Characterizing Giraffes

Giraffes are odd-toed ungulates of the giraffidae family, as are okapi.

This page gives some suggestions for how to characterize a giraffe skeleton for use with HumanIK. Note that there are many possible ways to characterize a giraffe; the suggestions below may or may not be appropriate for use with your own characters.

Quadrupeds example

To see a working demonstration of the suggestions on this page, run the Quadrupeds example included with the HumanIK SDK. The HIKSamples.sln solution in <HumanIK_installation_folder>/solutions/<platform_and_toolset> integrates the projects and source code for the samples. For details, see HumanIK Samples.

See also the Quadrupeds.fbx file in <HumanIK_installation_folder>/data/molecule/scenes.

Neutral stance

The neutral stance for your character must meet all the requirements for the quadruped neutral stance that are outlined on the Using HumanIK for Quadrupeds page.

Hind legs

Bone mappings

Despite their intimidating length, the giraffe's hind limbs are not difficult to characterize:

The topmost joint in the chain should be mapped to the LeftHipNodeId and RightHipNodeId.
The talus of the giraffe is located high above the ground and should be mapped to the LeftKneeNodeId and RightKneeNodeId. These joints must be inverted, so that they bend in the proper direction:
```
HIKInverseJoint(character, HIKLeftKnee, 1); 
HIKInverseJoint(character, HIKRightKnee, 1);
```
The last joint in the chain, which controls the orientation of the sole of the hoof, should be mapped to the LeftFootNodeId and RightFootNodeId.
The joint immediately before this last joint should be mapped to the LeftAnkleNodeId and RightAnkleNodeId.
If the skeleton has any other joints that lie between the talus and this second-to-last joint in the chain, they should not be mapped to any Nodes.

Forelegs

Bone mappings

For the forelegs of the giraffe, it is recommended that you characterize the complete joint chain understood by HumanIK:

LeftCollarNodeId and RightCollarNodeId
LeftShoulderNodeId and RightShoulderNodeId
LeftElbowNodeId and RightElbowNodeId: Note that these joints must be inverted, so that they bend in the proper direction:
```
HIKInverseJoint(character, HIKLeftElbow, 1); 
HIKInverseJoint(character, HIKRightElbow, 1);
```
LeftWristNodeId and RightWristNodeId
LeftHandNodeId and RightHandNodeId

This characterization will ensure a maximum of flexibility for the forelimbs, especially on the upper parts of the limbs.