Week 7 - Si gain some bones for his body!

Yes, Si now has all bones inserted where they need to be:- here's how it came together

The 'bone' tool works simply in that the cursor will draw out the bones on-screen and automatically join them to one another in a line, allowing for easy positioning onto the limb/object ( this is the reason Si's arms are out dead straight; much easier and less stress when attempting to line the bones up with the required material!)
I created a set of four bones: upper arm, lower-to-wrist and the two finger bones, as he needed to appear as to handle items too

I made sure that when 'Cloning' the bones for the other arms, I used the copy option as I definitely didn't want me changing options on one arm, only for it to happen on the other unnecessarily...
At this point, I also thought it wise to get into the habit of naming the bones appropriately as, even though there were only going to be a dozen or so in total to control,I knew it would be good practice

^The bones in position, as well as the correct tags for me to refer to when applying the 'Skin' and 'Editing_Envelopes' modifiers^


The 'Edit_Envelopes modifier is an intrinsic tool by means of allowing the user to completely customize the area which would be affeced by the movement and atached solvers on any given 'bone'
By which, the oval-wireframe in the image can be shrunk or enlarged at either end (Si's fingers, for example, are tapered, so I would need to decrease the target are at one end to allow the finger adapt freely without constraints in the motion


I adjusted each bone as precisely as I could, especially given the fact that, as the image show, you can never be too careful!
The red area on Si's body shows that the envelope for that bone structure would, when connected and manipulated with any attached 'HI_Solvers', either rotate the body around or just lift in upwards or downwards (I therefore readjusted before going any further) This process was to be repeated for the other arm

NOTE: Although I hadn't gathered suitable imagery to show it, I actually applied bones on each of the tentacles/flippers too: two bones for each flipper! I also worked out a system by which I copied some as instances as some as copies so that each set of two opposing tentacles will move in unison. I also colour-coded those instances so that I knew which were which, as it were...

Si is sorted and I hope he's pleased with hows he turned out - I know I am!
In part two this week, I continue with furnishing the lounge (Changing Rooms in Space!)