Inverse Kinematics on Tarantula Limbs

Mathieux Fahey

Description

The goal of this project was to facilitate procedural animation of a spider through the use of inverse kinematics.
To this end, I implemented a barebones version of FABRIK without too much trouble. Unfortunately, the main
difficulty came from trying to constrain the limbs in a way that looks natural. After limited success attempting
to apply conical rotational bounds, I instead opted to use multiple end effectors to bias the joints in certain
directions. Then, by simply offsetting the IK targets over time, the chains are dynamically recaluclated,
producing a relatively smooth animation. I also implemented a free camera to explore and examine aspects
of the surrounding scene, as well as some add minor decorative set dressing.

Features

References