Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
The advantage of using a Biped skeleton is that a lot of time and effort went into
creating a good skeleton that includes systems for muscle flexing and restraints on
movement so the knee or elbow doesn't bend the wrong way. Biped skeletons are
fully set up with advanced inverse kinematics and flexing mechanisms that it
would take hours to create by hand.
A Biped skeleton controls the motion of a model by using a modifier called
Physique
that attaches the model to the skeleton. The attachment is done on a per-
vertex basis, allowing every vertex to move independently. In the following exam-
ple you will see how to add a Biped to the pirate-girl model. You will also scale the
Biped to match the frame of the girl, and then you will learn how to attach the
Biped skeleton to the model of the girl so she can animate.
1. First, bring up 3ds Max and load the model of the pirate girl.
2. Next, delete the template and change the orthogonal views to Wireframe, as
shown in Figure 7.1.
3. Under the Create tab there is a row of icons. Click on the Systems icon on
the far right, as shown in Figure 7.2.
Figure 7.1
Delete the template.
