8

1114 Glossary
TCB ( Tension, Continuity, Bias)
The TCB Position controller provides Tension,
Continuity , and Bias controls of the splines of a
function curve.
TCB Controllers (page 2–361) also produce
cur ve-based animation much like the
Bezier
controllers (page 2–305)
.However,TCB
controllers do not use tangent types or adjustable
tangent handles. They use numeric values to adjust
the Tension, Continuity, and Bias of the animation.
Tension—Controls the amount of curvature in the
animation curve.
HighTensionproducesalinearcurve.Italsohasa
slight Ea se To and Ease From effect.
Low Tension produces a very wide, rounded curve.
It also has a slight negative Ease To and Ease From
effect.
Thedefaultvalueof25producesanevenamount
of curvature through the key.
Co ntinuity—Controls the tangential property of
thecurveatthekey. Thedefaultsettingisthe
only value that produces a smooth animation
curvethroughthekey.Allothervaluesproducea
discontinuity in the animation curve causing an
abrupt change in the animation.
High Continuit y values create curved overshoot
on both sides of the key. Low Continuity values
create a linear animation curve.
Low continuity creates a linear curve similar to
high tension except without the Ease To and E ase
From side effect.
Thedefaultvalueof25createsasmooth
cont inuous curve at the key.
Bias—Controls where the animation curve occurs
with respect to the key.
High Bias pushes the curve beyond the key. This
produces a linear curve coming into the key and
an exaggerated curve leaving the key.
Low Bias pulls the curve b efore the key. This
produces an exaggerated curve coming into the
key and a linear curve leaving the key.
Thedefaultvalueof25distributesthecurveevenly
to both sides of the key.
Tendons
When you use Physique (page 2–927) ,after
you adjust envelope parameters for good mesh
deformation, you can use
tendons (p age 2–998)
to control the amount of skin stretching across
multiple links. While envelopes provide s mooth
skin deformations, tendons provide additional
stretching in much the same way that actual
human tendons might create pulling in the wrist
(several joints away) when the fingers are moved.
Tension, Continui ty, B ia s (B i ped)
Tension, Continuity, and Bias (TCB) are
parameters that quantif y the traditional animation
techniqueofeaseinandeaseout(alsoknownas
“slow in and slow out”). In
freeform animation
(page 3–1039)
of a biped, you can use them to
change the timing of a limb’s movement from key
to key.
TheTCBcontrolsareintheTCBsectionofthe
Key
Info rollout (page 2–809)
.