Advanced prime details (Repost)

[lukinu_u]

So, this in a old idea I posted about a year ago. The original post got archieved, so I repost it now that deeper customisation is a hot topic with the Reactor prime sigil. You can check the original post here, but this one is essentially the same exept I added my answer to one of the question that were asked : 

With newer prime having much more complexe work on the remodel with bigger "prime parts", the use of skins with prime details on become less of an option, or at least insn't worth using as most of the skins will be hidden by the prime parts.
Nekros, Valkyr, Chroma Prime are good example of this. Nekros and Valkyr ave the whole front torso part hidden by prime details, while Chroma has only tiny spots on legs and hands visible.

You could just turn off the prime details, but there are some small parts of the prime details that still look good without hidding the skin and that's what this idea is meant for. The idea is to allow player choosing which part of the prime details you want to show/hide to provide more customisation, in a really simple way that wouldn't be hard to implement in game.

Instead of the current "toggle prime details" option, there would be a submenu like attachements/syandana where you can select which prime parts you want to toggle on and off. The differents parts and their name depend on the warframe.



 

How it's set up on the technical side is pretty simple.
All warframe with prime variant get a revisited mesh that include body with both prime parts and non-prime parts, all rigged together with 3 material instances :

• One for the base that doesn't change (red on the picture)
• One for the non-prime parts (blue on the picture)
• One for the prime parts (green on the picture)

This end up looking like this.
First picture is the raw model and second is respectively with non-prime and prime details only.




Now what, happen is both non-prime and prime materials get a mask assigned to them, that will define what toggle slot (from 1 to 5) affect them, depending on the color. For each color, non-prime part will be visible when toggle is off, and prime part will be visible when toggle is on.
Each color channel (red, green, blue, alpha) + black will make up to 5 different toggleable parts depending on the warframe.

Here is an example on how it would be setup for Saryn :

• 1 - Red : Neck
• 2 - Green : Arms
• 3 - Blue : Skirt
• 4 - Alpha : Legs
• 5 - Black : Boot

I don't exactly know how the game engine handle oppacity, but I think a binary 0/1 opacity without blending shouldn't be much of a problem and for texture storage, a low gradient 4 channels 1024 or 512 texture is probably really cheap. As this texture won't need gradient, it can even be converted into a grayscale texture where each 20% gray section represent a mask, which would be even cheaper and would allow more than 5 colors.
As for account storage, with 5 toggles there are only 32 possibility, which is probably low compared to other variable on skin customisation.

Thanks to Master Noob (don't have his ingame alias) for helping me extracting Saryn prime files.

 

Citation

There could be certain issues like how to classify certain Prime models in terms of the similar Neck/Arms/Legs/etc. categories, as for something like Vauban Prime or probably Mesa Prime, it would probably have to be oversimplified (as in less categories) because of situations where a piece of mesh was not meant to be separated with something else (for ex. Vaub P's turtleneck). Saryn Prime is a good example of how this could be done, but her model is simple to the point where this sort of thing is way more possible. Not sure if I can say the same about others.

Another issue that may arise if some default and prime details clip into each other which may have to call for some more simplifications.

The idea it to get up to 5 differents parts to switch for flexibility, but not all warframe have that much, meaning they would have less, a bit like some old weapons had on 2-3 customisable colors before receiving a PBR ugrade.
For example, on Valkyr I see only 3 parts :

• upper legs/body/shoulders (which is on big part)
• arms
• feet / legs metal bits

But considering the model will need to be revisited and rerigged to include both non-prime and prime parts, they could also take the time to split the prime parts that need to get more parts, like for Valkyr, sperating the big part into upper legs, body and shoulder this way :

[Lazarow]

I would love this for mesa to remove her leg cloths which are just too much.

[Xaero]

I'd love to be able to remove Umbra's scarf while keeping other attachments.

[LizziePup]

This would open so many doors for unique options

[Erra]

This has been wanted by players for years and I don't see a reason for DE to keep it on the backburner like they always do.

To anyone at DE reading this: Just try it. Don't discuss it a little internally and then forget, prototype it first and you'll see just how much this can improve customization.

Unlike rivens, data storage isn't even an issue here. You can store the visibility state of eight pieces in a single byte.

[Lemon]

while i understand that some may consider the original designs of the frames or skins should have a certain degree of artistic integrity and should be left as "intended design"... that has never been the design philosophy of anything Warframe related, bullet jumping as a prime example

the moment you blend the colors into a jumbled mess and slap some ugly box into a shoulder and a cape the original design flies out the window, so why limit the options for those who like to customize and create their own design out of an existing mold? more options is always better especially when its something so inconsequential, i have never heard of anyone who stopped playing because some guy was using a customized skin

and lore wise the tenno are on the verge of insanity so strangely decorated frames is the least lore unfriendly thing you could encounter

[WarriorSoundwave]

Yes to this!

Oh and I really want I Prime Details preview so I can see what a Tennogen skin will look like with Prime bits BEFORE buying it.

[rauwry]

Absolutely love this extension of prime details. I hope it gets into the game someday

[Hawkeye2404]

Would love this!

[Angel141]

this SHOULD be in the game

i love the idea

[CoconutFella]

I actually really dig this, would love to see it in game.