62 lines
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62 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
# NPC face and silhouette gate — Quaternius pilot (2026-11-05)
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This page is the owner decision point for
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[ADR-0017](../../adr/0017-quaternius-npc-base.md) + [ADR-0018](../../adr/0018-quaternius-stage2-runtime-rig.md)
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stage 2. It answers one question: **which head ships?**
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`npc_casual` is now the CC0 Quaternius `Casual_Hoodie` base baked to the project contract
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(arm-down rest, five tint slots, 62-joint rig at source proportions). The procedural library with
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the MakeHuman head is unchanged and still ships for the other eleven characters.
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## The sheet
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Rows: the Quaternius base, the procedural library with the MakeHuman head, and a procedural crowd
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variant. Columns: front, three-quarter, profile, and the crowd-distance silhouette the player
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actually sees from 8 m.
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Source frames: `godot --path . --script res://src/test/capture_npc_baseline.gd -- --out=res://tmp/npc-gate`.
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## What the sheet shows
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| | Head height / body | Face read at portrait | Crowd-distance read |
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| --- | --- | --- | --- |
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| Quaternius base | 0.134 | clean low-poly brows, nose, jaw, layered hair | slim, upright, clearly a person |
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| procedural + MakeHuman head | ~0.20 | oversized head, soft nose, beard slab reads as a bar | bobblehead proportions |
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| procedural crowd variant | ~0.20 | oversized head, flat cheeks | bobblehead proportions |
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Measured (`python3 -m pytest tools/tests/test_npc_proportions.py -q`,
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`python3 tools/npc_proportions.py`):
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- `npc_casual` (Quaternius): head 13.4 % of height, arm-down rest, 6,206 tris, 12,988 glTF
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vertices, texel density 73–74 px/m on the 256² maps.
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- The procedural library: head 16–22 % of height (the stylized band in
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`tools/npc_proportions.GUIDE`).
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The Quaternius head is *smaller and more realistic* than the stylized library head, which is
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exactly the trade the owner has to accept or reject. The vision judge that reviewed the earlier
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head rework reads the Quaternius face as the cleaner silhouette of the three at both distances.
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## The three options
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1. **Full swap.** Every character rebaked onto the Quaternius base in `0.9.10`; the procedural
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library and the MakeHuman head retire to the tested fallback. Consistent look, real anatomy,
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no further head work.
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2. **Crowd only.** Quaternius for the anonymous crowd roles, procedural + MakeHuman for the named
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roles the player talks to. Keeps two art styles in one frame.
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3. **Add head detail.** Keep the Quaternius body and author a higher-detail head (subdivision and
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hair cards) inside the 24,000-triangle / 24,000-vertex budget. Most work; the current head
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already reads well at gameplay distance.
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## Recommendation
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Option 1. The Quaternius head beats the MakeHuman head at portrait distance in this sheet, and it
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costs no further authoring; the budget headroom (6.2k of 24k triangles) stays available for the
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hands and gear that the review still flags as weak.
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## Recorded decision
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Status: **awaiting owner sign-off.** Until then `npc_casual` ships as the pilot base and the other
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eleven characters stay procedural.
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