# Convict body with four augmentation stages (version 2)

Made 2026-10-12 for The Descent. The main character as `GameLore.txt` describes him: a convict whose arms and legs
are machine limbs, the rest still human, a feeding port in his side, breathing from a tank. Requirement U26
(player augmentations) is still "recorded only", so this is a Blender asset; nothing was imported into Unreal.

Version 1 (plain lofted tubes, flat colours) was rejected as too mediocre and is kept in `versions\v01_lofted_shells\`.

## How version 2 is made
1. **Sculpted bodies.** An athletic torso and, per stage, an arm and a leg are built as overlapping muscle volumes,
   fused by a voxel remesh, smoothed and rebuilt as clean quads. The torso is the man in his suit; the limb bodies
   are the machine limbs (synthetic muscle), thicker with every stage.
2. **Plates laid on the bodies.** Each body is measured into a radial map, and every armour plate is projected onto
   that map, so plates follow the chest, the shoulder, the thigh under them. Plates have shaped outlines (cut
   corners, pointed ends), raised panels, grooves and slots.
3. **Hardware.** Hinge discs, hands, boots, helmets, tanks, hoses, rings and lights are lathed and lofted parts.
4. Everything is a quad cage under a Subdivision Surface modifier, so the surfaces are smooth, not faceted.

## The four stages
One reference picture per stage, in the order they were given. The names are working names, not lore.

| Stage | Name | Look | Triangles, smooth / as modelled |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Issue | slim gloss-black plates on black rubber, plain robot hands with open tendons, smooth visor helmet, one air tank | 155,008 / 37,054 |
| 2 | Refit | heavier matte-black plates, domed shoulders with a marking band, bolted chest, neck cables, twin tanks, pale face plate | 160,724 / 38,434 |
| 3 | Deepframe | layered red plates over grey, second tiers on shoulder, chest and thigh, hip plates, neck guard, finned helmet | 234,612 / 56,980 |
| 4 | Abyssal | thick blocky plates on much heavier limbs, square shoulder domes, gorget and yoke, power pack | 235,504 / 57,014 |

What stays human in every stage: the torso and neck (`SKM_Convict_Core`, always worn), with the feeding port on his
right flank at the waist.

## Files
- `Convict_Body_Augments.blend` — everything.
- `fbx\` — subdivided once: smooth, for close views such as the first-person arms. One whole body per stage
  (`SK_Convict_Stage<N>_<Name>.fbx`) and `modules\` with the 25 meshes one per file.
- `fbx_low\` — the same files as modelled, about a quarter of the triangles.
- `previews\` — Cycles renders (`lineup_*`, `stages_full`, `stages_bust`, `stages_hand`, and one file per stage).
- `build\` — the scripts that make all of it, plus `build_report.json` and `fbx_report.json`.
- `versions\v01_lofted_shells\` — the first version, complete.

## How the .blend is laid out
- `Rig` holds `Armature` (data `SK_Convict`, 53 bones, Unreal mannequin names).
- `Body_Core` holds the suit torso. `Stage1_Issue` … `Stage4_Abyssal` each hold six modules:
  `SKM_Convict_S<N>_Head`, `_Torso`, `_Arm_L`, `_Arm_R`, `_Leg_L`, `_Leg_R`.
- All stages sit on the same skeleton at the origin. Stage 1 is switched on; tick another stage collection (and
  untick stage 1) to wear it. Any mix works: stage 3 arms on stage 1 legs, and so on.
- `Lineup` shows all four side by side as collection instances; delete it if it is in the way.
- **Frame 0 is the bind pose** (arms 40° out from the body). **Frame 1 is the standing pose of the renders.**
- Every mesh has two modifiers: Armature, then Subdivision (1 in the viewport, 2 in renders).

## Scale, pivots, weights
- Metres in Blender, feet on z = 0, facing −Y. Helmet top about 1.82 m, eye line about 1.69 m (the game camera
  is at 1.65 m, so a scale of 0.976 puts the eyes on it).
- Plates and hardware are each weighted to exactly one bone. The sculpted bodies are blended across the elbow,
  the knee and along the spine, so they bend; hoses that cross a joint are blended too.
- Joint positions are the same in all four stages; later stages are bulk added around the same joints.
- The shoulder domes ride on the upper arm and cover its outer half only.
- The hands keep hard edges under subdivision (edge creases), so they stay machined.

## Checks that were run
- Topology (`build_report.json`): 25 meshes, no n-gons, no edges shared by more than two faces, no zero-area
  faces. The sculpted bodies are quads only. Triangles are only fan caps on round ends. The backs of the plates
  are left out on purpose (their edge walls end inside the body), so plates have open rims.
- Clearance: hard parts on different bones were tested against each other in the bind pose and in the standing
  pose, all four stages: 0 crossings. The sculpted bodies are not part of that test, because plates sit sunk
  into them by design. Not tested: any other pose.
- FBX (`fbx_report.json`): all 58 files read back into Blender: one skeleton with one root (`root`), 53 bones,
  triangle counts match the build, every vertex weighted, UVs present, feet on the ground.

## For Unreal (not tested there)
The FBX files are written in centimetres so bones should come in at scale 1. Import one stage file as a skeletal
mesh to create the skeleton, then the module files onto that skeleton. Bone names match the mannequin, so the
IK Rig auto-retarget used for Twinblast should map it. There is no physics asset and no animation in the files.

## Honest limits
- Still made by script. It is far closer to the references than version 1, but it has less small detail than the
  concept paintings, and the helmets are the plainest part.
- The look in the renders comes partly from Blender-only shading: worn edges, grime in the hollows, the strand
  texture of the synthetic muscle and uneven gloss are procedural and are **not baked**. In the FBX each material
  is one flat colour with its metal and roughness values. UVs exist and are packed per module.
- 155,000 to 235,000 triangles in the smooth set is heavy; the low set is the alternative. No further LODs.
- No markings carry text or a brand.
- Nobody has seen it move. Two poses were looked at.

## Rebuild
```
blender -b --python build\build_convict.py           (add  -- --no-fbx  to skip the export,  -- --stages 13  for some stages)
blender -b --python build\verify_fbx.py
blender -b --python build\render_previews.py         (add  -- lineup full bust hands back  to pick shots)
blender -b --python build\test_base.py               (the bare sculpted bodies in clay)
```
Plate sizes and styles per stage are the tables in `build\convict_parts.py` (`ST`, `ARM_G`, `LEG_G`).