MakeSpine
 
 
 

MakeSpine

Introduced

v4.0

Description

Creates a quaternion or skeleton spine given four objects: chest control, hip control, chest depth, hip depth. These four objects define 4 point bezier curve along which the vertebrae are traced. On a skeleton spine the vertebrae are bones, on a quaterion spine the vertebrae can be implicit or polygon cubes. On a quaternion spine these four objects also control the spine's curve (each object controls one of the curve's control points).

Optionally a shadow rig can be attached to the arm. Shadow objects are created for each chain element in the arm, and shadow arm bones are pose-constrained to the acutal arm bones. Shadow rigs can be used to plot animation off of a rig.

Scripting Syntax

oSpine = MakeSpine( Model, Parent, [NbVertebrae], [SpineType], [Stretchy], SpineBaseObject, SpineTopObject, [BottomDepthObject], [TopDepthObject], [ChestTop], Sliders, [ShadowType], [ShadowParent], [VertebraeName], [CharacterSetName], [ShadowCharacterSetName] );

Return Value

Returns a Spine JScript object.

Parameters

Parameter Type Description
Model String The model the spine will belong to.
Parent String The object to which the spine will be parented.
NbVertebrae Integer The number of Vertebra on the spine.

Default Value: 3
SpineType Integer The type of Spine and controls objects used.

Default Value: 0

Possible Values:

Description:
0 Make quaternion spine with polygon divisions.
1 Make quaternion spine with implicit divisions.
2 Make skeleton spine.
Stretchy Boolean Make a stretchy spine that doesn't clip length.

Default Value: True
SpineBaseObject String Bottom of the spine, should be pointing y+ along the path of the spine.
SpineTopObject String Top of the spine, should be pointing y+ out from the Curve.
BottomDepthObject String Goal for a 4 point bezier going through the spine. If empty will be computed automatically.
TopDepthObject String Goal for a 4 point bezier going through the spine. If empty will be computed automatically.
ChestTop String (optional) Top of chest goal. If filled, this command uses the spine top as a position reference only and builds an icon from spineTop to chestTop. If empty there is no extra icon on top of the spine, only an implicit cube is used.
Sliders String A slider PPG to put the spine parameters on. If none is supplied a slider page is added on the spine Curve.
ShadowType Integer The type of shadow rig to attach to the spine. Shadow rigs can be used to transfer or remap animation.

Default Value: 0

Possible Values:

Description:
0 No shadow
1 SI|3D Skeleton shadow rig
2 XSI Skeleton shadow rig
3 Null shadow rig
4 Box shadow rig
ShadowParent String Parent of the shadow rig hiearchy. If empty, no shadow rig is generated.
VertebraeName String The name that should be used for the vertebrae.

Default Value: ""
CharacterSetName String The name of the character set that should be used for this chain; it gets stored in a Custom PSet for use.

Default Value: ""
ShadowCharacterSetName String The name of the shadow character set that should be used for this chain; it gets stored in a Custom PSet for use.

Default Value: ""

Examples

JScript Example

/*
        Makes a spine with 3 vertebrae
*/
var Base        = GetPrim("Null", "Base"); 
var Top         = GetPrim("Null", "Top"); 
var Depth       = GetPrim("Null", "Depth"); 
var TopDepth= GetPrim("Null", "TopDepth"); 
var lXfm = XSIMath.CreateTransform();
lXfm.SetTranslationFromValues(0,0,0);
Base.Kinematics.Global.Transform = lXfm;
lXfm.SetTranslationFromValues(0,8,0);
Top.Kinematics.Global.Transform = lXfm;
lXfm.SetTranslationFromValues(0,2,0);
Depth.Kinematics.Global.Transform = lXfm;
lXfm.SetTranslationFromValues(0,6,0);
TopDepth.Kinematics.Global.Transform = lXfm;
var Spine = MakeSpine(  ActiveSceneRoot,        //model 
                                ActiveSceneRoot,        //parent
                                3,                      //number of vertebrae
                                0,                      //quat spine with polygon vertebrae
                                false,                  //non-stretchy
                                Base, Top,
                                Depth,TopDepth);
DumpSpine(Spine);
function DumpSpine(inSpine)
{
        logmessage ("Data in the returned spine object:");
        logmessage ("----------------------------------");
        logmessage ("Curve       : " + inSpine.Curve);
        logmessage ("TopVertebra : " + inSpine.TopVertebra);
        if(inSpine.Shadows)
        {
                logmessage ("#ShadowObj  : " + inSpine.Shadows.count);
                for(var b=0; inSpine.Shadows && b<inSpine.Shadows.count;b++)
                        {logmessage ("  Shadow" + b + ": " + inSpine.Shadows(b));}
        }
                logmessage ("#ShadowObj  : " + 0);
        logmessage ("#EnvelopeObj: " + inSpine.Envelope.count);
        for(var b=0;b<inSpine.Envelope.count;b++)
                {logmessage ("  EnvelopeObj" + b + ": " + inSpine.Envelope(b));}
        logmessage ("#Vertebrae  : " + inSpine.Vertebra.count);
        for(var b=0;b<inSpine.Vertebra.count;b++)
                {logmessage ("  Vertebra" + b + ": " + inSpine.Vertebra(b));}
}
//result of running this script
//INFO : "Data in the returned spine object:"
//INFO : "----------------------------------"
//INFO : "Curve       : crvlist2"
//INFO : "TopVertebra : TopVertebra2"
//INFO : "#ShadowObj  : 0"
//INFO : "#EnvelopeObj: 4"
//INFO : "  EnvelopeObj0: TopVertebra2"
//INFO : "  EnvelopeObj1: Vertebra6"
//INFO : "  EnvelopeObj2: Vertebra7"
//INFO : "  EnvelopeObj3: Vertebra8"
//INFO : "#Vertebrae  : 3"
//INFO : "  Vertebra0: Vertebra6"
//INFO : "  Vertebra1: Vertebra7"
//INFO : "  Vertebra2: Vertebra8"

See Also

MakeShadowSpine MakeTorso MakeHead MakeHip

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