3D bosses — pipeline notes

Status: ADOPTED (2026-08-25). Chris signed off on the animated Janitor; experiment/3d-boss was fast-forwarded into main and 3D boss work now ships straight to production. (The original hold-back ran the branch against Netlify draft URLs only; that pattern remains the template for future risky spikes.) Rollout order follows the in-game boss rotation: janitor ✓, monitor ✓, then quiz / substitute / exam / detention / group / parent / vice.

Pipeline (asset → mesh → game)

1. Turnaround from our own art. The boss splash master is the identity reference; nano_banana_pro renders a 4-view turnaround (front / 3-4 / side / back, flat grey studio, mop held consistently) at 2 credits. Sheet: assets-src/incoming/models/janitor-turnaround.png. Crop the four figures (excluding the decorative floating props between panels — they poison the reconstruction).
2. Mesh via Higgsfield multi_image_to_3d (Meshy). 4 view crops → textured GLB. 30 credits at should_texture:true, target_polycount:20000, topology:triangle, symmetry:auto. Gotcha: the output safety checker false-flags the masked janitor (status:"nsfw") — pass enable_safety_checker:false for our own game art.
3. In-game via src/boss3d.js. GLTFLoader lazy-loads assets/models/{art}.glb; the model is normalized (unit height, feet at y=0), re-skinned to the house look (MeshToonMaterial over the baked texture + 4-step gradient + inverted-hull outline via inflate()), and tracks the sim entity with the same animation language as the primitives (brute bob, windup pulse, charge stretch, hit flash via emissive). view._syncEnemies skips the instanced primitive for claimed bosses; shadow blob + boss ring stay. Sim untouched — purely visual; fails silently back to primitives (single-file build, offline, bad GLB).

Verdict criteria

• Reads as the same character as the splash at gameplay camera distance.
• Cel + outline treatment sits next to instanced primitives without clashing.
• No frame cost worth caring about (one ~20K-tri mesh; watch mobile).
• GLB size acceptable for web delivery (target < ~8 MB).

If it works / if it doesn't

Works → repeat per boss (2cr sheet + 30cr mesh each, ~½ hour each), consider rigged+animated variants later (enable_rigging + 678-clip library exists). Doesn't → fall back: Meshy/Tripo web UIs (manual), or purchased packs restyled with the cel treatment for generic minions (bosses stay primitives).

Phase 2 — rigged animation (2026-08-25)

3d_rigging (8cr/clip) rigged the SAME janitor GLB twice: Monster_Walk (112, 4.13s) and Heavy_Hammer_Swing (128, 1.87s). 24-bone rigs, identical armature names, so the swing clip retargets onto the walk GLB's skeleton — one skinned mesh carries all clips. boss3d.js v2: SkeletonUtils.clone per instance, AnimationMixer, sim-state clip machine (idle/chase -> walk with timeScale from real ground speed; windup+sweep -> one swing stretched across the 2.5s attack window via LoopOnce + clampWhenFinished; crossfades 0.16s). Outline = skinned inverted-hull shells bound to the same skeleton (ink deforms with the body). Fallback chain animated -> static -> primitives, all verified. Files are ~9MB per clip GLB (texture re-embedded in each) — before scaling to 9 bosses, dedupe via gltf-transform or strip textures from clip GLBs and rebind.

Monitor (2026-08-25)

Cleanest turnaround yet (arms-at-sides brief rigs better; exclude the light beam — the in-game spotlight FX owns it). Kit is stateless: profile maps e.caught -> RunFast (16) and default -> Walk_Fight_Forward (21). First walk pick Confident_Walk (106) had too much hip sway from the top-down camera — LESSON: prefer neutral/guarded gaits; swagger clips read as full-body tilt from above. Total: 2 sheet + 30 mesh + 3x8 rigs (one discarded) = 58cr.