Skinned Mesh

A  skinned mesh is an object that can contain both mesh geometry and animation data. It is usually used for rendering characters with a bone-based animation or a morph target animation (also known as blend shapes).

The animation data and the mesh geometry can be stored in a single .mesh file or in separate .mesh and .anim files. Separate files are usually used for complex objects with a number of animation (for example, characters), single file is usually used for simple objects (for example, lift doors).

Skinned meshes are created in the third-party graphics programs (such as 3ds Max, Maya, etc.) and can be converted to the Unigine native format via plugins to 3D editors (.mesh and .anim).

Most of the operations with the skinned mesh are performed via scripts, but you can do some of them via UnigineEditor:

• Add a skinned mesh
• Load a skinned mesh and animation
• Adjust animation settings

See Also#

To add a skinned mesh to the scene via UnigineEditor, do the following:

1. Run UnigineEditor.
2. On the Menu bar, click Create -> Mesh -> Skinned.

   

3. In the dialog window that opens, choose the path to the .mesh file.
4. Place the mesh somewhere in the world.

To replace a loaded skinned mesh with a new one, do the following:

1. Choose the mesh in the World Hierarchy window and go to the Node tab of the Parameters window.
2. In the Mesh Skinned section, choose the path to the new .mesh file in the Mesh field.

To add animation or replace the existing with a new one via UnigineEditor, do the following:

1. Choose the mesh in the World Hierarchy window and go to the Node tab of the Parameters window.
2. In the Mesh Skinned section, choose the path to a new .anim file in the Preview Animation field.

You can perform the following operations with skinned meshes animation via UnigineEditor:

Bone hierarchy of your skinned mesh is displayed in the Bones section of the Parameters window.

Each bone of a skinned mesh can be bound to a separate node to control its transformation giving you a lot of flexibility. For example, you can animate these nodes via the Tracker tool or enable physics-based control over skinned mesh bones binding them to nodes driven by physics.

Vizualize Bones	Enable visualizer for bones and their basis vectors to monitor your settings while adjusting them. The visualizer is rendered even when a skinned mesh is not selected in the World Nodes hierarchy, making it possible to show positions of bones for multiple meshes simultaneously. Notice The global Visualizer is enabled automatically, when you check this option.
Create Dummy Hierarchy	Creates a hierarchy of dummy nodes for the skinned mesh, where each node has the same name and transform as the corresponding bone and is bound to it with default settings. Notice The hierarchy can also be generated for selected bones only.
Bind Node	Node whose transformation is used to control the transformation of the bone.
Node Transform Basis	Defines which transformation of the bound node (World or Local) is to be used to override the transformation of the selected bone.
Bone Transform Basis	Defines which transformation of the selected bone is to be overridden by the node's transformation: world coordinates coordinates relative to the skinned mesh object coordinates of the parent bone
Bind Mode	Defines the type of blending of node's and bone's transformations: Override - replace bone's transformation with the transformation of the node. Additive - node's transformation is added to the current transformation of the bone.
Position Offset	Translation part of the additional transformation matrix applied to the node's transformation before applying it to bone's transformation. This parameter serves for the purpose of additional correction of the node's transform for the bone's basis.
Rotation Offset	Rotation part of the additional transformation matrix applied to the node's transformation before applying it to bone's transformation. This parameter serves for the purpose of additional correction of the node's transform for the bone's basis.
Scale Offset	Scaling part of the additional transformation matrix applied to the node's transformation before applying it to bone's transformation. This parameter serves for the purpose of additional correction of the node's transform for the bone's basis.
Reset Node Transform	Resets initial node transformation.
Reset Bone Transform	Reset bone transformation. This button is used to restore initial transformation of the bone after modifying it via a bound node.

Updating each frame a huge number of objects located far away from the camera that are hardly distinguishable or observed as a mass is a waste of resources.

To improve performance and avoid the excessive load, animation playback can be updated with a reduced framerate. When the player is out of the area specified by the Update Distance Limit, the animation stops to be updated and freezes statically.

The set of frame rates enables you to specify how often the animation playback should be updated when the object is visible, when only the shadow of the Skinned Mesh is visible, or when it is not visible at all.

This feature is enabled with default settings ensuring optimum performance and can be adjusted per-object in the UnigineEditor or via API at run time.