Avatar Bones (Xbox 360)

Article
09/29/2011

Describes the bones of the avatar.

Avatar Bones

Animating the avatar requires moving the bones. Avatars have basic bones in the head, torso, arms, and legs, as well as some special additional bones. See AvatarBone Enumeration for the friendly names of all the bones.

Note

Select avatar related methods are avalable on Windows Phone only for titles approved to access Xbox LIVE Services through the Xbox LIVE Registered Developer Program.

The Full Skeleton

The images show the full skeleton. Avatar bones have a hierarchical relationship, which means all bones, except for the Root bone, have a parent. The Root bone is the origin of all bones, and is located at the base of the avatar and between the feet. As illustrated in Figure 1 and Figure 2, the dot at the base of the avatar and between the feet indicates the Root bone.

Figure 1. Avatar and skeleton

Ff966428.AvatarRig1(en-us,XNAGameStudio.41).png

Figure 2. Skeleton only

Ff966428.AvatarRig2(en-us,XNAGameStudio.41).png

Special and Prop Bones

There are two bones in the space below the hand on both sides of the avatar. The special bone is closest to the hand, and the prop bone is farthest from the hand. The special bones are SpecialRight and SpecialLeft. The prop bones are PropRight and PropLeft. The following images show SpecialRight and PropRight on the right side of the avatar.

Figure 3. Avatar special bones and prop bones

Ff966428.AvatarRig4(en-us,XNAGameStudio.41).png

Figure 4. Skeleton only, special bones and prop bones

Ff966428.AvatarRig3(en-us,XNAGameStudio.41).png

Avatar Hand

The avatar hand has many tiny bones for showing complex movements. In Figure 5 and Figure 6 the bones of the fingers are shown. Each finger has three bones. For example, the index finger (next to the thumb) contains these bones: FingerIndexLeft, FingerIndex2Left, and FingerIndex3Left. For a full list of the bones of the hand see AvatarBone Enumeration.

Figure 5. Avatar hand bones