Bones
11 messages in this thread
Does anyone have any info on the BONES.IPAS ?
I'm interested to hear some more aabout it.
Does it deform single meshes or does the mesh still need to be
segmented? Thankyou in advance…
Oh, the things I can imagine you doing with BONES… the mind boggles.
How ya doin'?
Michele
What is Bones, and what does it do?
Bones is a skeletal deformation tool. It allows you to build a 'skeleton'
inside a mesh object. Then by moving the skeleton, the mesh moves accordingly.
Since 90% of the objects out there do not include joints, Bones is the perfect
tool for bending those objects. Leave me some email with your address and/or
fax number and I'll get a brochure out to you. Bones is produces by Digimation
and will sell for $295. It should be shipping by mid October. You can reach us
at 800-854-4496 or 504-785-3969. David – Digimation
I just recieved a mailer from you with a bit of info and a screen shot
of "Bones". I've been eagerly awaiting a true skeletal animation capability in
3DS that will allow a keyframed skeleton to deform any pre-existing mesh, but
was a little dissapointed with what I saw in your ad. Maybe you can put my
worries to rest…
Will "bones" let you create a skeleton for a mesh that can be animated
in the keyframer? Will it let the skeleton contain branches? What I was hoping
for is a routine that worked in the KF and would let me animate the skeleton,
while letting me deform the mesh at any given frame to check if that
deformation worked or not. I was REALLY hoping that it would not have to rely
on morph objects for the animation, as this can be a huge headache on a large
mesh in a complicated sequence. From the screen shot it appears that the
skeleton or spline is ONLY accessable and adjustable from inside the routine,
and therefore not animatable directly, unless you adjust the spline, shoot out
a morph target, adjust some more, shoot out another morph target, etc. This
keeps the same headaches that I was expecting Bones to alieviate, such as
dealing with many huge morph targets in one scene, and having to make/deform
all the targets in the first place.
I hope I'm completely wrong in my uneducated fears that I got from the
limited lit I read, but I still have this sinking fealing in my stomach that my
long awaited skeletal animation features are not going to be realized with
Bones. (I really need to start thinking more positivley…)
Thanks,
David
David,
I wish that I could tell you exactly how Bones is going to work but it's not
carved in stone yet. I know what you mean about morph targets but we do have to
work within the framework 3DS gives us. Even 3DS R4 has limitations. For
example Inverse Kinematics works great inside the IPAS routine itself but once
you exit the routine 3DS itself doesn't have a clue what IK is. The same things
goes for Bones and all other IPAS to a certain extent. You can't expext 3DS to
know about Bones once you leave the IPAS environment. On the other hand, we are
working on a plan to bend each object right before it is handed to the renderer
so there will be no need for morph targets at all. If you have some definite
features that you would like to see, hurry and leave a private email for me and
I'll see what I can do. Regardless I think that Bones will address a large hole
in 3DS. David – Digimation
Thanks for the info. If you manage to eliminate the necessity for
multiple morph objects, that in itself will be a wonderful thing. Being able to
keyframe the control skeleton is another, even if only in the IPAS itself.
David
Hi David,
I Haven't talked to you in a while. How is Bones coming along? Are you
starting Beat testing soon? Let me know so that I can be ready with my meshes.
(g)
Thanks.
Alex K.
I'd like some bones info too! (Either e-mail or snail-mail is fine)
Thanks a lot,
Henning Hoffmann
24C Castlebrook Lane
Nepean, Ontario
K2G 5G2
Info is on it's way!
David – Digimation
Someone else gave you a thorough response on Bones so I assume you're all set
now.
Michele