is there a way to target MD3 vertex groups with a shader?

[KillPixel]

What I have: an MD3 comprised of two meshes (body & boils), one mesh has a deform vertex shader (the boils).

video: https://youtu.be/kx1d94uKFLw

What I want: i'd like the two meshes to be connected, as in the parameter vertices of the boils are part of the body mesh, but only the boils receive the shader. what is the best way to do this, if any?

[Bacon]

What do you mean by the parameter verticies of the boils? Looking at that video you already have the desired effect (boils move and the body doesn't) Do you mean you want the verts on the boils that are touching the body to not clip into the body itself?

[KillPixel]

I'm sorry, I meant perimeter of the boils, not parameter :P

In other words, I'd like the outer verts of the boils to be attached to the body mesh by their vertices. Another way to think about this is having a single mesh but with specific vertices affected by the shader, in this case, only the vertices that make up the boils would be affected.

I hope this is more clear?

[Bacon]

Sort of. Is this a player model? The video you show, the body doesn't move but the boils move, which is what you want apparently... Are those 2 seperate md3 models you're showing, and theyre just overlapping? Or do you want the vertexes of the boils that are connected to the body to not deform? If the latter, that's probably not possible.

[KillPixel]

not a player model. It's a single md3 comprised of 2 objects (so I could assign 2 separate materials, 1 for the body and one for the boils with deformvertexes).

you want the vertexes of the boils that are connected to the body to not deform?

correct.

that's probably not possible.

I was afraid of that :/