Defining a spine

As part of the Character mapping process, you have the option of defining a spine with up to nine additional objects (besides the required Spine object mapped in the Base group). If you define additional spine objects, rotation data is accurately split between all of them.

For best results, when creating a skeleton for your model, space the joint or bone of each vertebrae a similar distance apart.

To specify a spine:

1. Double-click a character in the Scene browser to open the Character Settings.
2. Switch to the Character Definition pane, and expand the Auxiliary group of slots.
3. Drop the first bone for the spine into the Spine cell (also displays in the Base group).
4. Drop the second bone into the Spine1 cell.
5. Continue dropping the spine bones in your model into the Spine cells in the Character map in sequential order. For example, the bone for Spine must parent Spine1. The bone of Spine1 must parent Spine2, and so on.

The Character and Name Match views includes a visual representation of the spine bones in your character. See Define a skeleton for HIK to learn how to use this tool as an alternative to the Character Settings pane when you are defining the spine for your character.