CompuServe Messages

<< Skin is inexpensive, but Bones looks versatile. Have 3DS rel 4.0 with inverse kinematics. Which package will take the most advantage of IK? I heard that Skin is capable of whatever Bones is: it is just a question of TIME, since Bones does it all in one shot (skeleton), but skin most REskin the whole body every frame. >> It really comes down to basically 2 things: 1) If you have an existing mesh, can't rebuild it using Skin techniques, and… 2) Need to animate it with seamless joints, skeltonally driven, FK or IK… …then Bones is the answer. However, if *all* of the joints don't have to be seamless, you probably have a little more control using Sliced meshes with Skin, as you have global control of the slices linked to the skeleton, plus local control of every slice. Both systems can be time consuming to tweak. IK is just another way of positioning the skeleton components manually, or automatically using dummy follow objects. Both Bones & Skin/Slice work fine with IK. Bones is $500 and includes a handy Smooth.pxp, …Skin/Slice is $300, and comes with Deform, Vapor, Flame, & Scatter routines. Both are nice. You decide <g>. BILL