Hi, unfortunately this is no submission but a question.

For a while I've been dreaming of developing a tool to generate 3d models of humans similar to the character editor of The Sims 3 or Evolver (www.evolver.com). But I'm not really sure how to start this project technically.

Do I use several models for each body part and let the user change head, hair, ... by rotating through a catalogue of models?
Or do I change the vertexes of only one model?
What about skinning? (When I add volume to my model the skin will be stretched)
How to save a Mdl-File that is constructed of several models?

You see there are a lot of questions but in the end this tool will be a great contribution to the community

First cool for Community, but im' not sure all people will need
MMO style character customisation ?
Specially for space, race or casual arcade games !

Technicaly, Oblivion have different type of heads you choose and the head is simply mounted "glued" on the body !
For the head customisation it has bones or vertex (i don't know) that are customized by the user !
Bioware have a bunch of AAA skilled programmers for these type of tool !

For 3DGS engine, i htink you need a simple and fast (not power expensive system) !

The best would be a simple visual base tool to attach anything to any bone of the model having bones you choose with possibility to adjust distance and orientation.
This way you could attach : head, hair, armor parts etc ....

You'll need to create your own file format with script to laod (and perform attach code),save !
Perhaps a simple file text having something like :
------------------------------
-main:Body.MDL
-head.MDL;0,0,0,45,0,0
-hair.dml;0,0,0,45,0,0
-sword.dml;0,10,0,0,0,0
....
------------------------------
The numbers being : offset x,y,z and rotation offset : x,y,z

Perhaps dig in this ??
character customisation example


Good luck !

Nice ratchet, I saw the unity demo once but forgot about it.

What I wanted to achieve is a code-less version which finally creates an MDL file containing skins, bones and animations. I thought about an own format as you proposed it but I think a version where you do not have to include code is more userfriendly.

Anyway, I'll give feedback as soon as I've reviewed the link

What I wanted to achieve is a code-less version which finally creates an MDL file containing skins, bones and animations

This way of doing i showed will just add some sort of "super" file in your work directory !
A simple file saying what are the MDL meshes to load( meshes that are MDL file so they already have animation and textures),
that file also describes what next meshes you will have to attach to the main mesh !
All that made by the same loading code at beginning of the level !

It's the way to go, and that is done by people using indie engines that create their own file format and customisation tool !

Well we'll wait for your solution !

The way I've done it is to create a model for each body part, (I'm only supporting 4, head, body, legs and accessory). the model names are all stored in an array and simply use arrows to cycle through these and morph the current display model to match it.

The only thing I then need to store is the id of the model and the RGB code that's on each item, that's saved into a file and the entity is created from that.

This doesn't save it all into one model but still 4 seperate models for each avatar.

In the throwing game I used a base model for the body, and other models for the clothes.
I had only one type of clothes, but you can also use other models for that.
Going for multiple parts would be the easiest.
It will be sufficient for must cases, unless you really want to deform the body.

you don't have to store the positions of the models,
you can use bones for that.

clothes for example can be at the same positon as the base model.
then you just place the bones at the right spot(A8 has a function that does it)

just little suggestions, I hope it helps