Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Once the mesh is provided with bones and is rigged, a model is animated through a
sequence of key frames. Each animation is broken down into a number of key pos-
itions which represent it. For each key frame, the model is put in a specific position,
acting on its bones (the mesh follows accordingly, thanks to its rigging). The software
takes care of interpolating the movement of each bone in the model according to a
set of rules called inverse kinematics and a set of parameters defined by the user.
Animating 3D characters is no joke! It requires both talent and knowledge of anatomy
and the rules of body language. Take a look at any Disney movie to get an idea on
how to make objects express emotion through motion.
To stick to the scope of this topic, we won't go into further details with regard to 3D
animation. Big developers have teams of animators who not only work with modeling
software, but also make use of techniques, such as motion capture, if they need to
create detailed animations for humanoid characters. It is a branch in the field of 3D
computer graphics by itself and we suggest searching on the Internet starting from
