Hi all, I'm starting to make a 3d fighting game, but I don't know what is the appropiate size for the 3d models. What size in pixels should I make the plane which is going to contain my reference pic?

Also, in games like Tekken, you see that some characters has the same moves of others, even change between characters movesets during combat, how they do this, is it programming and not 3d animation related?

There isn't any form of using the same rig for varios models, right? You have to rig manually every single character, isn't it?

For the size of the model, it's polygon count that matters (you can scale a model to whatever size you want--this doesn't add any complexity to the object). I'm not sure what you mean by reference pic--are is the game in 3D, or are you rendering 3D models as a series of 2D sprites, with the sprites being what the game actually uses? If it's the latter, keeping them under 1024x1024 is a safe bet, although some PCs can handle significantly larger images.

When different characters share the same moves, I think it's a safe bet to say they're just using the same animation data. I haven't tried this myself, but I don't see any reason why any two models, given the same set of "bones," couldn't use the same data for an animation. It's just a matter of movement applied to vertices over time; the program should neither know nor care what those vertices represent, as long as they're present.

Pretty sure you can use the same rig for as many models as you want. I can't imagine why you couldn't. There are templates for humanoid models online, in fact. They look like mannequins or crash test dummies.

I'm not sure what you mean by reference pic-

Most models, especially characters are modeled on top of reference pictures that are dragged into the 2D viewport.

It doesn't matter what size they are, because the proportions will never change. Just drag them in, and line them up so that the front and side views match up. Don't worry about the scale until you are done. When you are happy with the model, remove the reference images and scale your model to whatever height you want. If you're using 1 unit to a meter, then your model will end up 1.8 units tall.

There isn't any form of using the same rig for various models, right? You have to rig manually every single character, isn't it?

You can use the same skeleton for all your characters with some exceptions. You can re-target, or even copy and paste the skeleton from one model to another. As long as the characters have the same number of joints.

Most models, especially characters are modeled on top of reference pictures that are dragged into the 2D viewport.

You know, I never even thought of doing that, despite having done something similar with satellite images back in architecture school (obligatory "don't go to architecture school" warning). Guess I learned something new.

Most models, especially characters are modeled on top of reference pictures that are dragged into the 2D viewport.

You know, I never even thought of doing that, despite having done something similar with satellite images back in architecture school (obligatory "don't go to architecture school" warning). Guess I learned something new.

Always work from reference.

Some people use images in the orhto views, and some people throw up textured planes into the 3D views.

Here are some popular figure references:
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryReferenceAnatomy?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=loomis_orthomale.jpg
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryReferenceAnatomy?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=loomis_orthofemale.jpg

There are also topology guides you can follow so you have a good idea of how your edge flow should be set up for good deformation.

Thanks for the answers.

So, in what units should I have the 3d max set to? centimeters maybe? If you change the units in the mid of a work, what happens to the model, how adopt that units?

You can use the same skeleton if the models have the same joints, and the same size isn't it? If it is not the same size, I suppose you can alter the skeleton accordingly, but in any case, you have to skin every single model right?

I work at 1 unit = 1 meter. But this doesn't matter. Whatever works for you. A lot of tools standardize on 1u = 1m though.

A skeleton joint for the most part just rotates. When you attach a finger mesh to a finger join, and then move that joint 90 degrees, it just means all the vertices attached to it move 90 degrees too.

It doesn't matter how big the skeletons or characters are. Every vertex just takes on the rotation from the bone(s) it references.

Thanks for the responses XD