[FF7PC] Meteor - Character Overhaul Project

[cmh175]

Meteor is a PBR Character and Animation Overhaul Project. I’m going through the game and making new stylized PBR models with new skeletons and animations that support deformation, including fully animated hands and faces. I’ll do the NPCs, enemies, and bosses as well as the main characters. I'll share info as I go along detailing each step for those who are interested in how game characters are made.

Meteor will also have optional features for randomized enemies and additional NPC's to add more variety to the game. I'll texture alternate versions of enemies that'll be randomized, and add new NPC models using Makou Reactor so you won't see models reused so much, particularly on the same field. I'll also add animation support for Echo-S so characters speak and emote properly with their dialogue.
 
WIP shots below are similar to what you can expect from completed models. I’ll replace them though with the first updated character.

WIP shots below are similar to what you can expect from completed models. I’ll replace them though with the first updated character. 

 

[ff7maniac]

if you rework all the characters in this way, it will be awsome

 

[WolfMan]

I cannot wait to see some more progress.

 

[cmh175]

Hey guys, sorry for the delay, being a new dad has kept me pretty busy lately and we'll be moving soon so things have been crazy. I finally finalized the style I’m going with and finished my main blockout I’ll use to model characters with. Concepting took awhile to figure out the design I want, from here things will progress much faster and future characters will take a fraction of the time. I decided to start at the beginning of the game and go in order of appearance, but I'm going to finish Cloud first so the remaining characters will match his style and appearance. I just need to finish getting the anatomy right, I think the arms need to be a tad longer and the hands are about 10% too small. Cloud has really long legs though so it’s throwing me off a bit. From there I’ll start detailing the face. I’m both excited and dreading to do his hair lol.

 

[Salk]

Nice update!

Thanks.

 

[cmh175]

Hi everyone, I have a big announcement for Meteor detailing a slight change in direction. The first post details the project overall, but the cliff notes are Meteor will now consist of detailed PBR models made from the games original models, and Kaldarasha’s Chaos models. Overall, the change is to help speed up progress, allowing me to do multiple characters a month, instead of just one at best, and make the models better work in game (like 2D eyes that can blink, instead of 3D eyes that can't). I'll start posting updates for Meteor as early as next week, as well as share a streaming schedule for those who'd like to join and see these models made live. I might start streaming next week, but I'm on my second day of a COVID diagnosis, so I may push it to August 1st if I don't feel up to it. 


Meteor will also support a new mod I'm working on, Reanimation. I'm going to be updating the models with more detailed skeletons, allowing me to animate things that would otherwise be static, like hands and fingers. The new animations will be far more detailed and lifelike, and 60 fps.

 

[Salk]

Thanks for the update and best of luck getting rid of that awful virus.

 

[Kuraudo]

Ambitious project. Would be interesting to see a twitch live and a first character out to understand better how it looks.

I can imagine new animations like collecting a materia? Promising indeed!

 

[cmh175]

It's been a long time so I wanted to share an update regarding Meteor. I've completed a few characters that I'm pretty happy with, but models with this level of detail don't look right in game. The seams in the cut pieces of the body are harder to hide, and they look more like mannequins than people with their unmoving eyes and hands. If I'm also being honest I'm tired of cutting models and using tools like Kimera. With the traditional method, models like Nino's look and fit better. So unfortunately for the time being Meteor will be mostly on hold either until we have a new modded game engine from Unity or Unreal, or the original can support external characters and animation files with smooth skinning and deformation. I won't be importing these traditionally for 7H. I'll keep working on characters and animations in the meantime, but it'll be awhile until I can share them. This functionality, as well as modded game engines has been in the works for sometime, but it's unclear if and when it'll be available for use.

For now, here's a few WIP shots. Some of these are older and I haven't done official renders yet, as things progress I'll share more completed work. Cloud is done, I need to paint and bake the textures for his hair and clothes, but otherwise the model is done and animates well. I've done his buster sword, and I'll do a full set of the rest.

Tifa and Barret are modeled and animate well too, but I still need to do props, clothing, and hair. Tifa also only has skin detail sculpted, I haven't painted it yet (that's why she has such a tan lol).

Animation tests with Tifa, I already fixed her eyes. Note: I hadn't made clothes yet when I tested the rig, so yes she's naked. She doesn't have genitals and looks like a barbie doll, but if you consider it NSFW or inappropriate than don't watch the google drive videos. I apologize, I haven't gotten around to recording another animation test so this was all I had. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z2F3R8wy7L_HyATdY6o6vZ9-W9g_6EHt/view

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rgn8Lkeitt8X3E2YaGfzTMEJ3MRAIcfO/view

I use a tool with a default mannequin that's already rigged, and then project my characters onto it using zWrap, so these models are already rigged and skinned, and have blendshapes to support facial motion capture, so after retargeting the animations from the game they'll be a lot more detailed in a relatively short period of time. I'm looking forward to really kicking this off once they can be used in game, hopefully that can happen sometime soon.