Anatomy and Animation: Anatomically Based Animation Skeletons for Quadrupeds

Sammanfattning: Constructing animation skeletons for quadrupeds is a complicated process, and knowing how to construct an animation skeleton for one type of quadruped does not guarantee the ability to effortlessly do so for another. This project explores how anatomy may easy the task of quadruped animation skeleton setup. Quadruped anatomy has been extensively studied and a method for animation skeleton setup based on anatomical information was explored using Autodesk Maya 2012. This method was based on the assumption that anatomical information could be incorporated into animation skeleton creation, thereby enabling the construction of an animation skeleton structure applicable to quadrupeds of different locomotion. It was discovered that this was hardly the case and the conclusion of this project has been that a better approach to animation skeletons is to construct them depending on the requirements of the project they are intended for rather than seeking to standardise how they should be set up.