Trying new workflow (& Tifa x Aerith preview)! (Patreon)

I'm trying a "mannequin" workflow now. Basically I hit a button to turn the characters into a bunch of disjointed pieces, where the pieces are all directly following animation bones. This drastically reduces CPU because it isn't actually processing how the character model would stretch and deform with the different bones moving around. It's just hard, rigid shells for each body part, kinda like armor.

Of course, there's many things I can't see properly here, as you can tell. But at least I can do 90% of the motions here with a really good framerate and have a much better work experience. Then I can do the precision skin work, facial animations, and finally simulations in a 2nd stage of work. The goal is not to waste time on simulations in the early stages, and make sure I'm focusing on raw animation first!