Harmonic Functions and 3D Model Animation

I found this article on reddit today, I understand the gist of it but I have a hard time relating it to actual work. Still, I recognized its value to 3D animators, so I thought some of you may want to see it. It deals with the use of Harmonic Functions to make the movement of models easier by translating movement of an outside "cage" of fewer vertices to a model with many more vertices and having the movement appear smooth and controlled.

http://www1.ams.org/samplings/feature-co...c-harmonic

I still need to finish reading it, but I have to study up to understand some parts. Happy reading!

The fun part is that this can already be done by the engine, by simply writing a model file with properly calculated bones and vertex weights.

You probably would have to make every node of the "cage" a bone, and calculate vertex weights according to their method.

So the part where this would have to be implemented, is at 3D modelling app (and exporter) level!