Editing Skeletal animation (section)

== Applications ==
Skeletal animation is the standard way to animate characters or mechanical objects for a prolonged period of time. It is commonly used by [[video game artist]]s and in the [[movie industry|film industry]], and can also be applied to mechanical objects and any other objects made up of rigid elements and joints.

[[Performance capture]] (or [[motion capture]]) can speed up the process of skeletal animation, as well as increasing the level of realism.

Rigs may be driven by [[ragdoll physics]] which automatically calculate physics of motion and resistance with skeletal frames. Virtual anatomy properties such as weight of limbs, muscle reaction, bone strength, and [[joint constraints]] may be added for realistic bouncing, buckling, fracture, and tumbling effects. 

Some popular software packages within which rigs may be created include [[Blender (software)|Blender]], [[Autodesk Maya]], [[Houdini (software)|SideFX Houdini]], [[Autodesk 3ds Max]], [[Cinema 4D|Maxon Cinema 4D]], [[Unreal Engine]], and many others.