8

Setting Bulge Angles 947
skin vertices. They are in a Physique rollout for
Link sub-objects. See
Reinitializing Physique
Settings (page 2–949)
.
See also
Bulge Sub-Object (page 2–992)
S etti ng B u lge Angles
A bulge angle associates an ang le value and a name.
By default, each link has one bulge angle whose
defaultnameisthenameofthelinkfollowedby
"Bulge 0". The default bulge angle’s initial angle
valueistheanglebetweenthelinkanditschild
when you first attach Physique to the skeleton.
Bulgesareeffectivebecausetheygrowandshrink
asthejointmoves.Theinitialbulgeangledefines
one shape that the skin c an deform to; this would
normally be like a default musculature. With no
other bulge angles defined, the skin would always
look like the first bulge angle, regardless of pose.
Additionalbulgeanglesprovidetheothershapes
the mesh c an deform to.
Inthesimplecaseofaflexingbicepsmuscle,
one bulge angle defines the relaxed position and
anotherdefinesthemuscleinitsflexedpose.
Both are exposed so you can add definition to
the default character. As in a biceps muscle, a
heavily-muscled character might have some shape
even in a relaxed pose. This lets you change the
baseline without disturbing the original mesh. You
can actually use Physique bulge cross sections to
model your character.
The cross section deformation for a given link
is determined by interpolating between the
contributions of all bulge angles that affect the
link.Thisincludesbulgeanglesforboththelink’s
parent joint angle and its ow n ( chi ld) joint angle.
Each bulge angle’s contribution is determined by:
•Influence(howfarawaythebulgeangleisfrom
the current joint angle rotation)
• Power (an ease based on the influence of the
angle)
• Weight(therelativestrengthofthebulgeangle)
Keep in mind that bulge angles can be set
for arbit rary rotations, and are not limited to
single-axis hinge joints.
See also
Bulge Sub-Object (page 2–992)
Fi ne -Tun ing Bulge s
The Bulge Editor (page 2–965) duplicates many of
the controls available at the Bulge sub-object level.
It gives you a focused, two-dimensional view of
thecurrentbulgesettings.
Shaping the B ulge
Once you’ve inserted the bulge angle, and recorded
the angle setting , you then shape the bulge by
inserting and adjusting cross sec tions. You can
either move and scale the cross se ctions, or adjust
each one’s shape using control points.
Adding Mor e Poses to Your Cha r acter
For more complex body movements, you may
need to add bulges for different positions. Overall,
you might want to build a generic charac ter that
works in a number of situations, regardless of the
type of motion.
Some examples are:
• Moving the charac ter into several extreme
poses.
•Puttingthearmshighovertheheadand
bending them into different positions.
• Making the character squat and lif ting the legs
into various positions.