Support for Game Engine Rig/Materials

[LimaneGaya]

I just discovered CharMorph coming from MB-lab and it really was a good surprise for me as it improves on the character creation experience.
This issue is a proposal to add a better export support for game engines. Right now, materials are split and bump maps are used instead of normal maps. It'd be great if compatible materials are added.
Maybe an option to export normal maps instead of bump?
A rig similar to the one in MB-lab would be great too, predefined facial expressions controllable with slider and simple body rig with IK.

Thanks for considering this!

[Hopefullyidontgetbanned]

You can manually create the normal maps in various software including blender itself, materials and rigs depends on the characters but we are currently are developing a character that has much better game engine support. Which includes blendshapes/expression shape keys. We choose to use Bump/displacement maps because they are cheaper to store, is easier to do procedural effects with can be interchangeable with displacement shaders for very high end renders.

[LimaneGaya]

I understand the use case for bump maps, like you mentioned it's not hard to generate normals from it.

I can't wait to try the new character you're working on, is there an expected realease date when we can try it out ?

[Hopefullyidontgetbanned]

Not at the current time, It won't take too long but giving a release date at this point is not feasible.

[metaleap]

I can't wait to try the new character you're working on

Seconded! For game-readyness reasons. Hereby subscribed =)

[OkyDooky]

One game engine to target is Armory3D, since it uses Blender as its user-facing SDK environment, instead of being stand-alone. And having a tool to quickly prototype characters will make it easier and more appealing for people to try it. And it'll benefit both tools by improving the number of users of each.

[Hopefullyidontgetbanned]

True UPBGE and Armory3D are options, however people already set or familiar with an engine cannot switch it upon a whim. So I'd suggest finding an ideal workflow between blender and the engine of choice, we will try and smooth over the process in the meantime. Right time my focus is working within Blender itself and the UX and quality inside Blender, then it can be transferred over to other software.

[OkyDooky]

To be fair, you can easily switch engines on a whim when you are creating a new project and are wanting to learn something rather than jump into being production-ready.
Aside from giving Armory a boost, the main reason I recommended adding it to the list of engines to target for compatibility is that it already uses Blender and is compatible with its existing material system. So, it should be trivial to ensure that CharMorph is 100% compatible with it. At least, it should be less work than targeting other engines.

Again, just so there's no misunderstanding, I'm not saying to focus on Armory (or UPBGE) instead of others, but just to add it to any real or mental list of engines to intentionally ensure compatibility with. And I understand you're working on your own schedule, so I don't want this to come across as demanding anything.

Thanks for making this tool! It's a real lifesaver.