Subject: Another LW 4.0 wish
From: Cyrus J Kalbrener <[email-masked]>
To: Lightwave List <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 1994 09:46:12 -0500 (CDT)

Anyone who has worked with bones knows how tricky they are and how 
difficult to work with they can be.  So how about making bones able to 
conform to a motion path?  It could not be exact, as bones are rigid, but 
you could get both a conform to path for any object, but with more 
specific control, while at the same time being able to create more fluid 
motion for bones.  Here's a simple example:

Fish.  As they swim they move from side to side as they travel.  If you 
want to move it in a straight line you could use a displacement map, but 
what if you want to make it turn or change direction, taking wider 
strokes in the turn? Or what about fabric?  If you wanted to have a piece 
of cloth sailing through the air, or circling a logo while fluttering, 
you could bone it along the motion path while at the same time using 
ripples on the surface.

Being able to assign only certain bones to the path would be essential and 
could make for better control, i.e. six bones along the spine of a fish, 
all conforming to the motion path (or separate spline path?).  You could 
then add bones in the 
fins parented to a bone in the spline, but not directly effected by the 
bone path.

But then again it could all be a bunch of hooey...

        Cyrus J. Kalbrener

                Silicon_Cel Digital Animation

                        "...To Render:  By Any Means Necessary!!..."

Finger me for PGP pub key:
29BA61 1994/03/07 94 55 FC 98 23 E7 1B 6E  3E B7 BA 28 E8 FB 14 F5