I would certainly like a way for Scabbards and Sheaths to be added in somehow.
The way I've seen this explained, weapons are animated costume pieces similar to wings, but only have two frames of animation - visible and invisible. I have to wonder, then, if weapons can't be made in two parts, or can't come with an extra item that would have two frames of animation, itself - empty and with a weapon in it.
Of course, Standard Code Rant applies, but I do agree it would be cool.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
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It'd certainly be nice to have.
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Obstacles
The biggest one I see is that, AFAIK, we only have one "waist" attachment point. So a waist-mounted sheath would have to override any other waist item choice, and the graphic would have to include the appropriate belt/strap/baldric/etc. But we have plenty of other mutually exclusive costume choices, and someday, when they add more anchor points to the basic character skeleton, they could give us a second waist anchor, and move the belts/straps/baldrics/etc. to the appropriate menus.
I don't think we'll see them in the next issue or so, but this is one way Scabbards, Sheaths and Holsters could be implemented with the existing system.
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You're also forgetting that, thanks to weapon customization, not all weapons look the same any more. Using the system you describe, the grips of Rularuu's Fang and the Rikti Katana would be identical to the grip of the Legacy Katana, which, while being explainable within the confines of roleplay, is going to look goofy to the guy who actually wants to see his hard earned Rularuu's Fang hanging off of his back. The only way I can see around this is to directly link the sheath to the weapon. If you choose the Legacy Katana, you get the Legacy Katana sheath, possibly recolored.
The other problem with the sheaths is that rigid items close to the body don't work well, especially when they're across parts of the body that are going to be moving a lot. Whenever the characters bend backwards, the sheath would disappear into their back (and possibly appear out the other side). Whenever they bend forward, it would either float off of their back (if the attachment point is high on the back) or pass through the upper portion of their torso (if the attachment point is lower). In order to avoid these issues (it still wouldn't avoid all of them like when the torso turns quickly and the cape passes through limbs), the sheath would have to use similar mechanics to the cape, which wouldn't work because a sheath is supposed to be rigid.
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The way I've seen this explained, weapons are animated costume pieces similar to wings, but only have two frames of animation - visible and invisible. I have to wonder, then, if weapons can't be made in two parts, or can't come with an extra item that would have two frames of animation, itself - empty and with a weapon in it.
Of course, Standard Code Rant applies, but I do agree it would be cool.
[/ QUOTE ]Even better. The sheath would be, like you say, the same thing, and use the exact same triggers the weapon does.
Agreed, Standard Code Rant, but that means the mechanics are truly already there. It would still require additional pieces to be drawn, and there's probably a strong overlap between it being a weapon animation and it being a costume piece. But it still could happen within the existing engine.
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Obstacles
The biggest one I see is that, AFAIK, we only have one "waist" attachment point. So a waist-mounted sheath would have to override any other waist item choice, and the graphic would have to include the appropriate belt/strap/baldric/etc. But we have plenty of other mutually exclusive costume choices, and someday, when they add more anchor points to the basic character skeleton, they could give us a second waist anchor, and move the belts/straps/baldrics/etc. to the appropriate menus.
I don't think we'll see them in the next issue or so, but this is one way Scabbards, Sheaths and Holsters could be implemented with the existing system.
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You're also forgetting that, thanks to weapon customization, not all weapons look the same any more. Using the system you describe, the grips of Rularuu's Fang and the Rikti Katana would be identical to the grip of the Legacy Katana, which, while being explainable within the confines of roleplay, is going to look goofy to the guy who actually wants to see his hard earned Rularuu's Fang hanging off of his back. The only way I can see around this is to directly link the sheath to the weapon. If you choose the Legacy Katana, you get the Legacy Katana sheath, possibly recolored.
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Actually, I covered that under "Graphics":
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There would have to be a sheath version for each version of the weapon, to show the proper hilt/butt/handle, and the portion of the weapon that's still visible would use the colors specified for the weapon itself.
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The other problem with the sheaths is that rigid items close to the body don't work well, especially when they're across parts of the body that are going to be moving a lot. Whenever the characters bend backwards, the sheath would disappear into their back (and possibly appear out the other side). Whenever they bend forward, it would either float off of their back (if the attachment point is high on the back) or pass through the upper portion of their torso (if the attachment point is lower). In order to avoid these issues (it still wouldn't avoid all of them like when the torso turns quickly and the cape passes through limbs), the sheath would have to use similar mechanics to the cape, which wouldn't work because a sheath is supposed to be rigid.
[/ QUOTE ]Yeah, there would be clipping issues with Capes/Wings, the Magic Pack Bolero, Trenchcoats, and Jackets, too. They wouldn't stop me from taking a back scabbard for my AR, but people that found them unacceptable could just not take the scabbard. If I didn't make it clear, I intended that these would always be optional. No one has to take the scabbard/sheath/holster if they don't like how it looks.
Definitely love this idea ><
This is a big one for me because a lot of my characters wield melee weapons - I'm just not a fan of regular superpowers most of the time. Having my weapons just 'poof' is kinda odd.
(I'll also mention "I really want backpacks and jet packs" too >.> just because)
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Actually, I covered that under "Graphics":
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My bad. Read over that really fast and missed it.
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The other problem with the sheaths is that rigid items close to the body don't work well, especially when they're across parts of the body that are going to be moving a lot. Whenever the characters bend backwards, the sheath would disappear into their back (and possibly appear out the other side). Whenever they bend forward, it would either float off of their back (if the attachment point is high on the back) or pass through the upper portion of their torso (if the attachment point is lower). In order to avoid these issues (it still wouldn't avoid all of them like when the torso turns quickly and the cape passes through limbs), the sheath would have to use similar mechanics to the cape, which wouldn't work because a sheath is supposed to be rigid.
[/ QUOTE ]Yeah, there would be clipping issues with Capes/Wings, the Magic Pack Bolero, Trenchcoats, and Jackets, too. They wouldn't stop me from taking a back scabbard for my AR, but people that found them unacceptable could just not take the scabbard. If I didn't make it clear, I intended that these would always be optional. No one has to take the scabbard/sheath/holster if they don't like how it looks.
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Actually, I pretty sure that the devs wouldn't put them into game if they couldn't make them look right. I also think you're underestimating how much clipping I'm talking about. Characters bend backwards and forwards a lot. Every time a characters bends, it's going to cause either obvious and ugly deformation of the scabbard or the scabbard passing through the body, neither of which wouldn't be acceptable considering the high standards that the current series of devs has for what they put out. The clipping involved with capes is incredibly minor compared to what would happen with back scabbards.
Another point to consider is that I doubt that the back scabbards would be available with the bolero or jackets or any of the other animated back pieces. Side scabbards would probably be similarly limited (though less likely depending on how perpendicular the scabbard is to the rest of the body) thanks to how they would interact with them. I doubt the devs would really allow a situation that would cause so many rampant clipping issues.
One obstacle I would like to point out...
I'd like to see you design a sheath for a kohpesh.
I would be in support of this, if it were optional. I'm a little odd like that.
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I'd think a big magnetic strip would do pretty well...
(Actual kopesh... ii? kopesh... es? ...An actual kopesh would have been sheathed at the belt by its wearer, but the broadsword draw animation uses a back scabbard. If you wanted something "period" for that, you'd need an open-side or box scabbard.)
Just common curiosity...
For those Katana-wielding blokes out there, what happens? Are sheaths going to be proliferated onto to 'Belts' section, or are we going to deal with the invisible sheath further? How about for Dual Blades?
It seems like sheaths would be good, but it's another think that Jay wouldn't wanna touch, since it requires so much effort to live up to their standards.
<qr> What's been described in this thread for weapons that get unsheathed sounds pretty awesome but at the same time potentially too involved to ever happen.
I know I'd be willing to accept decent compromise. If we ever get back rigging for rigid costume details, I think a variety of permanently sheathed weapons for the back slot -- see some of the Tsoo models for examples -- would do me just fine.
The pieces needed for adding Scabbards, Sheaths and Holsters are already in place. This is one way they could be implemented.
The Graphics
If, for example, you chose Assault Rifle, there'd be a new menu choice under the Weapons tab for a Rifle Scabbard on your back (since that's where the Rifle appears to be drawn from). If you chose to have the scabbard, then your costume would show a scabbard on your back, and a strap across your front to hold it. You could color it to match the rest of your costume through the normal means.
Since we only have one Back Anchor point, you couldn't have the scabbard and Wings or a Cape, but maybe in the future that will change. Even if you did have both, there might still be some clipping issues, but a cape could be RPed as tailored to fit around the scabbard.
For Katana, you'd have the option of a sheath mounted at the proper location on your hip, that you could still color as you chose. There might be clipping issues with jackets and capes, and I can't think of an easy fix for those. I suspect many people would simply ignore them to have the sheath.
The same thing would apply to all the weapons that we "draw". The option of sheaths, scabbards, or holsters mounted in the proper location would all be available, and all could be colored as desired. There would have to be a sheath version for each version of the weapon, to show the proper hilt/butt/handle, and the portion of the weapon that's still visible would use the colors specified for the weapon itself. While creating all those sheaths/scabbards/holsters/etc. would be a fair amount of work, much of it would be reusing portions of existing items rather than creating completely new ones.
The Mechanics
The Holster/Scabbard/Sheath would have only two states, and wouldn't require any new animations at all. State one ("Full") would show the weapon in its sheath, and state two ("Empty") would simply be the empty sheath. Full would be visible whenever your weapon wasn't in your hands, and anything that triggered weapon draw would also cause the sheath to switch to Empty, allowing the normal weapon draw animation to provide the weapon itself. The sheath would then stay in Empty for as long as the weapon was in your hands.
While weapons would appear to return to their sheaths instantly, but that's no worse than the way they currently just disappear. And I wouldn't want to see a "sheath weapon" animation added, because of the delays it would on top of the current "weapon draw" ones.
Obstacles
The biggest one I see is that, AFAIK, we only have one "waist" attachment point. So a waist-mounted sheath would have to override any other waist item choice, and the graphic would have to include the appropriate belt/strap/baldric/etc. But we have plenty of other mutually exclusive costume choices, and someday, when they add more anchor points to the basic character skeleton, they could give us a second waist anchor, and move the belts/straps/baldrics/etc. to the appropriate menus.
I don't think we'll see them in the next issue or so, but this is one way Scabbards, Sheaths and Holsters could be implemented with the existing system.