Joint Controlled Materials

lancelmartin_cf51987037

Importing morphs via morph loader doesn't always do the trick.  I'm trying to get the detail of a spine to show up only when the abdomen is bent forward.  As you can see, the first image is the final result I'm looking for and the 2nd is the base mesh.  All the detail is lost in a morph transfer.  So it appears to me there are two options. 

1.  Hi resolution morph imports.  People been asking for this for years and I don't see it happening.

2.  Joint controlled materials.  If there was a way to make a normal or bump map scalar and assign it to a joint this would accomplish that mission.  So all the maps for a figure would load but the one's that are assigned to a joint would only go to 100% if/when a joint they're assigned to is bent.

Syrus_Dante

Something similar was asked here: Are dynamic wrinkle maps possible?

Conclusion: you can use the LIE (Layered Image Editor) in the Surface tab and utilitize the LIE opacity slider on patches of normal maps. The LIE opacity slider can't be controlled by a joint. Maybe its possible to save the patches with the same resolution as the original texture but with transparent backround like within the PNG Alpha channel.

It is not just the spine, also the shoulder blades, the ribcage and the hip bone should be visible pushed out in certain bends. My idea on this would be to use a lowres skeleton with the same rigging like the genesis figure, fitted into the genesis figure. Next you have to fit the genesis figure to the skeleton and use this to pose and animate the figure. Then it would be possible to use the smoothing modifier with some collision settings to let the genesis figure collide with the skeleton and let it move and push out under the skin of the genesis figure on some bends. The skeleton in question dosnt have to be complete I would leave out the skull and the limbs.