Upgrade Requirements for Release 4.5

Toe parenting changes

This release makes the following changes to the skeletal hierarchy used internally by HumanIK:

• The joint chains for the big toe on the left and right feet now connect to the foot Node (LeftFootNodeId and RightFootNodeId), if the foot Node is characterized.
• The joint chains for the extra toe on the left and right feet now connect to the ankle Node (LeftAnkleNodeId and RightAnkleNodeId) in all cases, even if the foot Node is characterized.

  These changes should be transparent for most projects, unless you set and retrieve animation data using local space transforms. If you do use local space transforms to set and retrieve animation data for characters with fully articulated toes, you must ensure that you take these changes in skeletal hierarchy into account.

Squash ’n’ Stretch configuration

This release adds several new character properties to configure Squash ’n’ Stretch. If you use Squash ’n’ Stretch already in your project, you must set (at a minimum) a stretch reach for each of the limbs that you want to squash or stretch. This stretch reach controls how freely the limb can compress or expand in order to reach distant goals. By default, this stretch reach is set to 0 for all limbs.

You may also want to take advantage of the other character properties added in this release to configure Squash ’n’ Stretch.

For details, see Using Squash 'n' Stretch.

Environment variables in MotionBuilder and 3ds Max plug-ins

In order to support all versions of Windows on 32-bit and 64-bit platforms, environment variables have been added to the MotionBuilder plug-in included in the samples directory. You must now set these environment variables in order to compile these samples.

For details, see MotionBuilder HumanIK Solver Plug-in.