Split Options
The Split Options control how the game objects are split up and the order they are built and dismantled in. Artificer does not need separate meshes to work or any extra work done on meshes it will look at each mesh it finds and will split it up into elements based on the options you select here. If you do want finer control over how meshes are split then you can make use of vertex colors, uv mapping etc to define seams in the meshes which sill split. The basic mesh splitting works by finding discrete mesh parts that are connected by shared vertices, this will generally yield the best breaking up of the object into parts. And it does not matter to Artificer if your object is a single large mesh with loads or materials or is a complex hierarchy of objects all combined together.
Exclude Objects
If you have multiple objects it maybe the case that there are parts you do not want to animate being assembled or dismantled, if so you just need to add them to this list, artificer will then ignore any object in this list and not make it part of the final animation.
Sort Origin
The order the parts are built and dismantle is mainly controlled by how far the split mesh element is away from the sort origin, or sort spline as we will see later. With objects closest to the Sort Origin being built first and dismantled last. You can position the Sort origin with this value, there is also a tool you can use to move it directly in the scene view.
Use Sort Spline
Enables the use of a Unity spline to control the sort order and hence the build order of the elements. The system will find the nearest point on the sort spline to the final position of the element in the mesh and that position along the spline will be used to sort the elements.
Sort Spline
You can make use of Unity Splines to define a path that will be used to sort the elements. This will give you complete control over which parts of an object are built first or you could have a scene slowly assemble along a path so objects appear as you walk along for example. It is a powerful feature that gives a lot of control.
Sort Spline Select
This is where you select the spline that will be used to sort the elements, it is a Unity Spline which you will need to have in your scene already.
Sort Spline Bias
This bias control allows you more control over the order elements are built with a spline. The lower this value then elements will be built more as wave moving along the spline so elements a distance away from the nearest spline point will start to build before elements further along the spline. With a higher value then items close to spline will start to build first and then elements further from the spline will fill in later. It is best to play with this value to see the effect it can have on your build.
Sort Mode
You have different options for how elements are sorted, the default option is Position, this will use a point on each element, which you can control, to calculate the sorting distance and thus the build order, but it might be you want to have the object be built by material order, eg. bricks, then windows, then the roof. Or you can select other options for more special cases.
None - No sorting is done, will just use the order the system splits the mesh into.
Position - Will use a point on the mesh to calculate the distance from the Sort Origin and will sort by that distance.
Material - Will sort by materials, the order of which is defined below.
Position Material - Will sort by position first and if any same values will then use material order.
Material Position - Will sort by material and then by position for each material set.
Random - Will just do a random order.
Sort Distance Mode
This allows you to select which part of the elements mesh will be used to determine the distance.
Closest - Will find the closest point on the mesh to the Sort origin for the distance calculation.
Furthest - Will find the furthest point on the mesh to the sort origin for the distance calculation.
Center - Will use the distance from the center of the mesh to the sort origin for the distance calculation.
Reverse Sort Order
Reverses the sort order. Saves having to move the sort origin to get the build to happen in the reverse order.
Material Sort Order
If you are using any of the Material Sort Modes then you can define the sort order for the materials with this list. You can add any materials you want to be used for sorting and you can change their order by dragging the list items around.
Split Mode
Controls whether Artificer splits the mesh up into discrete mesh elements or splits it into material meshes.
Elements - Artificer will check the mesh and split into discrete non connected elements based on the options below.
Materials - Artificer will just split the mesh into its material based pieces.
Use Adjust Params
You can add to any object overrides for numerous values for the system giving you more control over the split process, the sorting and the methods and styles of the build and dismantle animation. You can tell Artificer to use or ignore those options by checking and unchecking this option.
Main Splitting Options
The values below control how the meshes are split and hence the overall look and feel of the build and dismantle animations. You can combine the the options below for more control over how the mesh is split, i.e. using positions and uv will give a different result to just positions.
The Color option can be used if you want to define how a mesh splits, you would author the colors directly in a 3d package or in a Unity asset that allows vertex color painting. Then with the Use Colors option only set then the mesh will be split based on different colors allowing you to set the splits just as you need them.
Use Positions
This option will use the vertex positions to split the mesh. This is the main splitting method. Artificer will check the mesh to find elements of shared vertices which will mean it will split the mesh into discrete areas that are self contained meshes. This is the ideal splitting option as it will basically seperate the mesh into its components parts and will produce good looking animations.
Use UV
Split the mesh using the main UV channel, this will tend to split the mesh into shared textured areas.
Use UV2
The same as the UV options but will use the second set of uv coordinates, this like the colors could also be used to control directly where the splits happen if you need to.
Use Normals
This will use the vertex normal to control the splitting, this will basically split the mesh on smoothing groups, so if for example you are using something like a Synty flat face model this will split the mesh into the faces.
Use Colors
Use the vertex colors to split the mesh. This is a useful way to split the mesh on authored seams by painting the vertex colors in a 3d package for example.
Use Material
This will split the mesh on the material the tris are using.
Material Remap
Material Remapping allows you to swap in a new material for a current one on the mesh to be used during the animation, this allows you to change the look of any animating part of the mesh to say a certain color, or another useful option is to have a copy of the original material but set it to Both for backface rendering, this will then make the panels look double sided and more solid during the animation.
Place Material
This is a work in progress option at the moment, but will use this material to show the location of the next part to be added to the object, this is meant to be used as part of a click to build option that is not yet fully implemented into the system.
Build Profile
This is the file that the animation data is baked into. The files are saved into the project as scriptable objects, you can create multiple different animations and have them in different files and then can pick between them at runtime to use different animations for the same object.
Position Tolerance
This and the other tolerance values below control how close values need to be to be considered the same for the splitting process. If you are seeing artifacts in the splitting then playing with these values will fix those. This is particular value is how close the vertex positions need to be to be considered the same point.
UV Tolerance
How close the UV points need to be to considered the same. This values is also used for the UV2 channel.
Normal Tolerance
How close the normals need to be to be considered the same direction.
Color Tolerance
How close the colors need to be to be considered the same color.
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