2009

At any joint angle, you can define a bulge angle, and you may define as

many bulge angles as needed. The bulge angle consists of the current

orientation of the joint together with any defined cross sections. In

addition, you can adjust the influence of a bulge angle. Physique considers

all the bulge angles as the character moves. The resulting bulge is created

by interpolating the effects of the various bulge angles having some

influence at the current joint angle.

For example, to create a bulging biceps muscle, in Bulge sub-object level,

on a selected link, insert a cross section near the center of the upper arm.

Pose the arm into a flexed position, with the angle between upper and

lower arms at 90 degrees or less. Insert a bulge angle and adjust the cross

section so that it distorts the mesh appropriately. In the viewports and in

the

Bulge Editor on page 4687, you can edit the shape of the bulge to look

like a flexed biceps muscle: higher and wider above the bone than below

it. Now as the elbow bends from a straight orientation up and toward the

shoulder, Physique bulges the biceps appropriately.

see Creating Bulges on page 4649 for more information about creating bulges.

Because bulges are optional, you can approach Physique animation in a couple

of ways:

■ Apply only as much detail as you need to get the effect you want for a

particular scene in your animation. This is probably the best approach

when the Physique animation is meant to be used only once, or is not the

main focus of the animation.

■ Define a fully deformable character, with bulges for its entire range of

motion. This is probably the best approach when you intend to reuse the

Physique character in an ongoing series of animations, for example, or in

a video game that has a variety of character action.