Hi Shawn,
Thanks for the file. Polygon Pen is the cleanest way, as no code can do that for you. What I mean by that, to have a low-res mesh where no deformation will be and a denser where it folds softly while having the edge following the fold direction.
Several ideas, but not a single “one size fits all” suggestion.
The animation of open the backpack would require new textures as well, just to get this out of the way.
Textures, and with that the UV, could work with VAMP, but I haven’t gotten any good UV transfers with this kind of projections. Of course, I have run a test with the file, not even remotely anything useable.
https://help.maxon.net/us/#11344
Why isn’t it working? The UV(W) polygons are tiny, and can’t be translated into a rough mesh. Since the original UV(W) polygons could be all over the place regarding the texture, there is no option to find the nearest point. (I guess there are too many nearest points… to say it in a nutshell)
To create a new mesh, perhaps Instant Mesh can do something for you. But I did not get something ready to use mesh from it, a little bit of care was mostly needly.
https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaytut/turn_any_object_into_hexagons_with_instant_meshes
Next, and how I would do it, the PolyPen is a great start, you could go even relatively rough to work (mesh size) and cut later for details. If that is a given, set up a camera that captures the best view, and certainly a second one to cover the “blind spots” of the first camera. Then render the two cameras from the high-density mesh, and camera project it to the Polygon Pen results. You can create a UVW Coordinates from each, and the cameras are then backed into the UVW of each material. Works around 95% in my experience. This gives you at least a quick result. The quality of the initial image will suffer, there is “no free lunch”, so take the source images as hi-res as you can.
Here is an example, but I missed a tiny polygon, I left it there, as it illustrates the process. Either Polygon selection or (preferred) alpha masking for several of those (Projection Man comes to mind)
Besides that, keep the hi-density mesh and create a low res cage, animate that cage with the Mesh Deformer. The Volume Mesher/Builder could give you quickly a descent Mesh (1cm in the builder, while the Mesher has the adaptive settings to a few %)
Another direct way for animation would be the PoseMorph or for very simple point cloud animations with the Cluster object. (I like the Pose Morph better, but the Cluster with its simplicity has something to offer as well.)
I know that this is just a test-run, but I would always try to retrieve textures and rebuild if possible, some tips to gain even from complex surfaces textures are in my link below the signature.
Last but not least, Polygon reduction, but perhaps more last than least after all.
Let me know if there are any further questions, I’m happy to look into it.
Enjoy your weekend