Add animation to head and arm (mesh) which is acquired from 3D scanner Kinect

Question

I used ReconstructMe

to scan my first half body (arm and head). The result I got is a 3d mesh. I open them in 3dsmax. What I need to do now is to add animation/motion to the 3d arm and head.

1. I think ReconstructMe created a mesh. Do I need to convert that mesh to a 3d object before adding animation? If so, how to do it?
2. Do I need to seperate the head and arm to add different animation to them? How to do it?

I am a beginner in 3ds max. I am using 3ds max 2012, student edition.

Answer 1

Typically you would set up bones, and link the mesh to the bones with skin or physique modifier, then animate the bones as needed.

You can have 1 mesh, or separate meshes, depends on your needs.

Answer 2

For setting up the rigging, it would be good to utilize a tutorial like this http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/training.php?pid=332

I find Digital Tutors to be very concise and detailed for anybody to grasp the concepts if your patient enough. Depending on the motion you will like some parts of the bones will require FK (forward kinematics) or IK (inverse kinematics) or a mixture of both FK/IK control in areas like the elbows of the arms etc.

Certain other parts of the character would also like the ability to utilize CAT controls. Through the whole rigging process the biggest foundation or theory to maintain is hierarchy and the process of parenting the controls/linking correctly.

Also your meshes topo needs to be correct, when scanning from an outside source you will get either a. a lot of triangles or b. bad edge flow, before the rigging process make sure to take the time to get your scan's topology to the correct state it should be in.