Types of Digital Armature

An armature is a structure that provides the base to the final layer of wax, clay or plaster.

Historically, armatures were made of chicken wire, wood and many pounds of clay, making them very heavy. Digitally enlarged armatures are made of lightweight foam and are much more accurate, requiring much less time and less amount of clay to achieve the final surface.

Digital Armature – Computer Animation

An armature is the name of kinematic chains used in computer animation to simulate the motions of animal or virtual human characters.

Types of Digital Armature

There are two types of digital armatures:

1. Keyframing (Stop-Motion) Armatures

Initially, keyframing armatures were developed to assist in animating digital characters without basing the movement on a live performance. The animator poses a device manually for every keyframe, while the animation character is set up with a mechanical structure equivalent to the armature. Animation software is connected to a device through a driver program, and each move is recorded for a particular frame in time.

2. Real – Time (Puppeteering) Armatures

Real-time armatures are similar, but they are puppeteered by one or more characters and captured in real-time.

Both these types of digital armatures consist of a series of rigid modules connected by joints whose rotations are measured by potentiometers or angular sensors. The sensors are usually analog devices, but they are called digital because the resulting readings are converted to digital signals to be processed by the computer system. These armatures are typically modular to accommodate character designs.

In keyframing armatures were initially used to help stop motion animators to animate digital character they are not considered a motion capture system because a live performer does not drive them. We mention them because most commercially available armatures can also be used as real-time armatures. Some proprietary armatures are dual purpose such as a device initially called the Dinosaur Input Device which was devised by Craig Hayes at Tippett studio in Berkeley, California.

The name was conceived because this unit was used to animate some of the digital dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Later the device used to animate the bugs in Starship, and it was called the Digital Input Device.

The Basic Concept behind keyframing armatures is that the animator poses the device manually to generate each keyframe in the animation. The character in the animation software is set up with a mechanical structure equivalent to the armature’s

By pressing a key, the animator uses the computer to record the armature pose into the digital character for a particular frame in time. It is done via a driver program that connects the device, typically plugged into a serial port to the animation software. Once all the key poses are recorded then software treat them as regular keyframes that might have been created with the software by itself.

Puppeteering armature is very similar to keyframing armatures, except the motion is captured in real time as performed by one or more puppeteers. An example of such a setup is the proprietary armature developed by Boss Film Studio to capture the motion of Sil, the alien character that H.R Giger designed for the film Species.

Advantages of Digital Armatures

1. A digital armature is easy to use for multiple characters animated using stop motion animation.
2. The cost is very low.
3. Setup for different character types is easy.
4. Data is available immediately.
5. Armatures are good digital input devices for stop-motion animator.

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