Subject: Re: Bones!!!!!! 
Date: Fri, 27 May 94 10:39:24 EDT
From: Mark Thompson <mark@westford.ccur.com>

Thomas Setzer <setzer@comm.mot.com> writes:
> > This is one of the drawbacks of the current LW bones implementations.
> So if you wanted to do a twittling thumbs anim, where the hand was on the
> lap of the twittler, the nearby fingers and possibly the lap may jiggle
> with the twittling?

If you are not careful, yes.

>  Can you set the level of the "force" you talked about?

The size of the bone determines the force it exerts. The force has a gaussian
roll-off in strength so that the farther away a point is, the less influence
the bone will have. There is also a setting for each bone that allows you
to set a pill-shaped radius beyond which the bone will have zero influence.
While the current implementation makes it somewhat difficult to precisely
animate complex articulated characters, they are superior for giving life
to simpler inanimate objects. For example, I have a test animation of a vase
walking that is reminiscent of the broomsticks in Disney's Sorcerer's
Apprentise. This is where LW bones really excel.
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