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How would you make a shapeshifting mechanic in a game?
I am very new to all this and I heard the best way to start game designing is through unity. My idea is for my character to shift into a wolf, I've searched through youtube and other forums but couldn't find anything. Would there be anyone out there that knows how to make a shapeshifting mechanic from human model to wolf model?
Answer by theANMATOR2b · Mar 12, 2017 at 06:39 PM
We've discussed this in the unity forum - probably under general graphics section.
A common approach is to have some morphs/blends on the two states, human/wolf. The morphs begin the visual process of transforming into the other shape, and then the middle transformation is masked by special fx, particles, or other type of 'masking' effect to hide the 'hard part' of actually transforming the original character into the new form. Movies even used to do this - but now can get a lot closer to transforming one form into the other (although they have it easier because it is not a real-time transformation). Check out Shrek for a good look at how this transformation is hidden behind special fx to make the transformation do-able. The morphs make the original character 'look' like they are transforming, then poof, shadow, blur, twirl, spin, light flash, during these masking effects swap the original model for the wolf model, and perform morphs to make it look like the wolf is completing its transformation.
^^ This is good way. You can easily add pre-made special effects through the asset store (free or paid) . Playing with the camera distance or angle may also help. Zoom out when swapping the model and back to default view once swapped.