Kim Kerman

[helldiver]

What I can do is start working on the plugin needed to do this in a "sterile" Unity environment (i.e. a new Unity project so that I can get things running a lot faster) and then develop it into a state where it can work for KSP.

The sterile environment will be really helpful since it will give me an idea of how to go about swapping rigged meshes at runtime without major issues. I'll probably start looking at that stuff tomorrow.

When I get the chance to I'll open up a thread in Addon Development dedicated to this project.

-You have to try and find out what the bone names are. Not a big deal, but I specifically need to know if I need to include a clavicle or not (left and right shoulder bones).

-What method did they use for facial animation? Again, if you can somehow find out the bone assignments and it turns out they just added bones in the face, our job is easier. As opposed to morphs.

-Polygon budget for a single Kerbal? I think they are using a bit more than is traditional. Judging by the silhouette (seems smoother than 1250).

We'll then run into other issues:

-RCS location for EVA mode?

-EVA/IVA mesh swap? Is it a morph or a swap? Making the EVA suit is not an issue for me. But it too need's animations.

See if you can PM me so we can start moving this off this thread. Also keep in mind I have to finish Phase IV of KSOS before I move on to something else. Although Character models are so much easier and faster for me to do.

[OrbitusII]

Sounds good, I'll see what I can do to get that rig and unity setup to you. Time to do some research on the interwebs!

[Tw1]

Give you guys an idea:

http://i.imgur.com/dmGelgD.jpg

Inspired by the images Hayoo did. Not a fan of the strabismus so I took it off the female. I've always felt that Kerbals are wall-eyed to give them that 1970's Buzz Aldrin look.

I think these are still a bit to humanish- it ought to be more true to the original if you're going to make a mod for them.

The male kerbal's head is about equal to the hight of its body, where as in this female, the body looks 1.5 heads long. The proportion ought to be maintained.

The Kerbals' big round eyes, and the strabismus are another identifiable feature, it seems a bit odd to make them oval. Plus the pits around the eyes make the face look a bit too flat.

Plus, the body does seem very human like, when those strange proportions kerbals have makes them look like they could be stable walking, despite the huge head.

The jutting out hips, and huge feat are important.

I think a female one ought to be a lot closer to the existing kerbal. It should look like a kerbal, not just a green humanoid alien.

At the moment, it feels too close to this trope:http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HumanoidFemaleAnimal, which strikes me as lazy design, as well as having a few other issues two....

If it's just fan art, do what you want. But in most debates I've seem on the female kerbal's form, the consensus boils down to much like the male kerbal, but a little curvier. So for a mod, it would have to be definitelly kerbalish.

Brotoro's version of the female kerbal is a good one to keep in mind. It's subtle, yet clearly feminine next to the original male.

There's also this:

Tanuki uses this female kerbal as her avatar. A big reason to have female kerbals in the game eventually, is so that female players feel properly represented. And here we have a kerbal design that is female approved, sort of....

If you guys manage to pull of a female kerbal mod, that will be great. But if it doesn't look kerbal, I think many will probably stick to texture replacer, and a little imagination.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Tw1

[OrbitusII]

I agree, although I'm sure we'll narrow down the proportions and such as we develop the model.

I think this image gives a good idea of how the female kerbal should look:

It keeps the proportions about the same and the bodies have very similar joint locations, which will make switching out the meshes without having to do complicated hierarchy changes possible. The simplicity of the plugin really depends on how accurate the new rig is to the original, so if helldiver can get that down then this should be a piece of cake. I'll work on getting the Addon Development thread up and running where we can discuss more of the theory behind this in greater detail.

[Thesonicgalaxy]

Ehh, not really. They just look like guys with long hair.

[qnistNAMEERF]

I don't get it. Why try and make a female kerbal look so male? That strikes me as lazy design. Not the other way around. I think women would feel better represented if it actually looked feminine, as opposed to drag-queen look-a-like. I only say this since a lot of people seem so hung up about how female this model looks.

[Tw1]

Not about making it look male, but about making it look Kerbal. So it ought to have feminine characteristics, yet not look more human than the male Kerbal.

[Thesonicgalaxy]

I like this (courtesy of Pulsar)

You can tell it's female, but it's still very kerbalish.

Now that I think about it, that looks like a kerbal version of Sasha Braus.

[Castille7]

Outstanding! Kim can fly any of my crafts that she would like!........ I guess it was only a matter of time for Women's Rights would come along!.....lol

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

I personally want kerbal females to inhabit a large amount of dimorphism, I want them to have 6 legs, 4 arms attached to the their head, mouths on the top of their head, claw-feet and they would be a shade of green with a hexidecimal value of #BADA55.

[treejoe4]

OP you have way too much time on your hands m8