To help you get started with your custom assets, we've created a sample Blender model for you to download and inspect.
Download the Sample Blender Model
It includes two basic gameplay-fitted sized blank characters, and one full character.
Overall Mobile Style
When possible, duplicate an already existing character for the base for modeling. For easier testing, position the character to where the Rigs are positioned.
Objects not meant to be mirrored can be separate objects until finalizing (ie. hair).
Polish
Character assets in HypeHype currently support a maximum of 75 bones.
Bone names with underscores are not deform-type, and won’t be exported, therefore are not taken into account when calculating the maximum amount of bones available.
Currently, the maximum number of deform bones in one rig is 60.
IK bones stand for Inverse Kinematics, and are configured in bone constraints of bones like arm_1 and leg_1.
PT bones stand for Pole Target, and are used by IK to determine pole direction of “limbs”.
Refer to the example character rig to see how they work!
Due to current technical limitations, one vertex can only be assigned to four bones. It can be examined in Vertex editing mode, by choosing one vertex.
Quick way to limit this is to choose all of the vertices, and running this command.
The weights on each vertex are also limited to a normalized value of 1.0. No vertex should have less or more than 1.0 of total weights.
To normalize all vertices to this limit is to choose all of the vertices, and running the command as per the image.
Animations are considered their own assets in HypeHype, as they can be used by any rigged model. It usually is good to create animations for the default character type.
Animations are made as Actions. Be sure to mark Fake Users to each Action that you want to save, and name them how users should see them. “Soccer Kick” for example.
Animation keys utilize Position and Rotation, but not yet Scale. Best is to key all deform bones to start and end of the Action. Both start and end keys should be identical for smoother transition, but HypeHype will interpolate animation switching either way.
For better quality, enable cyclic animation setting, and make sure interpolation is smooth (linear, bezier etc). Animation FPS should be 30 in Blender.
Range for an animation usually should be between 5 and 50, but longer animations are supported too.
Character assets collisions are usually Capsules. Capsule collision is generated in the engine, and uses the normal capsule collision for it. It is important to match the pivot of the character model and rig with the collision’s pivot.
Capsule collisions should be made using cylinders, because the engine generates a sphere on top of it, to create a full capsule collision to be used by physics. When making a capsule collision, make a cylinder that is mirrored to the bottom.
The image displays the red areas are generated, and white is actual mesh. Utilize this knowledge to determine the height and width of the collision to match the character!
You can color the character model in two ways: via material mapping, or using a custom texture. With material mapping, the model needs to be colored using the material mapping method explained in Asset Creation instructions. Only 4 materials are supported, so it is recommended to remove unused materials from the model in Blender before using the HypePaint plugin.
If you want to use custom textures instead, make sure that the model has a maximum of 1 vertex color in use, and that it is correctly unwrapped. HypePaint is not recommended, because it overrides both properties. For detailed steps, follow the Textures instructions.