Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
with all left legs, both front and back, in the scene sharing a particular knee-bend
animation, and all right legs sharing a different knee-bend animation.
A model using this approach is depicted in Figure 6.51. Here we have our
first reusable components that include internal joint transforms: The reusable left
leg has a left-knee joint, and the reusable right leg has its own right-knee joint.
If we were to do a test instantiation of just one camel designed in this way, we
would be able to control both left knees by manipulating just the one left-knee
joint transform, and both right knees via the one right-knee joint transform.
But the processing advantage gained by reuse becomes much more apparent
if you increase the number of camels to simulate the entire caravan. Consider
Figure 6.52, which depicts a model of a caravan featuring reuse of the entire camel
model.
Camel
Left front hip
Left rear hip
Right front hip
Right rear hip
Head
Torso
Left leg
Right leg
Thigh
Thigh
Left knee
Right knee
Lower leg
Foot
Shin
Figure 6.51: Reducing the storage cost by reusing a model for the left-side legs and a
separate model for the right-side legs, with great loss of flexibility in joint control.
Caravan
Camel
Left front hip
Left rear hip
Right front hip
Right rear hip
Head
Torso
Left leg
Right leg
Thigh
Thigh
Left knee
Right knee
Lower leg
Foot
Shin
Figure 6.52: Modeling a caravan by reusing a single camel model, a highly scalable
approach at the cost of excessive synchronized leg movement.
