Unity‐chan Costume ‐ Continued refinement
By the end of this section, we'll have more parts of the costume fitted, like so:
While we'll be using similar techniques to what we saw before, we will now introduce more keyboard shortcuts to work more efficiently.
Back in Blender, make sure you're in Object Mode, and select the boots (named Bootes in the model).
Then use View -> Local View -> Toggle Local View to show just the boots. You can also use the / key as a hotkey for this.
For some reason, this model included the Hoodie horns as part of the boots object. Let's delete them.
We've used Select -> Select Linked -> Linked a few times, but there's actually a keyboard shortcut for this.
Enter edit mode, and hover your mouse over one of the horns.
Then press the L key to Select Linked.
Note that in the lower left corner, a set of options appears for selection. We can use the Delimit: Normal option, which should be selected by default.
Now, with the one horn still selected, mouse over the other horn and press L.
Both should be selected now.
You can use the X to delete their vertices now.
We will be left with just the boots.
Let's try to select the leg brace to separate it from the Bootes object.
Hover over it, and use the L key to select linked.
Notice that this only selected part of the brace. While we could use hovering and L to select the rest of the pieces, in this case, it will be faster to use the Select Box.
We can use the Shift-Space combo to bring up some quick options, including choosing the selection mode.
Then, click and hold the first option to see your choices.
If you aren't already using Select Box, choose it now.
Now, check if you are in X-Ray mode. If you aren't, use Alt-Z to toggle it on.
Then, draw a box around the leg brace.
You can orbit around the model to make sure you selected all the vertices.
If you didn't turn on X-Ray mode, you might see something like this where only the vertices that were visible from your selection angle, are actually selected. If this happened to you, make sure X-Ray is turned on with Alt-Z and select it again.
To separate out this object, you can use the P key. You can remember this as P for seParate.
Choose Selection, and you should see something like this.
Rename the Bootes.001 object to be Leg Brace, and move it under the meshGP object.
Last time, we used Object -> Parent -> Object to parent objects, but we can also drag-and-drop in the side panel.
Click on Leg Brace, then start holding the Shift key. Drag it on top of the meshGP object, and then let go of the mouse click.
You should end up with something like this. Note that you are able to do this in both Object and Edit mode.
We will be using the UV map to help us prove that the boots are symmetrical. You can skip ahead to the next section if you aren't interested in this section.
In the top bar, find the label UV Editing.
Click on it.
You should see something like this. If not, select the Bootes object, and enter edit mode.
Press and hold the Z key, and drag your mouse down in the direction of Material Preview, then release the mouse.
The left side is a view of the UV Map and the texture that is being applied.
On the right side in the viewport, hover over the tip of one of the shoes, and use the L key to select.
Notice how the corresponding parts of the UV Map light up along with the vertices you selected. The UV Map defines what part of the texture should be drawn onto what parts of the mesh.
Now, deselect the vertices by clicking off of the shoe. Then, on the other shoe, do the same L selection.
Notice that the same areas became highlighted in the UV Map.
This is because the UV Maps are right on top of each other, and mirrored.
To see this clearly, make sure you have X-Ray mode on, and select this part of the shoe with Select Box, and then the other side.
Finally, with Mirror Mesh editing on, try dragging on side of the boots a bit.
This shows that the vertices and the textures are mirrors of each other.
Since the shoes are mirror images of each other, this actually lets us take a shortcut when fitting the shoes.
We will keep just one shoe, fit that, and then mirror it afterwards.
One shoe will be easier to edit as we rotate around different angles.
Return to Layout mode in the top bar, enter edit mode, and Select Box one of the shoes.
Then, delete it.
Now, go to the Modifiers tab, and click Add Modifier
Type in mirror and choose it
You should see something like this now. Notice how although one side has vertices, the other side does not.
Exit Local View with the / key if you haven't already.
The move the boots under meshGP.
Before fitting the shoes, let's also bring in the LowerBody parts.
Unhide the LowerBody object, and then enter Local View (/).
Enter Edit Mode, and use the L key to select these parts.
Use P to seParate them out.
Return to Object Mode (you can switch back with the Tab key) and hide LowerBody, leaving only the legs and the Stockings.
Select ``LowerBody.001, and use `Tab` to enter `Edit Mode`.
Find the ring separating the Stockings from the legs, and Alt-click on one of the edges.
Last time we used Vertex -> Rip Vertices to separate the vertices, but we can also use the V key. To remember this, visualize the V as two lines separating and being ripped apart.
With the ring selected, press V and then Enter to confirm.
Then, use the L key and select the legs skins. Delete them with X.
You should be left with this.
Exit Local View (\) and return to Object Mode. Rename these objects to Stocking and Straps for now, and put them under meshGP.
In Object Mode, select the Straps, Leg Brace, and Bootes one at a time, and use the H key to hide each of them them. (You can remember this with H as Hide 😊).
You should be left with just the Stocking.
The Shrinkwrap modifier makes it so that a mesh will try to wrap around another mesh. We will use the Shrinkwrap modifier to help us wrap the stocking around the leg.
Select the stocking and enter Edit Mode.
Go to the Modifier tab, and add the Deform -> Shrinkwrap modifier.
Nothing will change in the viewport yet.
For Wrap Method, choose Target Normal Project.
For Snap Mode, choose Outside Surface.
For Target, search for uBody and the choose uBody_Base0AF_c000_Skin. At this point, you will notice something changing in the viewpoint.
For Offset, type in 0.005.
You should see something like this now:
Notice how the vertices are not matching where the stocking visually is now.
The Shrinkwrap modifier will try its best to wrap the stocking over the surface of the base body, without modifying the underlying vertices until the modifier is applied, which we will see later..
Now, we can edit the mesh with our usual tools to better position the mesh over the base body.
The stocking is a bit rotated compared to the Engage leg.
Make sure that the camera is facing straight on at the body by using the Navigation Gizmo
Use the A key to select all the vertices, then the R key to Rotate vertices to better match the leg angle. Click to confirm.
Don't worry if this messes up the shrinkwrap temporarily.
Then, use the G key to move it back to a better position.
There's still some parts of the shin showing. Use the Navigation Gizmo to switch to the side view.
Using the A key again to select everything, use R to rotate the leg to be more aligned, and then use G to move it back in place.
Go into Object Mode again and move the camera around a bit to inspect your work. If you wish, you can lower the offset below 0.005 for a tighter fit with the leg, though too close and the leg may start clipping through and you'll have to make more adjustments.
If there are any parts of the base skin poking out, you can return to Edit Mode and move some vertices so that it'll fit better.
Don't worry if this part of the stocking stripes looks a little warped - one of the Straps pieces will cover it later.
When you're happy with the results, make sure you're in Object Mode, and go to the Modifier tab and for Shrinkwrap, click the down arrow that is next to the little camera icon. Then click Apply. If Apply is greyed out for you, make sure you're actually in Object Mode.
Now, return to Edit Mode for the Stockings, and notice that the vertices have actually moved to be in line with where the stocking is visually.
For the Character1_Reference Armature on the Stocking, change it to be uBody_Base0AF_c000, go to the Vertex Groups tab and delete the existing groups.
Then, making sure you have the Stocking selected, use Robust Weight Transfer and Transfer Weights.
Select the Engage bones, and turn on Pose Position.
You should see something like this now.
If you aren't happy with the results, you can go back and adjust the fit of the stocking to your liking, but if you do, you must to retransfer the weights again.
Put the bones back into Rest position, and show the straps now by clicking its eye in the side panel.
In case you don't remember where the straps are supposed to go, here's a screenshot of the costume.
Jumping into UV mode for a bit and testing with the Mirror edit mode, we can actually see that the two larger leg straps are mirror images.
Back in Layout mode, use Select Box and grab this leg strap. Make sure Mirror editing is on for the X axis
Checking for the side view, we can see it isn't quite aligned with the leg.
Use G to move it a bit,
Then R to rotate it.
In my case, even after my adjustments, orbing the camera around to the back shows some clipping into the leg here.
Using the Navigation Gizmo, set a view that's straight on the back, and use the S key to scale the strap up a bit.
Then use G again to move it back in place.
Here it seems like the strap is a bit loose in the back.
Using alt-click, select the loop here.
Then with propotional editing turned on (O key is the shortcut), try moving it closer to the leg while constraining on the Y axis with the Y key.
Depending on the size of your sphere of influence, you may find that the smaller bottom strap we aren't intentionally editing is also affected. To mitigate this, you can turn on the "Connected Only" feature for proportional editing.
Repeat this fitting on the front side of the strap as well.
And for the sides, you can use the Select Box and a move.
Repeat what we did above for the smaller leg strap.
Here is my before and after:
Front
Side
Back
We can place this into a better position by selecting its vertices and using G to move them in place. Don't worry about it being perfect for now, as we'll be adjusting its position later after fitting the boots.
Before:
After:
Do the usual steps for weight transferring, and then test out the fit with an animation.
If you see any spots peeking out that you don't like, you can adjust the mesh in Edit Mode, retransfer weights, and preview again.
Show the leg brace again, and enter Edit Mode.
Using the techniques we've covered, position, scale, and rotate the leg brace to your liking. Remember to use Y, X, and Z to constrain your edits as needed.
I ended up with something like this:
Do a weight transfer and check how it looks.
Unhide the boots, and go to the front view.
We can see that the bootes aren't quite aligned with her feet. We can quickly fix this in Object Mode, so let's try moving the shoe over the foot with G.
But something is wrong! Both boots moved together and now the other shoe is very off.
This is because by moving in Object mode, we moved the entire object, origin point and all.
Going back to the Modifier tab and to our Mirror modifier, for Mirror Object, choose our uBody.
Now the mirror will be what we expect no matter where the bootes' own origin is.
Checking in the side view, we can see the shoes are a bit too far back.
This can also be rectified with a move.
Looking at the front, the toes are sticking out a bit.
We can enter mesh mode, and switch to top view. Using Select Box, and making sure you have X-Ray mode turned on (with Alt-Z), select the toe tips.
With Proportional Editing on, lengthen the shoes a bit, using Y to constrain the move.
If the side of the foot is sticking out a bit, you can select a vertex and pull it out out a bit with constrained move.
Like so.
In my case, the bottom of the foot was also sticking out a bit, so I just moved the shoe down, using G and Z to constrain.
When you're happy with where the boots are apply the Mirror modifier, which will make the mirrored boot real geometry again.
Afterwards, delete the existing vertex groups and do the weight transfer steps.
If part of your stocking is sticking out of the boot, you can go to edit mode for the stocking, select the vertices that should be covered by the boot, and delete them.
For me, this black spot on the shot was the Stockings sticking out.
Now, adjust the leg warmers if you need to. If you wish, you can separate it our with P for easier manipulation without messing up the other leg strap pieces. Remember to transfer weights again as needed if you make adjustments.
Here's how things look for our model now:
While we still have some pieces left, for now, we will move on to bringing this into Unity for a test build.
Apply the scaling for our new pieces.
Remember to export in Rest mode, with the right settings as described previously. If you have quit Blender since your last export, your settings will be reset.
Export over your FBX that's in the Unity project.
Going back to Unity, open your SampleScene if it isn't currently open.
Notice that unlike last time where the deleted Hoodie was immediately reflected in our model in the scene, this Unity-chan costume does not have our new parts.
However, if we click on the FBX file, the preview shows that indeed the new pieces are present.
Try dragging that FBX into the scene view.
Then click on the red arrow and put it next to your existing Unity-chan costume.
What's going on?
Twirl open both Unity-chan object meshGP objects.
From the hierarchy, we can see that the old prefab indeed doesn't have any of the new pieces. This happens because prefabs does not automatically update to include new pieces.
While it is possible to edit a prefab manually to add in the new pieces, it's often just quicker to remake the prefab entirely.
Navigate to Assets/Share/Addressables/Unit/Model/uBody/Unity0AF/c000/Prefabs/uBody_Unity0AF_c000.prefab in your Project window, and delete the prefab. If it was present in your Scene, you should also delete it there.
We have a new material to edit here as well, the bootes. Apply the textures the same way we covered before.
Then, repeat the prefab creation steps with the fresh FBX file.
When you're ready, build the model and load up the game.
Here's what we have now!
Now, let's finish off the rest of the costume back in Blender. Click here to continue.