== Overview
This tutorial explains how to create a Customizable Object with a feature that allows for changing and choosing a character's skin tone. Once the tutorial's steps are followed and compiled, a selector slider (with a color skin bar on top) will be displayed on the Preview Inst. Properties from which the user will be able to choose the skin color and see immediately the change applied to the character.
= The "
= Change the skin tone" nodes of a character
== Assets required
* One material asset or material instance with one color parameter (it may or may not have textures but only one slot converted to parameter)
* One skeletal mesh with only one material slot
* One texture asset of the base skin texture of the character
* One texture asset of a "skin bar color"
== Steps
1) The first step is to create a [[ URL | Customizable Object]] asset. Open it and name the [[ URL | Base Object ]] node in the [[ URL | Graph Node Properties ]] and set a [[ URL | Reference Skeletal Mesh ]] in the [[ URL | Object Properties ]] tab.
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> In this example, the name of the Base Object is "Skin Tone" and the Reference Skeletal Mesh used is "SkinTone_Mesh"
2) Create a [[ URL | Material ]] node and connect the "Material" connection to the "LOD 0" of the Base Object. With the Material node selected, set material in the Graph Node Properties.
From the "Mesh" connection of the Material node, drag and drop to create a [[ URL | Skeletal Mesh ]] node. Then, with the Skeletal Mesh node selected, set a skeletal mesh in the Graph Node Properties.
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From the "Mesh" connection of the Material node, drag and drop to create a [[ URL | Skeletal Mesh ]] node. Then, with the Skeletal Mesh node selected, set a skeletal mesh in the Graph Node Properties.
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> In this example, the Material asset used is "SkinTone_Material" and the Skeletal Mesh is "SkinTone_Mesh"
(NOTE) Step 1 and 2 are explained with more detail in the "Create a basic Customizable Object" page. The next steps are specific to create the "change the skin tone" nodes.
3) As the objective is to change the skin tone of the character, a node that can modify the texture parameters of the object's material is needed. The [[ URL |Texture Layer ]] node allows modifying a base texture with blending options and masks.
From the "Base Color" connection in the Material node, create a Texture Layer node.
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4) With the Texture Layer node selected, add a new layer clicking on the (+) icon in the Graph Node Properties.
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5) Still in the **Graph Node Properties**, click to unfold the tab of the new layer created. Choose the effect of blending among all the options displayed unfolding the **Effect** tab. This effect will determine the visual interaction between the texture to be added to create the skin tones and the base layer.
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(NOTE) In this example, //Cotle Soflight// is used.
6) Create a **Texture** node dragging and dropping from the "Base" connection of the **Texture Layer** node.
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(NOTE) Each layer created in the **Texture Layer** node has two connections: the "Layer 0" and the "Mask" channel.
7) With the new **Texture** node selected, choose a base texture for the character skin in the **Graph Node Properties**. This texture is the one on which the blending effect will be applied.
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(NOTE) In this example, the "Bandit_Standard_D" texture is used.
8) Create a **Texture** node from the "Mask 0" connection of the **Texture Layer**. Add a B/W texture masking in black the non-skin parts of the base texture and leaving the rest in white.
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(NOTE) In this example, for the "Mask 0" connection, the "Bandit_SkinMask" B/W texture is used.
9) In the "Layer 0" connection, a texture with color information is to be connected. This texture will be the one to blend with the "Base" texture through an effect (set in step 5) to get different skin tones. The texture could be a **Color Texture**, a **Color Parameter** or a **Sample Texture**. As the objective is to get a "color slider selector" to choose the skin color directly by clicking and previewing the result, the most suitable node is the **Sample Texture** node.
Create a **Sample Texture** node. Connect it from the "Color" connection to the "Layer 0" of the **Texture Layer** node.
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10) Create a **Texture** node from the "Texture" connection in the **Sample Texture** node. Choose a "skin color bar" texture.
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(NOTE) In this example, the" SkinTone_ColorBar" texture is used.
11) Click and drag from the "X "connection in the **Sample Texture** node to create a **Float Parameter** node. This node will allow picking a horizontally-based value from the color bar texture.
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12) Select the **Float Parameter** node and name it in the **Graph Node Properties**. This name will appear next to the color bar when compiling.
Change the //Default Value// in the **Graph Node Properties ** if preferred. It will provide the color value chosen as the default one.
Click the (**+**) icon in the //Description Image// to enable the option of showing an image in the slider selector.
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(NOTE) In the example, the Parameter Name used is "Skin Tone".
13) Back to the **Source Graph**, connect the "Description Image 0" connection of the** Float Parameter** node to the "Image" of the **Texture** node.
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14) Before compiling, check that the **Source Graph** looks similar to the example below:
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15) Compile. The result in the **Preview Inst. Properties** and the **Preview Inst. Viewport** should look similar to the image below. The "selector slider" must work when choosing a color and be immediately applied to the character.
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