• Maya

Adding extra joints

How to add extra joints to the skeleton, such as the root joint, for enhanced control over the placement of the model in virtual space.


00:03

Now let's look at adding some of the extra joints we need.

00:08

The first is the root joint.

00:11

The route is essentially a locator.

00:14

So the engine knows where the character is in virtual space.

00:18

It can also be used to effectively pull the animation back to the world route

00:23

something which is essential with game animations.

00:27

So if the character is animated, moving away from the world,

00:30

root unreal can pull it back

00:33

and then it can position itself so that the

00:36

character can more accurately interact with world objects.

00:41

You can read more about how it works in unreal by following the link on the screen.

00:46

OK. Let's bring back the grid

00:49

and we just want to create a single joint,

00:53

but we need it with the default settings.

00:55

So the orientation matches the world's orientation.

00:59

I'm going to just hold X and snap this joint to the grid

01:03

and that's it.

01:05

Let's rename this to root.

01:08

Nice and easy.

01:10

Now duplicate the root joint

01:13

and holding V snap that to the pelvis joint.

01:17

Call this one cog which is short for center of gravity

01:21

and parent that to the root joint.

Video transcript

00:03

Now let's look at adding some of the extra joints we need.

00:08

The first is the root joint.

00:11

The route is essentially a locator.

00:14

So the engine knows where the character is in virtual space.

00:18

It can also be used to effectively pull the animation back to the world route

00:23

something which is essential with game animations.

00:27

So if the character is animated, moving away from the world,

00:30

root unreal can pull it back

00:33

and then it can position itself so that the

00:36

character can more accurately interact with world objects.

00:41

You can read more about how it works in unreal by following the link on the screen.

00:46

OK. Let's bring back the grid

00:49

and we just want to create a single joint,

00:53

but we need it with the default settings.

00:55

So the orientation matches the world's orientation.

00:59

I'm going to just hold X and snap this joint to the grid

01:03

and that's it.

01:05

Let's rename this to root.

01:08

Nice and easy.

01:10

Now duplicate the root joint

01:13

and holding V snap that to the pelvis joint.

01:17

Call this one cog which is short for center of gravity

01:21

and parent that to the root joint.

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