Dem bones

We’ve now been introduced to the concept of ‘bones in Maya, which I have to admit is more complex than I thought it would be. To help me understand it I’ve rewatched the video-tutorials on the subject that I mentioned in my last post. There are also various other bones video/pictorial tutorials on the internet such this one… Maya bones tutorial

Maya Bones...

The main issues with bones seems to be with regards to the orientation of the axis which links back to my blog post from my last module on 3D modelling, regarding 3-dimensional space representation using X, Y and Z axis. Link to previous blog post. This was a lesson I was thankful I had learned as it was in use quite a lot in 3D animation.

             

I’ve started to experiment with bones in Maya but I’m still unsure how to link this to my animation. For instance if the bones are added to a complete modelled Maya animation will they effect the movement? Are they visible throughout the process? Do they need to be animated independently? I will have to wait until our next lecture to find out as I don’t want to jump too far ahead with the video tutorials in case I’m learning extraneous information.