Person Atom Joint Control Tab
”Select Root” Is a quick shortcut available on all Person Joints to take you to the Person Atom Root Control node.
“Interactable In Play” This allows an atom to be grabbed by a VR controller or Mouse while in Play Mode. Turning this off means that you will not accidentally grab that node while it is hidden in Play mode.
“Possessable” This allows an atom to be” possessed” by the player's VR head gear or controllers. Useful for motion capture, be sure “Armed for Record” in the Animation tab is also turned on.
”Reset” Resets all values on the joint control node back to Default. This includes the Move, Animation and Physics Tabs.
“On Possess Deactivate Other Controllers Listed Here” This option is unique to three controls on the Person Atom: HeadControl, rHandControl, and lHandControl. By default this option is toggled On and will set the listed control nodes Position and Rotation to “Off” so as not to interfere with the movement of the specific Possessed Person Atom Control.
When the Person:headControl is possessed: neckControl, lShoulderControl, rShoulderControl, chestControl, abdomen2Control, abdomenControl, lArmControl and rArmControl are all set Position and Rotation Off.
When the Person:rHandControl is possessed: rArmControl, rElbowControl and rShoulderControl are all set Position and Rotation Off.
When the Person:lHandControl is possessed: lArmControl, lElbowControl and lShoulderControl are all set Position and Rotation Off,
”Select Link To From Scene” This button is used to link your selected joint to another atom within the scene. This is the primary way to hierarchy link within VaM. Clicking this button will switch all available atoms to semi transparent spheres. Clicking on one of them will link your atom. A semi transparent green line will appear connecting the joint to the linked node.
”Link To Atom” (Dropdown) This list will populate with the top level atoms within your scene that you can link to.
”Link To” (Dropdown) This list will populate with the selected “Link to Atom” available sub objects. For example Selecting the atom “Person” to link to will list all Control joints and Objects within that person. So you can parent custom glasses to your person atom’s head.
“Position/Rotation” options. There are many ways that joints can be manipulated within VaM. These position rotation options can be used in many combinations of ways to lock, parent or otherwise influence how your atoms behave.
”On” Indicated with a green UI color.
Is the default setting for the Key Person Joints: headControl, rHandControl, lHandControl, chestControl, hipControl, rFootControl, and lFootControl, when the Person Atom is first added to your scene. A joint set to “On” maintains it’s currently set position and rotation unless otherwise moved by you. This gif below shows a ball pushing against the Person Atom Hand. Notice that the hand mesh is gently pushed around by the ball however the Hand’s joint control stays in position.
”Comply” Also Indicated with a green UI color.
Allows you to push the joint controls around your scene. This is very useful when posing the character. Joints will stay in their new location and not return to their starting rotation or position. The Gif below shows the comply effect on the hand being pushed around by the motion of the ball.
”Off” Indicated by a Red icon
. Is the default setting for most of the Person Joints except for the Key ones: (Hands, Feet, Head, Chest, and Hips) A control joint set to “Off” is freely affected by gravity and any physics being applied. In the gif example all of the person’s Joint have been set to “Off” so that he his knocked off the chair and onto the floor by the growth of the ball under the desk.
”Parent Link” Indicated by a
Purple Icon. A Parent Linked Joint will move and rotate with the parent atom. In this gif example the Hand Joint is parent linked to the ball. Since there is no give to the joint parent the rest of the Person Atom’s body is pulled along with the hand.
”Physics Link” Indicated by a
Purple Icon. A physics linked joint will influence it’s parent based on the settings within it’s “Physics” tab. In this example you can see that the linked hand is influencing the parent sphere object. The person Atom’s body is being less influenced by the parenting of the sphere.
”Hold” Indicated by an
Orange color.
“Hold” is a legacy state that was used when traditional controllers (like XBOX 360) were supported. In the “Hold” state the controller could instead be used to apply a force to the atom rather than move it. Now “Hold” is much like “On” state with one exception. The Person Animation system only moves nodes that are in “On” state. You can therefore change a node to “Hold” and move it around independently of the animation system as shown in this gif example.
”Lock” Indicated by a
Brown color
Locks the atom in place so that it is not influenced at all by other atoms within the scene. This does not restrict you from grabbing and manipulating the atom yourself.
”Allow Possess/Grab” Turning these off restricts you from moving or rotating the Joint in Vr or desktop mode. You can still select the Joint, you just can’t manipulate it.
”Comply Position Threshold” Sets the amount of force it takes to move the control node of the atom while in Comply mode. The Physics Object of the atom is unaffected by this, only the Atom Control.
”Comply Rotation Threshold” Sets the amount of force it takes to rotate the control node of the atom while in Comply mode. The Physics Object of the atom is unaffected by this, only the Atom Control.
”Comply Speed” Sets the speed that the control node will follow the complied atom mesh. Lower speeds are smoother than higher speeds.
An example of Comply speed set to “10”, “50” and “100”
”Comply Joint Drive Spring”
”Comply Position Spring” Affects the strength of the Comply force connecting the Physics Object with the Atom Control and how it affects the position of the Physics Object and its relation to the Atom Control.
In this example all settings for the book are default except for the Comply Position Threshold on the Control Tab which is set to “.1000”. On the Left the Comply Position Spring is set to 500 causing the book to be easily pushed away from it’s Atom Control. On the Right the Comply Position Spring is set to 10,000 making the book stay much closer to it’s Atom Control when pushed by the sphere.
”Comply Rotation Spring” Affects the intensity of the Comply force on the Rotational values of the Physics Object and its connection to the Atom Control.
In this example all settings for the book are default except for the Comply Rotation Threshold on the Control Tab which is set to “30”. On the Left side of the gif the Book has a Comply Rotation Spring of “50”. On the right side the Comply Rotation Spring is set to “1000”.
“Damper” refers to how quickly the Physics Object will return into alignment with the Atom Control while the Atom is set to “Comply” in the Atom Control Tab.
VaM_Wiki_Atom_Control_UI
”Comply Position Damper” The lower the setting here the faster the position of the Physics Object will return to its Atom Control.
Again with this example all settings for the book are default except for the Comply Position Threshold on the Control Tab which is set to “.1000”. The left hand side of the gif the Comply Position Damper is set to “10”. On the RIght side the Comply Position Damper is set to “1000”.
”Comply Rotation Damper” The lower the setting here the faster the rotation of the Physics Object will return to its Atom Control’s rotation.
In the above example all settings for the book are default except for the Comply Rotation Threshold on the Control Tab which is set to “30”. The left hand side has the Comply Rotation Damper set to 0. On the right hand side the Comply Rotation Damper is set to 100
