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930 Chapter 14: Character Studio
If you want to use a particular mesh but its
polygons violate these guidelines, use 3ds Max to
add or delete edges and polygons as needed b efore
apply ing Physique to the mesh. Usually, these
rules are not so important for the facial area of
the m odel, where little deformation will take place
with Physique.
Forexample,thecharactershownbelowwas
originally modeled as designed, but with no regard
for the best polygon distribution for Physique.
The numerous odd-shaped polygons (especially
around the hips), and the pose with the legs
too close together, would hav e made this model
difficult to work with after Physique was applied.
The model was altered to work better with
Physique by deleting edges and vertices, and
reshaping many of the polygons in the hip area.
The model was also altered to make the character
assume the reference pose.
After MeshSmooth is applied to the simplified
mesh,renderingsofthetwomodelslookidentical.
However, the second model works much better
with Physique.
Using Physique with a Biped
The skeleton to which you attach a skin using
Physique can b e a 3ds Max hierarchy, bones in
a hierarchy, bones not in a hierarchy and splines.
Physique deforms the skin based on the relative
position of the
bone or links in the hierarchy.
Specifically, it uses the length of each link and the
angle between two connected links; it can also use
the sca le of a link.
Theskeletonhierarchycanalsobea3dsMax
system object that defines a behavior as well as a
hierarchy. Three kind s of objects that are especially
useful with Physique:
• Bipeds are provided by character studio.
• Bones are a standard Systems object provided
with 3ds Max.
• Splines can be used rather than a “bones”
hierarchy.
You create both bones and bipeds using the
Systems object category on the Create panel.
Bones are useful for facial animation, a face with
moving lips for example, or for non-bipedal
characters. Bipeds are the system of choice for
humanoid and other bipedal characters.
Usually y ou create the Physique skin before you
create the skeleton, because y ou must adapt the
skeleton’s dimensions to the dimensions o f the
skin, in order to optimize vertex assignment to the
links in the hierarchy.