Go into Figure Mode and select the Root bone and add the completed mesh to it. Move the object up so that its feet are on the y axis. Branch one bone off of the root bone and branch two more off of that one. It should look like Figure 1. NOTE: I rotated the legs so that they are separated. I did this for a reason. When you apply volumes of influence, you dont want the left leg bone controling parts or the right leg bone. So you may want to do this. NOTE: if you want your model to be able to jump without programming him jumping while just having jumping motions while hes actually on the ground, add bones in the middle like in Test Figure. you can see him kinda flying with the bones rotated up. Flying
Figure 1
Test Figure
Flying
Now add leg and feet bones. Note that the feet rotate from the ankle, not the bottom of the foot, thats why it looks like an alien creature's foot. Make sure that the bones are inside the mesh. It should look like Figure 2.
Figure 2
No make 4 spine bones so that the person is flexible like in Figure 3. Now go in the side and match it up with the mesh.
Figure 3
Now branch bones for the neck and the arms like Figure 4.
Figure 4
Now make the head bone. Figure 5.
Figure 5
Now select the object skinning tool and select the body. now click on each bone. It should look like Figure 6. Increase the size of the bottom VOI (Volume of Influence) for the hip bones. It should look like Figure 7.
Figure 6
Figure 7
Now add the influences to the spine bones. This is kinda tricky. Zoom in as much as you can to select the proper editing vertices. It should look like Figure 8. Notice that the influences convers the whole torso area and the top bone inlfuences the neck a bit. Add influences to the head and the shoulders like in Figure 9.
Figure 8
Figure 9
Now add influences to the arms and the hands. NOTE: I used a previous mesh and not the completed mesh that we just made, so make sure you cover the whole hand with the hand influences. If you want, add bones for the thumb and the unioned fingers. I have something like Figure 10. Now finish it up!! It should look like Figure 11.
Figure 10
Figure 11
Lets finish the model up on the next page.