Date: Wed, 18 May 1994 14:00:09 +1000
From: imagine-relay@email.sp.paramax.com

> Bones again:
>  Suggestion...Make bones more usable.  This is WAY too cumbersome.

>From the description I read, they look mildly horrendous to use.

>  How does Lightwave do it?

Although LW's bones lack some functionality that I feel is needed, they have
been around for over a year. LW4 has many enhancements to bones. But the
current LW is still very powerful and works like this:
1) With the object of interest selected, bring up the bones window by hitting
   the "Object Skeleton" button.
2) Hit the "Add Bone" button once for each bone you wish to add.
3) *optionally* rename each bone for easier identification.
4) For each bone, specify its parent bone, if it has one.
5) In the layout window, use the standard tools for moving, rotating, etc
   to place the bones relative to the object, and create a key. Bones at the
   top of the bone hierarchy should typically be placed first.
6) When satisfied with their placement, hit the "r" key for each bone which
   specifies that placement as the "rest" position and activates the bone.
7) Done. Now any movement applied to the bone will deform the object. Move
   them as you wish and create keysframes and/or apply motion files to them.

It would be nice if bone creation or editing could be done in Modeler
since this would make placement a little easier for more complex structures.

>> anything good doesn't come easy...though it would be nice if they did.
> "Simple things should be simple, and Complex things should be possible".

Bones do not have to be complex to be powerful. Softimage has extremely
powerful bones functionality, and arguably one of the simplest interfaces.
%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~%
%      `       '        Mark Thompson                 CONCURRENT COMPUTER  %
% --==* RADIANT *==--   mark@westford.ccur.com        Principal Graphics   %
%      ' Image `        ...!uunet!masscomp!mark       Hardware Architect   %
%     Productions       (508)392-2480 (603)424-1829   & General Nuisance   %
%                                                                          %
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


                           -=> RETURN TO CONTENTS!<=-