On Sat, 2005-10-22 at 00:51 +0200, Jan Ciger wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Mark Ivey wrote: > > > > Ok, I'll look at the archives. Is there a better way to solve the > > problem of programatically being able to control the hands on a clock, > > the tires on a car, the limbs of a tree, etc.? It seems like a common > > enough task, how do others do it? > > > OMG, this is typical case - "I have a hammer, so now everything looks > like a nail." Why do you want to control a wheel of a car by **BONES**?? > That makes absolutely no sense and is an incredible overkill - what is > wrong with the good old rotation/translation matrices? > > All that you have described can be controlled easily with few > transformations (matrices), no need for skeleton. Skeletons are used > when you need to **deform** a mesh based on some simpler input - e.g. > when rendering a skinned character or if you want to do some fancy > morphing. Not when you just need to rotate some rigid object. Sure, you > can use a skeleton but it is such an overkill that it is not even funny > any more.
I know that skeletons are used to deform meshes, like a tree blowing in the wind or (from my original email) rag-doll physics. These links suggest that Unreal also uses bones for vehicles: http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/SVehicleCreation http://www.psyonix.com/NewVehiclesTutorial/ Your quote about a hammer suggests you know a better way. I'm asking what that is. -Mark Ivey-
