The Body Editor Window is where you design your organism using the various body
parts that AnimatLab provides. Each organism starts with a root body part (examples
are a
box, cone,
cylinder, sphere, or
mesh) and can have other body parts connected through the
various joint constraints that AnimatLab provides. The body parts and
joint connections form a tree
structure which can be viewed in the hierarchy panel. This hierarchy allows you to see a textual breakdown
of your organism. The Body Editor also allows you to manipulate the various properties of your organism and body parts
of your organism through the properties panel.
The window has 5 major areas: 3D Display,
Command Bar, Hierarchy,
Properties, and Receptive Fields. You can click on the
various parts of the image to be taken to a more detailed description of that area.
The Body Editor window.
Editor Parts
This toolbar allows you to choose between viewing body parts and joints. It also allows you to
add new body parts and joints, and switch to
receptive field mode. Click here for a more
detailed description.
 |
| Figure 2. Command Toolbar. |
|
 |
| Figure 3. Properties Toolbar. |
This toolbar displays the properties of any selected body parts or joints. This allows you
to view and modify the properties of the selected object. The properties are split into functional groups like 'Graphical Properties',
'Part properties' and so on. However, you can view an alphabetical list of the objects properties by clicking the
AZ button that is just above the properties window.
Click here for more details.
|
 |
| Figure 4. Hierarchy Toolbar. |
This toolbar provides a tree view outline of the body parts of this organism and how all the parts are connected
together. Clicking on any node selects that part and displays its properties in the property toolbar.
Click here for more details. |
 |
| Figure 5. Receptive Fields Toolbar. |
This toolbar allows you to configure the touch receptive fields for the currently selected part. This is a touch sensory
system where you can define points along the surface of your object that act as the center of a receptive field. Contacts
on the surface are transduced into current in neurons depending on how close they are to the center and how much force is applied.
Click here for more details.
|
This window shows the body of the organism in 3-D. You can manipulate the parts of the body using the mouse or the
properties dialog. Click here for more details.
|
|
