Hi
we made different topologies, For a topology usually one group is sufficient. The body itself. There are some cases when this will not work, demonstrated with the dress in this documentation:
http://www.makehumancommunity.org/wiki/Documentation:MakeClothes_Vertex-GroupsSo if you create a character with a fat belly it would be possible that the nearest vertices of some parts of the belly will be the arm. Then you should take more than one group. Nevertheless then you will have other problems with clothes later.
Topology mostly means more or less details. The
shape is normally made with targets (which are in fact identical to simple shape keys in Blender).
The pivot points of the skeleton must also fit to a topology, So you can't e.g. attach the arms in a lower position. So whatever you want to create: it could be you need both, a new topology AND a custom target.
Typical topologies are:
- less vertices for games
- a topology with more vertices for details (like muscles)
- the gender topologies
The weights for the bones are taken from the base mesh ... as long as you do not supply an own .mhw file.
A topology with more vertices than the basemesh might need an own .mhw file to work better with the skeleton.
Like here:
http://www.makehumancommunity.org/proxy/punkelvs_female_proxy1.htmlTo create sth like that is more complicated, because weighting is rather complex. I may add an article about that, if needed.
The topology of Ava in the assets is
inside the mesh (these are really clothes with delete groups). So the topology must not be bigger to cover something.
Normally it makes more sense to export (or use) only the new topology even when programs support to load both (additional topology and base-topology).
In mhx2 and also MPFB one can select base + topology (or "proxy") or only topology. Typically "only topology" is needed.
When you create an own topology which is bigger than the normal body what will happen with clothes?
Well that is interesting:
If the clothes delete the base-mesh under the clothes they will also delete the vertices attached from your topology. But ... I am pretty sure it will not work in some regions, like collar etc. so where the rims of the clothes are because parts will peek through.
So if it is not possible to create only the topology and do the custom targets later, what I would do is this:
- take one of the bodies with helper in makeclothes
- use MakeTarget to create a target/shape-key so it has a similar shape. If you want the character to wear clothes you need to deform both, body and helper.
- save this target
- keep a copy here
- go back to makeclothes, press delete helpers
- create the desired topology on this mesh with the target/shape-key activated(!)
- Keep a copy before you press the create clothes button, because the shape-key will be applied
- save the "clothes" / new topology
Working with a shape-key I explained here, we needed that for high-heels:
http://www.makehumancommunity.org/wiki/Documentation:CreateHeelsAfter loading the topology in MakeHuman you have to load the custom target as well and then "apply" it.