Continuing Runtime FBX importer Part 2 (Patreon)

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving break. I made lots of progress with model importing framework for the new character system.

As I said before, we are going to be using fbx files instead of viva cards because they are much faster to decompress, easier to work with, and allow for full customization. Also, many MMD models can be converted to fbx from pmx files.

As a test I downloaded a Hestia model and began hacking away at the AutoDesk fbx documentation to understand how to read fbx files at runtime.

This is when I got the mesh working:

This is when I got the deformations working:

And this is when I got textures binding with the new system working:

Currently, all fbx importing is done in a multi-threaded manner for performance and to reduce framerate spikes when playing in VR.

Now that I have character models importing properly, I will be working on a way to convert them into ragdolls so they can be influenced by physics like regular Viva characters. An interesting challenge however is the fact that many character models differ in armature bones. As in, some models have more bones on their spine or neck. Or maybe some have long ears and others don't. Therefore I will be focusing on binding only the most important limbs (hand, wrist, arm, shoulder, spine, thigh, leg, and foot) in an automated way.

The current roadmap is as follows:

• Custom model importing
• Ragdoll binding
• Custom animation importing
• Ragdoll animating
• Custom scripting
• Recreate headpat/handholding/etc. in this new robust system
• Release mod tools in a beta
• Community goes nuts with modding (hopefully not too nuts)

Stay tuned!