I have a list of triangles that make an object. In my case they are parts
of a model, torso, head, right upper arm, right lower arm, right hand,
left
upper leg, left lower leg, left foot, etc...
I want to be able to animate the points of the model. I've written a
program that I use for a user to identify which triangles are in which
body
parts. Now programically I'd like to identify the connecting points in
some
method. This is so once the triangles lists are created the program can
create pivot points and such.
Well, these are just numbers. Although they represent points in 3d space,
they are only numbers. The triangle lists are in no particular order, in
fact, one triange may be from the right foot, the next one from the head,
the one after that the right foot again. I have a list of indicies for
each
part. For example, right foot may have triangles 12, 13, 27, 35, 87,
etc...
The simplest method and one that would work for 8 out of the 14 parts is
cylinders, which would be the upper/lower arm, upper/lower legs. So what
I
would need to determine, programically, is the ... characteristics of the
triangle to determine the pivot point(s). It doesn't seem that difficult
to
detemine the trinagles at the extreme. Simply sorting the triangles by
x/y/z and determineing which are at the end points would do this (although
I'd have to determine which was farther, x1-xn, y1-yn or z1-zn. Okay, now
I
need to determine, it would seem, which trianges make up a circle and find
the center of that circle to find the pivot point on either extreme. And
there I'm kinda scratching my head.
I don't even know what to google for. Anyone have any ideas before I
start
spending the next few days immersed in google and abstract vector
mathematics?
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