"Rune" <run### [at] runevisioncom> wrote:
>
> Extruding a mesh along a spline which happens to go through some points in a
> skeleton is not the same as deforming a mesh directly according to the bones
> in a skeleton.
>
> Your technique no doubt worked for your specific alien characters (that look
> like they're made of sphere_sweeps) but are you claiming it can be used as a
> general method to animate mesh characters such as your MIME Man or my AL the
> Alien character (provided they were meshes to begin with)?
>



Good question. First of all, rather than "boning", I would use the term if
we're talkig povray of "transforms".  I have shin transforms, right eye
transforms, forearm transforms, even left index finger middle digit
transforms in my system.  If you set up transforms, then you can have
"anything" you want move to the same set of transforms. I primarily think
in transforms but I can have it spit out points if I choose.


There are several levels of difficulty to the problem you describe, perhaps
it's best to consider individually:

1).  Animation of a "single long stocking"-- say going from a foot to an
ankle to a knee up to the crotch.   This I believe is quite doable using
(hoping I'm not insulting him by invoking his name  and quality macro in
assocation with my mediocre work) the Mike Williams method.  I made
(perhaps unpublished?) a simple example like this and think it's quite
"workable" with a more professional-quality construction if one were to
choose.   If you don't care exactly how smoothly Al's arms connect to his
torso, if you'd settle for mere overlapping objects, then the answer is a
flat "yes".

2). Animation of "a pair of pants" or a "sweater"-- say two independently
moving legs which smoothly join to a "hip & but" or two independently
moving arms smoothly joining to a "torso". (A more complex version would be
multiple fingers joining a hand).  This is currently over my head, although
I'm currently skeptical that it's impossible with the Mike Williams method.
I think it's just a slightly bigger coding headache and this discussion is
almost about made me want to try it.

3). Animation of a moving jaw within a mouth with an opening.  This I think
is doable, too.

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