 

The new controllers from the Sample Assets Beta are slightly diferent from the conventional ones - more realistic and accurate, imo. According to the devs, they were also coded to make char switching easy on thy fly, just by dragging ANY mecanim avatar inside the parent folder. So the controllers are more or less hardcoded to achieve that goal.

And no, they don't work with UMA yet!

And these are fantastic news! Thanks a lot erwin!

 

Finnaly I solved the issue about UMAs not working with the new set of controllers included with the Sample Assets Beta.

The problem is the time the UMA avatar takes to spawn. So, for the ones with the same problem, here's what I did...

(There should be more elegant ways of doing it. I've sent the fix to erwin. I'm sure he will tune it up togheter with UMA team and provide a better sollution.)

1. You need to add an Animator to the parent object and assign your animator controller. You may leave the avatar empty because it will copy the UMA one there.

2. In the ThirdPersonCharacter.cs script, you need to change the Start() section. UMA is not created yet so we have to delay these settings. Here's the code:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. Rigidbody rigidbody;
3. Collider collider;
4.  
5. bool loaded;
6.  
7. void Start () {
8.     loaded = false;
9.     Debug.Log ("starting delay");
10.     StartCoroutine(Delay());
11. }
12.  
13. IEnumerator Delay(){
14.     yield return new WaitForSeconds(5); //should be enough. it is for me
15.     Debug.Log ("end of 5 seconds delay");
16.     SetUpAnimator ();
17.     yield break;
18. }
19.  
20. void Update() {
21.  
22.     if (!loaded) {
23.  
24.         animator = GetComponentInChildren<Animator> ();
25.         rigidbody = GetComponentInChildren<Rigidbody> ();
26.         collider = GetComponentInChildren<CapsuleCollider> ();
27.         capsule = GetComponentInChildren<CapsuleCollider> ();
28.         capsule = collider as CapsuleCollider;
29.  
30.         Locomotion locomotionscript = gameObject.GetComponentInChildren<Locomotion>();
31.         locomotionscript.enabled = false;
32.  
33.         // as can return null so we need to make sure thats its not before assigning to it
34.         if (capsule != null  rigidbody != null  animator != null) {
35.             originalHeight = capsule.height;
36.             capsule.center = Vector3.up * originalHeight * half;
37.  
38.             rayHitComparer = new RayHitComparer ();
39.             loaded = true;
40.  
41.         } else {
42.             Debug.LogError (" collider cannot be cast to CapsuleCollider");
43.         }
44.     }
45. }
46.  

3. Finally, If your toon is nailed to the ground - animates but don't move - coment all the OnAnimatorMove() function and select Apply Root Motion on the Animator. That will fix it.


I hope this can help.
/cheer

 

^^ That makes sense.

Maybe somebody will make an event that signals the completion of the UMA so code like the controller can kick in just as soon as the UMA is complete.

 

hi tron! thanks!! cool... don't worry i'm trying to build upon you solution to something that doesn't require the 5 seconds wait. thank you very much.

hi hopeful, yes i will speak with the main devs about this on monday.

 

There are callbacks in the UMAData class for OnCharacterUpdated, OnCharacterCreated, and OnCharacterDestroyed. If you look in UMACrowd.cs there are a couple of examples of OnCharacterUpdated being used.

 

you are right eli, i had forgotten. just added this, thanks! only missing one small issue and i'll publish the scripts for others to use. thanks! cheers!

 

hi guys,

please check:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKtvM4ZgDDQ

it works, but i want to make one or two mods to it. after that, either tron or me will publish the scripts here.

a more general and powerful one will be available with the next wizard update.

main problems were due to the sample assets code expecting to be located on the animator holding gameobject. since the umas are dynamically created and they have their own hierarchy, the script was giving trouble. as you can see int he video, it works without any problems, just need one or two small twitches, and it is good to go. this will be published tomorrow. cheers!

 

btw, the wizard is getting new looks, new workflow, the existing features (but more stable) plus several new ones, etc. stay tuned! it will take one more week though, but i'm sure you guys will agree it was worth the wait. cheers!

 

Thanks! I'd thought we'd already been over this ground a few months back.

Maybe these callbacks could be more prominently displayed, made more accessible, or something.

 

hi hopeful, i was aware of the callbacks, the wizard code uses them too, i had just totally forgotten, it was my bad (in need of vacations ). i think the issue is that UMA, even if stable, is still getting one or two things added, so the documentation for devs and users that do coding will come once everything is there.. i would think.

anyway, guys i'm waiting for tron to make some tests on the thirdpersoncontroller code, and we'll publish this here for you guys to use (without needing the wizard anyway). for those with the wizard, i will put some wizard stuff into it and add it into the next update. as i mentioned, next update has lots of changes for the good, being the main two stability and visuals, so it will take me a week at least before submitting.

cheers!

 

Erwin, I couldn't get the shoes to work. Thanks, for the help however. I couldn't get the slot for the shoes added. Need a narration in your movie. If I sent you an fbx(google warehouse) file with the shoes could do a movie on adding shoes? Or should I wait for 1.22 or greater?

 

I imagine these callbacks plus the main UMA actions (load, save, generate) could be the basis for a set of Playmaker functions, if anyone knows how to set about doing that.

 

hi mikie, yes please send them to umawizard@gmail.com, i'll make a video on how to do all. i'll also add audio.

hi hopeful, i have playmaker, i'll look into that after the next update!

 

hi guys, while the next update is being developed, there are some bugs regarding adding your own content. if you follow these steps, all should work lovely.

1. create the slots and overlays, and place them either on the uma_content folder, or inside umawizard/assets folder. if not, the wizard won't find them.

2. open the settings window. press scan. apply filters (gender, body part, etc.) to your slots and overlays, which should appear on the list. press store. close the settings window. in case you need to add something new, open and repeat, and don't forget to close. the important part for avoiding the bug is always closing the settings window once finished.

3. if already available, remove the uma and umaw content, by either deleting the folders, or better, pressing "remove umaw context" button in the wizard menu. once that is done, press "create uma/umaw environmente" (again). this will read the changes on settings, and apply them.

4. press play. exit play mode. you need to enter play mode at least once, for clearing an internal buffer. if you noticed that your asset appears, you add it, change color, it is displayed, but once you save and enter play mode, it disappears, this is solved by entering play mode at least once after creating the uma/umaw. so please do so.

5. edit your umas at your heart content. your new stuff should be available on the tabs.

all these will be fixed for the next update, but while it is finished, please follow these steps. they are just few clicks. it will make the wizard work as expected, and you shouldn't encounter any problems.

thank you for your patience and understanding, next release will focus on stability, visuals and gui.

cheers!

 

Hi. I've come back to learning UMA and UMA Wizard about 2 months after I initially purchased Wizard - at that time I asked on the forum about when the 1.2 GUI sample might be available.

I've just now updated my version of Wizard and the 1.2 GUI sample isn't there. Is it in the package, or do you think my copy isn't been updated properly.

 

hi darren,

there is a simple GUI sample there, but if you don't mind waiting one more week, the GUI got considerably changed. it will come on the next update, that is due for submission 5 days from now more or less.

so if its ok with you, please allow one more week (5 days + acceptance delays more or less), and a more powerful Wizard GUI system will be in place, with several new stuff I haven't disclosed here yet.

cheers!

 

hi,
Got the shoes, downloading the movie. Will make a run at it later today. Have to do my income tax. Erwin, I know you are busy, but give me an explicit procedure for UMA, PT, Wizard, etc on how you update the project. If the only safe way is to re-install everything, you don't need to answer.

 

No problem waiting 5 days - I can't see a sample scene within my Wizard folder though. Should there be one there? If you have one to hand that works with 1.21 could you email it to me at darren.bellenger@cgi.com

 

There should be more than 5 days of waiting for the next update, if I'm understanding what esaavedra76 has said.

I believe it will be approximately 5 more days of development (assuming there are no delays) plus however much time the asset store takes before they release the update. That can be anywhere from 1 to 5 days. So it could turn out to be about 10 working days or two weeks before the update is published by Unity.

I don't want to add any time to the current update, so I'm not asking for anything right now, but once it is submitted to the asset store I'd like to see something said about how much further we're going to go with new features before we have a temporary feature freeze and a brief period of fixes and documentation.

In other words, let's aim for a stable release of the Wizard not too long from now - let's say by sometime in May at the latest - that has completed features (no loose ends), that is polished and usable for projects. Then it's time to revise the documentation (have at least a solid video walkthrough that names the major features and shows the workflow), get all the bugs fixed, and to put out a list of near-term goals for the Wizard so people have an idea where it is headed in the coming months.

UMA Wizard is one of the best UMA tools out there, but before too much longer it needs a stable release where it's clear what's in it, how to use it, and everything in it works.

 

hi hopeful, yes i understand. that is why i changed the structure the new update will have. it won't be a single mix of functions, but modular. the "type" of features are also set. i need to work on the visuals, document the tons of code that is there that may be useful to you guys but you are unable to use now, proper workflow that won't change in between updates, etc. that is why im stating that it will take a while, but will finally be a stable, non fluctuating with any new future features. i will continue to add the features, but more slowly, and more stable, and most important, the new features won't be blended with the stuff that its already stable.

you are also right, i expect 5 days work, plus the time the asset store takes into accepting, which usually is from 3-5 days.

darren, there is a very simple script, more aimed as an example than as an actual tool. it still is this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aqutbQK97g

the GUI stuff, both for the wizard and for you to use on the game got considerably changed. the workflow is totally different. if you are able to wait, i would prefer you to do so, if not, even if the current version is 1.21d, that video will work.

mikie, with reinstalling, in regards to the wizard the only thing that should be requried is for you to remove the umaw context, update everything, and then create the uma/umaw environtment again. that should be all. you shouldn't get any trouble. stable or not, i have tried to remain in parallel and not directly impact any of uma or PT, so reisntalling shouldn't affect you. if you can please send the errors you are getting in the console so i can try ot figure out what is wrong. let me know how the shoes go.


guys, i know you have been patient. i guarantee that im doing my best in order for you all to consider the wizard a stable and trust worthy tool from now on, and not something in forever beta or so (it didn't started as a beta, i just started adding beta stuff, and then all became a strange mix).

cheers!

 

@esaavedra76: I'm pretty sure you understand me, but just to be clear ... I love the new features! You've been adding them quickly, and that helps the overall structure (code base, interface) of the Wizard stabilize faster. I have no complaints at all about that. To me it makes perfect sense.

I think people who want to use the Wizard right away, though, might be getting a little lost, which is why I think a thoroughly stable update sometime soon would be a good idea. Then people can hang onto that while more stuff gets pushed out in beta.

I also think a stable release with docs, video, list of features, demo scene, and a tentative roadmap would provide you with a basis for an incremental increase in the price of the asset.

@mikie: When there's an update to UMA Wizard itself, generally you only have to click update and install it. For best results though, since the Unity asset manager can do odd things at times, it might be wise to delete the UMA Wizard folder and do a clean install into your project.

Any time there's an update to the main UMA package I wait a few days for all my other UMA assets to update, then I delete the main UMA folder and re-install everything.

Naturally, if you have some of your own work saved into the UMA folders you'll want to save that before you wipe and re-install.

 

hi hopeful,

i agree, working hard on the next release. once i get close to publishing, i'll post more info. thanks!

cheers

 

Hi erwin

For some reason, i can't create the Avatar Wizard or the GUI Wizard from the UW Menu. I've been working on some other aspects of my projects and afew days ago I've deleted all UMA stuff objects form my scene.

Now I want to get back to the UMA integration but I just can't get it working. I've just reimported UW but it don't work anymore. Settings and Scene are ok but the Avatar and GUI don't open.

Any tip?

 

Problem solved. I changed layout and suddently all start working again.

 

hi tron, yes i know. all those annoyances are gone with the new update. taking a bit, but making very nice progress. i'm currently figuring out how to squeeze all the options into a decent workflow. i'll post a diagram here describing that in a few hours (bed time for me now).

if you and anybody else can stop by in 12h+ and leave comments, i would be grateful. cheers!

 

wow, that was a huge image,.. sorry!!

well that describes how i want to distribute the options and navigation through the uma editor. when you are creating a new one the workflow is different, ill post images about that one tomorrow, but once the uma is created, these are the available options.

many of them should sound familiar, i redistributed several of them. what you will find is the following:

info: avatar name, maybe a summary.. not sure if even necessary so ill probably remove this. there is though one important option, and that is the tag "Player". it is important for many third party scripts, and from now on the wizard will use it to decide if it adds game play scripts or ai scripts. so if i remove this info tab, i will need to place this tag option somewhere.

recipe: it will display the chosen recipe. if the uma was based on a blank race, then a new recipe with the uma name was created by the wizard and this is the one displayed here. you won't be able to load a new recipe, but you will be able to clone it and work (edit) over the clone. so for example, if you are creating a soldier, you would create soldier_gun recipe, then come here, press clone, change the clone recipe to soldier_riffle, and continue editing to create the riffle soldier. as an option, user may want to create a new class on the next tab.

class: this one was discussed here in the forum. if the uma was based on a class, this will be shown here. independent of this, you will be able to create a new base class based on the current recipe AND the scripts added. several other attributes will be available (like tags, grouping, etc.). since the classes will also support crowd generation, a range of random parameters will be specified. this will be done on the class wizard. in this option you will create the base class. the class wizard will allow you to specify the variation of parameters (shapes, texture colors, parameters within some of the scripts), for procedurally generating a crowd of soldiers for example. all will be riffle man, but they won't be exact clone copies.

options: in here you will be able to do several interesting stuff, like creating prefabs, baking away the shape skeletons, etc. i also wish to implement a uma baker. finally, you'll be able to compress the umaW into compact base 64 format, similar to recipe tools. willl add support for recipe tools too, this will be placed here. will do the wizard tools first though.

shapes: you know this one. it will still have the randomize button, but now youll be able to select which parameter you wish to randomize, and specifiy a generalized random magnitude. also there is a tab with presets. i tried this initially but didn't enabled it, this time it will be. several xml files will specify what is considered a fat uma, or a skinny one... something to avoid starting from zero int he shape edition. you'll be able to load this on the preset tabs, and make additional manual modifications on the body, torso, arms, etc. tabs. i wish to add asymmetry, but this will be done later.

body, clothes, accesories: you also know this one. this is basically the filters on the slots. there is a difference how this is done now,.. that is a surprise. this tab will also support another interesting feature that will be an addon for uma wizard, but that one will actually be ready in a month+, ill post more details later.

controller: mmm, just select which controller you want to use. btw, all assets are searched on the complete project now, no more putting this on the right folder. also, you'll be able to refresh your libraries from within each of these tabs. the filter is now displayed as a popup tool window. greatly improved this, considerably less buggy.

animations: based on the controller, the animations will allow you to play during edit mode each of the animations specified on the controller. both independent and during transitions. the skeleton adjustment (FK) scripts are also accesible from here.

physics: this is basically to add physics to additional bones on your uma, filtered accordingly (body, clothes, accessories). the wizard will determine which bones don't belong to the uma, and expose them here for you to add physic scripts. at the beginning the physic effects will be simple, ill keep adding more complex stuff for neater effects.

skeleton: this are the same skeleton adjustments used by the animations, but with more options, including using items (you will need to enable the inventory/item system first). the IK option is initially aimed at helping adjusting two handed items, but will include feet placing in the future.

effects: these are a combination of both rig and texture modifications. if you want the uma to stare at something when it walks by, that will be specified here. if you want the texture to get stained with blood, that will also be specified here (will likely change the "combat" name for something more general)

gameplay: enabled when tag is "Player", provide access to wizard scripts aimed at the player character. including the inventory/item system you are already familar with, gamepad (aka. the controller script), camera (aka. third person camera, or other) and a health system. all are manually enabled, will use only one "system", and will support several systems (Scripts) each. ill clarify this later.

ai: aimed at no nplayer umas (99.9X% of them ). it will allow you to add ai behaviors to the umas. this is enabled when the uma doesn't have the "Player" tag. if you wish to create an uma both playable and npc or whatever, you will have to clone the recipe, and generate two options. i will add support for playmaker scripts here, but on future updates.

note that you can save a recipe, or you can save a wizard recipe. wizard recipes will from now on be the same uma classes. so the wizard will use its own format. so the uma "class" will store the uma recipe + umaw scripts + variation ranges (aimied at crowd generation of uma classes).

well, that is it from now. as you can see there's a lot of work, and i'm not even talking about the other tools within the wizard. i recoded everyting from the beginning, removing all those warnings, making the code neater, smaller, and, documented. the wizard subtools are divided in folders now, so you will be able to import just the stuff you know you'll need.

ill keep you guys posted. if the forum is silent is because im working, and im waiting for more advances to be ready. ill show features once they are finished, and most of the work im doing now is the back end, so is more scripts than visuals. im working ont eh wizard avatar creator though, so will probably be posting some pictures.

the wizard will be submitted in a couple more days, sorry for the delay, i assure you guys it will be worth it.

cheers

 

If you want to duplicate the UMA Recipe stuff or Power Tools you can, of course, but I'm sure several of us already have those assets. It might not be needed.

Aside from that, let me ask a question about UMA detailing.

Let's say I've got this UMA game I'm making, and it's a multi-player combat game where a small group of friends can gather together to either PvP or join forces to fight swarms of NPCs.

Naturally I want to use UMA for all the humanoids, both the PCs and NPCs. However, I want to have the PCs and a small number of special NPCs look very nice, so I want to allow for a high degree of detail on them. After all, players want to look nice in-game and they love to accessorize. A goal of the game might even be to get new accessories.

A lot of UMA is geared toward making very efficient NPCs, which is great. There's the shared resources and the stripping of the extra bones and so on. But aside from the release of a high poly model from Fernando, and maybe the Athena and Dionysus models, I've not heard or seen much about how to make the UMAs look a lot better.

I know there's a desire to keep polys and draw calls down. I share that concern. But I'm not quite so worried about that when it comes to maybe 1-4 player characters and rare NPC bosses.

So I wonder ... do we need a slightly different or tweaked system to create high poly, heavily detailed PC and boss UMAs?

And here's another question, one I brought up long ago in the UMA forum. Is it possible to have an additional UMA scaling system based on a specified canon of proportions, or maybe some sort of approximation?

When artists draw a human figure, they tend to stick to a canon of proportions. A figure will be x-many heads high and x-many heads wide. For realistic depictions, humans are normally made according to a canon of proportions used by Leonardo da Vinci. But there are reasons to use a different set of proportions. For example, humans of young age have different proportions than adults, with the head being maybe 25% of the vertical proportion for infants, while the adult head might be more like 16% of the total body. For an idealized heroic stature, some recommend using a proportion where the head is closer to 12% of the height while the shoulders are more broad. And if you want to depict a particularly mighty figure, you might want to make the body very wide and maybe increase the head to 20% of the overall height. There are artistic reasons as well for using a different canon of proportions. Fashion artists usally prefer tall and slender models. Artists might want different proportions for different aliens or fantasy races. El Greco used bodies that were 11 heads high - quite elongated - and cartoons often use characters with a 1-to-2 or 1-to-3 head to total body proportion. Chibi styled characters, for example, seem to have heads about the same size as the lower body, while some of the toons in the asset store have heads that are maybe 1/3 the total size of the figure.

So ... in addition to our current method of randomly generating characters, it might be nice to be able to specify a basic canon of proportions of some sort, in order to generate a bunch of characters that are roughly similar. I'm not sure how this would be done, but instead of getting into the numbers, maybe a more intuitive way to go about it would be to have the developer create a standard model - say for a chibi, a child, a dwarf, or an ogre - and then allow for only certain kinds of variance in the random generator so that the head size stays in proportion to the basic horizontal and vertical dimensions of the standard model.

This sort of constraint could also be applied for players making their own character in-game, so that halflings can't be as tall as elves, and orcs can't be quite as small as goblins.

Anyway, a system that facilitates this kind of constraint or profile would be great.

 

hi hopeful, thanks for your comments. some thoughts:

regarding replicating recipe tools: is not that i want to replicate recipe tools, is that the wizard uses the wizard scripts for all the additional functionality that is not incorporated on UMA (and won't be). recipe tools only worries about the uma recipe. the wizard recipe tools (what i was referring to compressing the classes), are to put both the recipe and the wizard additional stuff in one single asset. i do not want to fragment the UMA ecosystem, but im not proposing changing the recipes, just making a bigger package with both recipes and the wizard stuff. i just don't see another way around this. you'll be able to extract the recipe from the wizard compression (need to find a name for this).

regarding power tools: yes many alrady have pwoer tools, including myself. the idea to replicate part of this functionality once again is to enable several wizard stuff i haven't disclosed yet. once again, it will not be right now, but in a couple more updates into the future. once done, the wizard will provide this as an option. btw, not everyone has PT and RT, i cannot assume they do. if i did, then for any new user jumping abord into UMA (i know many are waiting for it to be more stable), the entry point for a wizard user woudl be 30(PT)+20(RT)+30(by that time the wizard will likely be around this) = 80!!! (plus add-ons and art from other artist/developers which will likely shadow the price for PT+RT+W, the total investment will be very high, and the other solutions will seem cheap (im sure nobody has given this a thought yet))

in relation to higher quality, these are my thoughts and opinions:

1. UMAs so far have been low quality assets, more intended for crowds. but i agree that unless focused on mobile, games now days simply require as higher quality possible models, and these includes textures, etc. there isn't any restraint on UMAs that avoid them being high quality, is just a matter of somebody generating the actual higher higher poly meshes (i recall talking about this with fernando) and for the guys to lift the 2k texture limit. the rest is there.... which is awesome, but we must seize it!

2. since every single computation improvement allows for a better game experience, we need to make the UMAs more efficient. the way i personally see it, and i intend to do on my game (if i eventually do finish it), is to have UMAs with higher detail than the current ones as NPCs, and having the player and secondary main characters either done by hand, or even better (as the idea is for the player to design themselves), be a baked-after-customization UMA, with as high visual quality as possible, and stripped from unnecessary code (ie. adjustment bones, rooted, etc.).

regarding the proportions, once again, UMA is already "Proportions-Ready". that will go on the DNA translators (the formulas that change the slider into the adjustment bones parameters that create the UMA magic). just need somebody to write them. not sure if you are a coder, but if you have the formulas i would happily put them on a script and make it free if you so wish to.

what i would also love to, is for one to be able to actually specify the height in meters (or inches for the US users ), not in an non-unit value. just say 1.7m.

for the wizard GUI udpate, which i expect to be a hugggeeee next step, i have been watching tons of other customization tools. if you think about all the MMOs available, and the new tendency for open world full of people games (ie. watch dogs!! can't wait )... the trend is not only to incorporate tons of avatars in a scene, but to have your own player looks as close to you as possible. this implies that we are indeed on the right path, as the only things that will be hand made now are the clothes (and maybe not even those)... no more fixed players. a tool i was thinking about the other day is to give a picture of someone (not necessarily yourself), and for the "face wizard" to calculate the shape of your face for it to be similar to you... a game with that would rock!!

anyway, please stay tuned. many of the above will make sense as soon as the wizard updates become available. its easier to show with a working example.

cheers!