Setting Floor Contact Planes for the Hands and Feet (New for v1.5)

In iClone, a character can have floor contact for the feet and hands so that the character walks or touches terrain or any terrain components. You are allowed to customize the contact plans in iClone Character Creator. If they are done correctly, you do not need to worry about penetrating issues for the feet and the hands.

The Floor Contact is ON.	The Floor Contact is OFF.

The Floor Contact feature is defined in the character by invisible Contact Planes that are appended onto the soles and palms of the character. These planes are areas that detect the terrain. Once the contact with the terrain is detected, then they will force the character's fingers and toes to bend in order to keep them from passing through terrains and surfaces.

Contact Planes under the soles. The front planes bend the toes backward when they contact the terrain.	Contact Planes under the palm. The front planes bend the fingers backward at the knuckles when they contact the terrain.

Setting the Contact Planes

iClone Character Creator will automatically determine the sizes and positions of the contact planes for the character as soon as you create a new project; however, you may manually adjust them if necessary.

1. Create a new project with a desired character.
   
2. Open the Edit Pose panel.
   
3. Set a pose in order that the character's hands and feet penetrate the floor.
   
4. In the Edit Pose panel, click the Set as Default button to save this pose for later use and then close the panel.
5. Switch to the Modify panel >> Edit tab >> Floor Contact section.
   
6. Activate the Foot Contact and Hand Contact boxes to enable the Floor Contact feature.
7. Press down the Adjust Contact Points button to start editing the contact planes. The contact planes will be displayed in light-blue anchor markers under the soles and palms.
8. Type values into the numeric fields to change the size and positions of the planes.
   
9. Alternatively, double-click on one of the light-blue anchor markers and use the gizmo to drag the plane to the desired sizes and positions.
10. Open the Edit Pose panel again and press down the Default button to retrieve the pose you set in the previous step in order to preview the floor-contacting result.
11. Repeat the steps until the floor-contacting result is appropriate.
    

Regulations for the Contact Planes

When you wish to manually adjust the contact planes, then please follow the regulations below:

• The planes must be right under the soles and palms.
• Match the sole planes to be as wide and as long as the soles.
  
• Match the length of the contact plans to the length of the palms.
  
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• Move the middle anchor markers of the hand contact planes so that the lines they generate cross the knuckles of the fingers.

  The line formed by the middle anchor markers crosses the knuckles of the palm.	The effects of the fingers and palms with the front and back planes when contact with terrain occurs.

• Move the middle anchor markers in the contact planes of the soles so that the lines they generate cross the roots of the big toes.
  

  The line formed by the middle anchor markers crosses the root of the big toe.	The effects of the toes and sole with the front and back planes when contact terrain occurs.

• Contact in the fingers and toes take both the Contact Planes and Tip Bones for reference.
  • If the front planes are longer than the tip bones, then the contact reaction happens even when the tip bones do not touch the ground.
  • If the front planes are shorter than the tip bones, then the contact reaction happens only when the fingertips or toes touch the ground.