March 9th, 2014

This week I read "Fast and Easy Reach-Cone Joint Limits", and Efficient Spherical Joint Limits with Reach Cones to gain some background on how joint limitations work and how they can be applied to a project such as mine.   After reading the articles and searching for a couple more, I began to think about how to apply the limitations to the system I have in place for controlling the mannequin.

In addition, I also added in the rest of the modeled pieces of the mannequin this week.  He now has both of his legs (with hip and knee joints).  After loading the model in, I realized that I may need to add a couple of joints around the root joint to allow for the torso and the pelvis to be rotated separately and in different directions.  The way the joint system is set up currently does not allow them to do so, and as such results in a very stiff and awkward looking character.

Next week, I plan on 1) implementing joint limitations, 2) adding a second model (what will eventually become the female character) to the scene, 3) including a way to toggle between the two, and 4) setting up a more explicit UI to select and rotate joints (in addition to the mouse and key controls being used currently).

Happy Spring Break!