26. Creating and Binding Bones
Bones are nonrenderable objects that are contained within—and control a specified layer of—a group of points. Using bones lets you control the transformation of a group of points without having to move each individual point separately, thereby providing a way to quickly animate objects in your scene.
Bones are connected to other bones to form a hierarchical skeleton. This skeleton allows children bones to move automatically with their parents, but also allows the children bones to be moved independently of their parents.
Once a skeleton of bones is created, you’ll need to bind each bone to a selection of points that the bone controls. This can be done using automatic binding or manual binding. Each method has its advantages.
The Bone tools found in the Tools palette let you create and connect new bones, move and manipulate bones, and bind the selected bone to a layer or to a selection of points. The Timeline palette includes several channels for working with bones. This chapter covers the process of creating and binding bones, and the next chapter covers animating with bones.