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934 Chapter 14: Character Studio
This Physique hierarchy is created with dummy objects
linked to each other.
Floa tin g B ones
Floating bones are bones that are not linked
together and know nothing about each other.
By adding floating bones to Physique, you can
deformthemeshbyanimatingthebones.Thisis
in contrast to using Attach To Node and clicking
the root of a hierarchy, like the biped pelv is. For
Attach To Node to work all the bones should be
linked together.
Spline-B ased P hy sique Deformation
In addition to the biped and 3ds Max bones,
Physique suppor ts spline and NURBS curves for
mesh deformation. By animating vertices o n a
spline, you can animate the mesh. You can use
this technique for facial animation or to deform
any mesh.
To control a mesh with a spline:
1.
Place a spline inside a mesh.
2. Select the mesh and add the Physique modifier.
3. In the Physique Floating Bones rollout, click
Addandselectthesplineintheviewports.
4. Select the spline, turn on Vertex Sub-Object,
and move the spline vertices to animate the
mesh.
See also
Using Physique with a Biped (page 2–930)
Apply ing and Initi ali zing Phys ique
After you have created a skin and a skeleton,
and fitted the sk eleton to the skin, y ou apply the
Physiquemodifiertotheskin.Theprocessentails
these steps:
• Selecting the mesh
• Turning on Figure mode (if a biped is used)
• Adding the Physique modifier to the stack