Greetings,
Similar to the previous "Devlog 1," this time we will talk about the character design in the Alder Forge 2, and specifically the additions and changes from the previous entry and their implementation in the second.
This Devlog will focus on the character design in the Alder Forge 2 as a whole, but with the following specifications:
The process itself
The new skin and hair shaders
Hair physics
Cloth physics
Videos of three examples
The process is a bit similar to the previous entry except for the addition of two processes that add extra time compared to the previous entry, but one of them helps me gain more time during real-time animations, which I will explain when we get to "Hair Physics." The process is the following:
Research and moodboard building for the hairstyles, clothing, and jewelry/armor [Footnote 1]
Body preparation and Hair Design
Clothing design
Jewelry, Armor, or the design of both. [Footnote 2]
UV Mapping and Texturing
Paint skinning adjustment as a prep for rigging
Hair rigging
Root Motion Test
(Depending on the Character in Question) Their Weapon Design [Footnote 3]
Engine building
[Footnote 1] Separated research parts: Unlike the environment, for the characters I have to research each part on its own, starting from the hairstyle moodboard for a character, the clothing, and jewelry/armor if needed. [Footnote 2] Some characters require both jewelry and armor design, this comes a lot for armored female warriors in the story. [Footnote 3] Some characters require weapons as they either will be fighting against you, beside you, or just appearing in a battle cinematic.
Unlike the previous entry, which uses toon shaders, "Unlit" of course [Footnote 4], the Alder Forge 2 relies on both skin and hair shaders that react to the atmospheric light. Veterans of the Alder Forge who tried the Alder Forge 2 demo might have noticed the change in the skin and hair reaction to light.
These new skin and hair shaders are nothing new in similar games, but in the Alder Forge 2, they're not part of the global "CelShade," but they have a CelShade Code of their own.
Image Subject: Side by Side Comparison of Both the Old (2) and New (1) Skin Shaders
[Footnote 4] Unlit Toon Skin Shader: Is a shader that doesn't react to the atmospheric or any other type of light within the game engine.
This is the new addition to the Alder Forge 2, which is done differently than a normal skin weight painting [Footnote 5], but it is neither made for rigging or key framing animation [Footnote 6] purposes, as it relies on the game engine atmosphere, character movements, and the simulated wind itself to apply physics simulation on the hair.
Image Subject: Hair Bones (Highlighted) Prepared for the Hair Physics Simulation within the Game Engine.
If you want to see this process done from start to finish, please check the "Videos Example Section" in this Devlog, "The Crimson Witch Character Design."
[Footnote 5] Skin Weight Painting: This is the process used in linking a bone to geometry, so I can later on manipulate the bones to key-frame and produce animations.
[Footnote 6] Key Framing: This is the process where each bone is posed and key framed through a timeline through keys, and all the keys in a certain time through the whole time allocated for all of them form an animation.
PS: You might see these two processes in addition to rigging using "Inverse Kinematics" in the future, hopefully when we reach the Devlog about "Mob and Weapons Design."
This is the same process done in the previous entry, as it relies not on bones, but on divided planes with two-sided shaders applied to them. The process itself uses "X, Y, Z" data from each vertex [Footnote 7], and similar to the hair physics with their bones, the cloth movement is simulated in relation to the character movement, atmospheric reactions, and the simulated wind in the game engine.
Question: Why shouldn't I use this process for the hair, too?
Answer: If I was designing "Non-Anime" characters, I would, unfortunately for "Anime" characters, the hair is structured differently than the normal, because the folicles are not planes with custom made shaders that mimics the human hair (real one), but in anime characters, these are whole geometries, applying the cloth physics to the hair will work, but it wont look correct.
[Footnote 7] Vertex: This is the point in 3D space where two edges meet. The edges together form polygons. When 3 edges meet on 3 vertices, they form a "Tri," and when 4 edges meet in 4 vertices, they form a "Quad." The Alder Forge 2 environment, weapons, and characters are designed on a "Quad" structure.
The following are 3 examples of in-video character designs, recorded between late 2023 and early 2024:
Video Subject: William Character Design and Test
Video Subject: The Crimson Witch Character Design and Test.
Video Subject: NPC Design, example of "Morgana."
Thank you for reading Devlog 2, and your interest in this world, characters, and story.
Kind Regards,
Zine. E. Falouti