An element of this project is to create a computer generated tentacle which will perform number of movements. In order to do this, the static three dimensional model must be move-able and therefore needs a skeleton/series of joints.
To create such:
Joints are required to define the skeletons and the points of which they will articulate; although added to a model, the joints/bones do not have nodes, or any physical and calculable presence in your scene. Each joint can have one or more bone attached to it, along with more than one child joint. Joints allow movement of a skeleton when posing and animating a bound model.
Various joint attributes will determine how said joints will behave, by editing the attributes of a joint it limits how far a joint can rotate or restrict what planes it can rotate about. An example of this would be in order to create a joint chain that moves and rotates like the human neck, set the degrees of freedom for the joints so that it only rotates about two axis and then limit each joints range of rotation.
Take for example the following joints:
- A ball joint is a joint that can rotate about all three of its local axes. For example, the human shoulder is a ball joint.
- A universal joint is a joint that can rotate about only two of its local axes. The human wrist is a good example of a universal joint, though the wrist has limitations on the extent it can rotate.
- A hinge joint is a joint that can rotate about only one of its local axes. For example, the human knee is a hinge joint.
Nikki Mundy Portfolio 