FFXIV FanFest Q&A - Character Models

[Skivvy]

The lalafell clipping issues is just a product of their overall design. Pretty much you have a character model which is physically wider at the hips than shoulders in a substantial way. To get the "full range of motion" youd need on Lalas to hold weapons and do emotes, clipping will naturally occur. The issue would be rectified by actually broadening the shoulders a little bit, but in doing so, you square up their figure (to they become tiny bricks instead of potatoes). For female models, this would look even worse. This would then be resolved by applying human proportions to the Lalas, which would then change the design aesthetics. I did a quick bit of photoshop garbage to illustrate my point.



if the link dont work: https://imgur.com/lkPxnla

Broadly speaking, when looking at the Lala model (F in this Case) on the left, the shoulders are to narrow. Thats why the Arms kind of lay away from the body like they do. This results in clipping though, when you think about it, because teh arms cant get a full range of motion naturally. Broadening the shoulders [2] helps resolve that problem and would help take care of clipping issues, but now you have a brick instead of a potato and it looks a little odd for female models. On Males, this wouldnt be as big an issue. This can be corrected aesthetically by adding in a bit of more humanesqe proportions (narrowing the waist and slight adjustments to hips as an example)[3]. But by this point, if youre gonna start editing the feel and anatomy of lalas, you might as well do everything and redefine legs, arms, and etc [4].

This kind of thing is easy to photoshop, but actually going in and tweaking an established model is a lot more work. You have to make sure everything that goes on that model still 'works'. This means adjusting armors, animations, rigs, and etc, just to make minor changes. Dont get me wrong. I would love models to be updated and fixed, but when they say its a lot of work, theyre not BSing us. It really is. If they decide to redo the character editor, then I would expect changes like this, but if thats not on the table, then we might just have to kind of suck it up and accept it.

This may be blasphemous, but I actually kinda like #4 :X Maybe make the waist slightly less obvious and I'd be sold!

Don't get me wrong, I love our rotundness, but body shape options could be fun.

[Melichoir]

Ive a tendency to exaggerate teh female figure when I do characters, so that probably played out a bit more here than what would actually be needed.

Im glad Im not the only one though who does like the idea of there being a bit more definition. As I said, Im more on board with 4 than 1. Particularly in areas like shoulder/waist/hip relations, as well as definign the legs just a small bit so theyre not just tubes. As I said, a slight bit of definition goes a long way I feel. Lalas I think could use it.

Now that I think about it, I remember reading someone mentioning that the way character editor works is that there is a set number of "options", and one of hte big reasons why you have a breast slider on Lalas thta ultimately doesnt do anything is because they needed to fill an option. Of all the races, I think having different body shapes on Lala would actually be a good thing. So instead of that slider, they could provide a body shape option (like 3 or 4 different sets) ranging from the original default to something akin to 4.

[Skivvy]

Ive a tendency to exaggerate teh female figure when I do characters, so that probably played out a bit more here than what would actually be needed.

Im glad Im not the only one though who does like the idea of there being a bit more definition. As I said, Im more on board with 4 than 1. Particularly in areas like shoulder/waist/hip relations, as well as definign the legs just a small bit so theyre not just tubes. As I said, a slight bit of definition goes a long way I feel. Lalas I think could use it.

Now that I think about it, I remember reading someone mentioning that the way character editor works is that there is a set number of "options", and one of hte big reasons why you have a breast slider on Lalas thta ultimately doesnt do anything is because they needed to fill an option. Of all the races, I think having different body shapes on Lala would actually be a good thing. So instead of that slider, they could provide a body shape option (like 3 or 4 different sets) ranging from the original default to something akin to 4.

I think #4 may have just hit me that way due to the contrast with our potato-form that we are rockin' now. But yeah, I'd be down for that in a heartbeat. I remember seeing some SE artwork ages ago, and the Lala on it looked to have a slightly more defined waistline. It was very subtle, but it looked quite fitting for the character.

Sadly, I doubt they will add body options in the future, but we can dream

[Awful]

This may be blasphemous, but I actually kinda like #4 :X Maybe make the waist slightly less obvious and I'd be sold!

Don't get me wrong, I love our rotundness, but body shape options could be fun.

I'm in agreement I like #4 as well it just looks more natural for our potato friends.