Post by Admin on Sept 18, 2015 15:38:17 GMT
A DK UMA Element is a blue print created from a UMA Element.
This blue print contains the advanced options for the users to prepare the element to be used by the DK UMA Engine to create an avatar without writing a single line of code.
A UMA Element has to be ready to work with UMA2. You have to prepare it the normal way as required by the UMA 2 engine.
When your UMA2 Element is ready to be used by the UMA2 Engine :
Use the 'Elements Manager' window to create a DK UMA element from a UMA2 element.
The original UMA2 element will be linked to the DK UMA Element.
Both need to have the same internal name.
You only can change the name of the asset file from the project.
The UMA2 Slot and its associated UMA2 Overlay requires to have the same UMA Material.
UMA2 is using PBR, the PBR UMA material is :
UMA_Diffuse_Normal_Metallic
Select a DK UMA slot using the 'Elements Manager' window, then use the 'Prepare' tab of the DK UMA Editor.
Editing a DK slot :
The DK Race(s) :
Open the Races window by clicking on the 'Open Races List' button. The Race window allows you to add a DK Race one by one or all of them for your element to be use by them during the generation of an Avatar. You also can remove DK Race(s) using the Race window. An element without a race will not be used at generation.
The Gender :
Make the element to be used and generated for a female or a male Avatar. You can make it to be used by 'Both' of them, but is is not the more common usage of a slot.
The Overlay Type :
It is the first important setting of an element's configuration, it determines the type of DK Overlays that this slot is able to use.
The Overlay type is also used by the 'Elements Manager' to sort the elements during the preparation of the DK libraries stored in the various races and in the 'DK UMA Game Settings' of your project.
About the 'Body' parts :
Flesh :
The Feet, Legs, Torso, Hands slots of the naked model have to be configured as a 'Flesh' Overlay type. Doing so they are able to share the same 'Flesh' Overlay and color (the color can be automaticaly generated or be dependent of a Color Preset, see chapter D and H for more information).
Face :
Actually, UMA 2 uses 2 kind of Head slots.
The first is a complete Head, including the mouth, eyelids, ears and nose in a single mesh.
The second is composed by multiple meshes.
The Head of an Avatar is composed by a single 'Face' slot (to be placed at the 'Head' Place, see below about the 'Place' of a slot) and multiple 'Face' and Face+Elem slots.
The '+Elem' face slots have to be placed at the corresponding place :
A Mouth is of Overlay type 'Face+Elem' and its place must be set to 'Mouth'.
The Ears are of Overlay type 'Face+Elem' and the place must be set to 'Ears'.
The Eyelids are of Overlay type 'Face+Elem' and the place must be set to 'Eyelid'.
And so go on for the rest of the face elements.
If the 'Face+Elem' slot is designed to be associated to an overlay, it is better to link this overlay to the slot, see below about the Linked Overlay option.
Hair :
If your slot is a hair element, the Overlay type must be 'Hair' and its place must be 'Hair'. The hair slot is probably associated with an overlay, so it is recommanded to verify and link it to the slot using the Linked Overlay option.
+Elem :
Hair modules can be added to an Avatar during the generation. The Hair Module slot has to be of the 'Hair+Elem' Overlay type and its place is the 'Hair_Module' Anatomy part. Same as the 'Face+Elem' slots, it may need an associated overlay. If it is the case, add it using the Link Overlay option.
The 'Eyes' Overlay type is made for the eye globes slot (without eyelids). Its place is 'Eyes'.
About the 'Wears' Overlay types :
They determine the kind of DK Overlay used by a wear slot such as a shirt or pants during the random generation of an avatar using the DK UMA Editor.
A wear slot is generally of the same 'Place' name than it's Overlay type.
Selecting a wear Overlay type for your slot will display the 'Weight' menu. The weight of a slot is used during the preparation of the creation of your Avatar(s) in the 'Create' tab of the Editor and the Generator use it to select the slots and overlays to generate.
The 'Replace the flesh anatomy part by this one' button :
In some cases your wear slot is totally covering a 'Flesh' slot, you can remove the 'Flesh' slot during the generation by activating the 'Replace' Option of your selected wear slot.
The 'Hide' options of the various wear slots:
Selecting a wear overlay type will display the 'Hide' options to prevent the corresponding slots to be beyond the mesh of the wear slots.
Head :
You can remove the Ears, the mouth or the hair and hair modules, Beard and collar.
Torso:
You can remove the shoulders, the legs, the belt, the arm bands, the wrist, the collar, the cloak and the backpack.
Legs:
You can remove the belt, the leg bands and the underwear.
Hands:
You can remove the rings and the wrist.
The Legacy Slot(s) :
'Legacy' slots are slots added to the avatar by an 'Elder' slot.
It is required for a legacy slot to have a 'Linked Overlay' assigned to it for the texture.
Example 1 :
A T-shirt can let appear some polygons of the mesh of the Torso flesh. To fixe that, you can remove the mesh of the Torso flesh using the 'Replace the flesh anatomy part by this one' option, removing the arms at the same time, the result is unvisible arms... Not a correct result.
You can fixe that problem using the Legacy Slot option, assigning some arms slot to be generated for the avatar.
Click on the 'Uses Legacy slot(s)' button, then select the slot to be the Legacy slot.
Example 2 :
Some long hair can be designedd by the 3D artist to be used with a second slot such as a bind. The 2 slots are separated because the hair is using a texture and a color, the bind is using another texture and another color. Assign the bind as a legacy slot to the hair slot.
Example 3 :
The Legacy slot option can be usefull to generate some accessories for the avatar. A belt can have a bag associated to it as a Legacy slot.
The Place :
The 'Place of a slot is the 'Anatomy Part' for the slot to be generated. You can create a new 'Anatomy Part', to do so you have to go in the 'DK Engine' menu from the 'Prepare' tab (See the H chapter for more information).
A slot needs a 'Place' to be generated. Click on the 'Choose' button to display the list of all the 'Anatomy Part' handled by the current 'Generator Preset' (learn more about the Generator Presets in the H chapter).
During the generation of an Avatar, only one slot is generated for each 'Place' (Anatomy Part) then a DK Overlay is generation for it, depending on the Linked Overlay.
'Overlay' (The Linked Overlay) :
The Linked Overlay(s) is used by the Generator to create a list of the associated overlays designed to be used with the selected DK slot. Then one overlay is selected from the list and applied to the slot.
Almost all the 'Wear' slots have an associated overlay.
The 'Flesh' slots do not use linked overlays.
Verify if the slot is associated to an overlay, the easiest way to do so is to write the name of the slot into the search field of the 'Elements Manager' window.
Be sure to display the Overlay list to be able to verify if an overlay has the same name as the slot.
This blue print contains the advanced options for the users to prepare the element to be used by the DK UMA Engine to create an avatar without writing a single line of code.
A UMA Element has to be ready to work with UMA2. You have to prepare it the normal way as required by the UMA 2 engine.
When your UMA2 Element is ready to be used by the UMA2 Engine :
Use the 'Elements Manager' window to create a DK UMA element from a UMA2 element.
The original UMA2 element will be linked to the DK UMA Element.
Both need to have the same internal name.
You only can change the name of the asset file from the project.
The UMA2 Slot and its associated UMA2 Overlay requires to have the same UMA Material.
UMA2 is using PBR, the PBR UMA material is :
UMA_Diffuse_Normal_Metallic
Select a DK UMA slot using the 'Elements Manager' window, then use the 'Prepare' tab of the DK UMA Editor.
Editing a DK slot :
The DK Race(s) :
Open the Races window by clicking on the 'Open Races List' button. The Race window allows you to add a DK Race one by one or all of them for your element to be use by them during the generation of an Avatar. You also can remove DK Race(s) using the Race window. An element without a race will not be used at generation.
The Gender :
Make the element to be used and generated for a female or a male Avatar. You can make it to be used by 'Both' of them, but is is not the more common usage of a slot.
The Overlay Type :
It is the first important setting of an element's configuration, it determines the type of DK Overlays that this slot is able to use.
The Overlay type is also used by the 'Elements Manager' to sort the elements during the preparation of the DK libraries stored in the various races and in the 'DK UMA Game Settings' of your project.
About the 'Body' parts :
Flesh :
The Feet, Legs, Torso, Hands slots of the naked model have to be configured as a 'Flesh' Overlay type. Doing so they are able to share the same 'Flesh' Overlay and color (the color can be automaticaly generated or be dependent of a Color Preset, see chapter D and H for more information).
Face :
Actually, UMA 2 uses 2 kind of Head slots.
The first is a complete Head, including the mouth, eyelids, ears and nose in a single mesh.
The second is composed by multiple meshes.
The Head of an Avatar is composed by a single 'Face' slot (to be placed at the 'Head' Place, see below about the 'Place' of a slot) and multiple 'Face' and Face+Elem slots.
The '+Elem' face slots have to be placed at the corresponding place :
A Mouth is of Overlay type 'Face+Elem' and its place must be set to 'Mouth'.
The Ears are of Overlay type 'Face+Elem' and the place must be set to 'Ears'.
The Eyelids are of Overlay type 'Face+Elem' and the place must be set to 'Eyelid'.
And so go on for the rest of the face elements.
If the 'Face+Elem' slot is designed to be associated to an overlay, it is better to link this overlay to the slot, see below about the Linked Overlay option.
Hair :
If your slot is a hair element, the Overlay type must be 'Hair' and its place must be 'Hair'. The hair slot is probably associated with an overlay, so it is recommanded to verify and link it to the slot using the Linked Overlay option.
+Elem :
Hair modules can be added to an Avatar during the generation. The Hair Module slot has to be of the 'Hair+Elem' Overlay type and its place is the 'Hair_Module' Anatomy part. Same as the 'Face+Elem' slots, it may need an associated overlay. If it is the case, add it using the Link Overlay option.
The 'Eyes' Overlay type is made for the eye globes slot (without eyelids). Its place is 'Eyes'.
About the 'Wears' Overlay types :
They determine the kind of DK Overlay used by a wear slot such as a shirt or pants during the random generation of an avatar using the DK UMA Editor.
A wear slot is generally of the same 'Place' name than it's Overlay type.
Selecting a wear Overlay type for your slot will display the 'Weight' menu. The weight of a slot is used during the preparation of the creation of your Avatar(s) in the 'Create' tab of the Editor and the Generator use it to select the slots and overlays to generate.
The 'Replace the flesh anatomy part by this one' button :
In some cases your wear slot is totally covering a 'Flesh' slot, you can remove the 'Flesh' slot during the generation by activating the 'Replace' Option of your selected wear slot.
The 'Hide' options of the various wear slots:
Selecting a wear overlay type will display the 'Hide' options to prevent the corresponding slots to be beyond the mesh of the wear slots.
Head :
You can remove the Ears, the mouth or the hair and hair modules, Beard and collar.
Torso:
You can remove the shoulders, the legs, the belt, the arm bands, the wrist, the collar, the cloak and the backpack.
Legs:
You can remove the belt, the leg bands and the underwear.
Hands:
You can remove the rings and the wrist.
The Legacy Slot(s) :
'Legacy' slots are slots added to the avatar by an 'Elder' slot.
It is required for a legacy slot to have a 'Linked Overlay' assigned to it for the texture.
Example 1 :
A T-shirt can let appear some polygons of the mesh of the Torso flesh. To fixe that, you can remove the mesh of the Torso flesh using the 'Replace the flesh anatomy part by this one' option, removing the arms at the same time, the result is unvisible arms... Not a correct result.
You can fixe that problem using the Legacy Slot option, assigning some arms slot to be generated for the avatar.
Click on the 'Uses Legacy slot(s)' button, then select the slot to be the Legacy slot.
Example 2 :
Some long hair can be designedd by the 3D artist to be used with a second slot such as a bind. The 2 slots are separated because the hair is using a texture and a color, the bind is using another texture and another color. Assign the bind as a legacy slot to the hair slot.
Example 3 :
The Legacy slot option can be usefull to generate some accessories for the avatar. A belt can have a bag associated to it as a Legacy slot.
The Place :
The 'Place of a slot is the 'Anatomy Part' for the slot to be generated. You can create a new 'Anatomy Part', to do so you have to go in the 'DK Engine' menu from the 'Prepare' tab (See the H chapter for more information).
A slot needs a 'Place' to be generated. Click on the 'Choose' button to display the list of all the 'Anatomy Part' handled by the current 'Generator Preset' (learn more about the Generator Presets in the H chapter).
During the generation of an Avatar, only one slot is generated for each 'Place' (Anatomy Part) then a DK Overlay is generation for it, depending on the Linked Overlay.
'Overlay' (The Linked Overlay) :
The Linked Overlay(s) is used by the Generator to create a list of the associated overlays designed to be used with the selected DK slot. Then one overlay is selected from the list and applied to the slot.
Almost all the 'Wear' slots have an associated overlay.
The 'Flesh' slots do not use linked overlays.
Verify if the slot is associated to an overlay, the easiest way to do so is to write the name of the slot into the search field of the 'Elements Manager' window.
Be sure to display the Overlay list to be able to verify if an overlay has the same name as the slot.