Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 12.11
Example of IK Spline solver
How can we apply these IK solvers to our characters Kila and Grae? The most obvious
places are the characters' arms and legs, enabling the feet to lock to the ground as they
walk, and the hands to be locked to specific objects. We could use the IK Spline handle
on the spines, but Kila and Grae's spines are made from just a few joints, so it would not
benefit the animator in the long run. Using the IK Spline would take longer to animate; in
addition, it could lead to restriction of the spine's movement since you would not be able
to animate each joint separately.
On top of the IK, we will also need to add controls that will make it easier to use. All this
can become fairly complex, so with this in mind let's start building the controls that will
animate our base skeletons. We'll begin with the characters' arms and hands.
Arm and Hand Controls
KilaandGrae'sarmsandhands,asis,arequitecapableofgivingustheanimationweneed.
Wecanmanipulatetheshoulderandelbowjointstoposethearmsquiteeasily;wecaneven
go in and animate the individual fingers. Adding further controls to the arms and hands,
however, will make posing them quicker and easier to do.
Arm Controls
Currently, Kila's arm inherits the rotations of the clavicle. As you can see in
Figure 12.12
,
when the clavicle rotates, so do the shoulder, elbow, and so on. So we first need to lock the
shoulder's rotation to another, independent control; this will give us complete command
over its movement.
