Attaching Entities

Not sure if this is exactly the right place to post this, but what the hey.

If I make a model with bone animations, and then want to also attach a bunch of other models/entities to it, will these add-ons move along with the animations?

Example: A traditional RPG where you can equip hundreds of different armors and weapons. Each would be an entity that attaches onto you through code. Will these entities continue to move and rotate with you as you move?

Kind of a noobly question I know, but just curious. I want to make a customizable character creation system and I'm looking into it.... though it's hard to find specific answers.

And when it comes to armor, and you create flexible points within the armor? Let me explain again. A sword is just one long unbending rod that attaches to your character's hand. Armor could be just one solid piece that covers the chest, but what about sleeves? Can you make "sleeves" for your armor that attach to your character's arms and rotate with them, without moving the breatplate away from the chest?

.... I think that's everything... for now

Thanks!

I'm working on something along these lines right now. If you have a character model that is animated, and then you attach a separate model (say, a sword) to the character via script (using vec_for_vertex) the sword can be made to follow the character, but won't animate with him. You can set its pan, roll, and tilt to be equal to the character, but when it comes to actions like swinging the sword, this won't do.

I haven't done this, but I think your best bet is to animate the character and his sword/armor together in your modelling program, then export them separately. Then when you attach, you can animate them both separately, but they will be synched.

As for your "sleeves" problem, I can not think of an easy solution. You could always keep the sleeves as a separate model from the armor, and it would work, but the number of individual models would get astronomical.

If you're using bones, then just rig up models for armour with the same bone structure as the character. Then you can move the bones in the armour by code to align with the player's bones that are being animated.

Sounds like I might be doing myself in here, but I shall give it all a try.