What the heck is h-anim, and why should I use it?

From Flux Developer Wiki

What is Humanoid Animation? (We call it H-Anim for short.) The Web3D H-Anim working group was formed so developers could agree on a standard naming convention for human body parts and joints. It turns out that the human form has been studied for centuries and most of the parts already have medical (Latin) names. They may seem awkward to use at first, but they are universal and they are the language of science.

Why is this a good thing? Since each H-Anim avatar has the same joint model, they can all "share" the same animation loops or gestures from one avatar to the next. This will save avatar creators lots of time and therefore allow them to spend more time tweaking one particular gesture to get it exactly right.

Flux Studio is the only character authoring tool that supports H-Anim. It has several features which cater to this concept. It also comes packaged with a pre-built avatar that you can use to learn more about the process. There is an H-Anim Wizard that will make a model for you that you can create your own animations for. The Avatar Export wizard adds the needed code to the file so that it will work as an Avatar in Cybertown or other multi-user environments.

There are also "clipboard" tools which allow the cutting and pasting of Avatars and animations from one H-Anim avatar to the next. There are also tools which allow you to create a humanoid from scratch if you know what you are doing and have lots of time and talent. There are also tools which allow you to export the avatar and or the animations seperately and easily mix and match them through a third file (a container file). The following image may give you a clue as to the structure I am talking about. It is a skeleton which you hang a skin on...

--MrPhillip 21:23, 26 October 2006 (PDT)