In-Summary Question: For limb-bending, how do I make inner shading/shadows look consistent when separate parts of the arm rotate? (Images included for clarification below)
Note: This question is solely about Spine (and Photoshop)
2 Inner Issues for that Question
—The shadows don’t line up when I bend an elbow/knee/wrist
—The shadows are transparent and thus look terrible when they overlap
Question Details:
Hey all,
I have a question for you all regarding maintaining shadows when bending limbs.
I have searched for this online/Spine Tips/examples but unfortunately could not find anything regarding this specific situation. (I did find a tip whose project might contain an answer to this question because the character is shaded like how my character is currently shaded. (Spine: Tips: 52 perspective legs) )
Current Break-Down of Each Part of a Limb in My Project
(Diagram/Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wp9feeqn5dzm8uo/ForearmIs3Layers.png?dl=0)
[Outline] + [Color] + [Shadow]
I have limbs that I broke into multiple parts. They rotate at the intersection of their 2 parts: elbows, knees, wrists.
(My Diagram/Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d7w6noi45odthcr/ForearmAndTopPartofArm.png?dl=0)
(My Image is similar to Moustache Project's Gif: Spine: Tips: 28 moustache lines)
When I bend the limb, the shadows for the 2 parts do not line-up.
Draw Order-Way 1:
(When shadow is treated as part of the arm’s colored-in image):
(Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3vylxst9rt71u2w/Draw%20Order-Way%201.png?dl=0)
Draw Order-Way 2:
When all shadows for all limbs are drawn above all arm-parts colored-in slots
(Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yxxpsa0wbb47pk2/Draw%20Order-Way%202.png?dl=0)
Disliked Potential Solution:
So far, I only have 1 potential solution that I would rather not use.
That solution would be to split the colored-in part of the limbs into 2 meshes (not including the outline):
[Outline] + [Color that Does Not Overlap with Shadow] + [Shadow + Color that Does Overlap with Shadow]
(Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i7joo15oo4sbjxm/DislikedPotentialWay.png?dl=0)
This would be similar to treating the shadow-ed part of the colored-in part in a way similar to the moustache's project’s solution regarding outlines. (Gif: Spine: Tips: 28 moustache lines)
I would rather keep the colored-in part of the arm only 1 layer since it is much easier to manage if/when I decide to change that character’s colored-in sections and/or shadows and would be much easier to manage if/when I draw more arms as alternative skins for the same skeleton.
Are there any other solutions for this?
Thanks for your help!
