ABSTRACT
Most advanced manikin software packages of today come with human meshes which deform as the manikin moves. The ability to import models made in external programs is usually limited or non-existent and the end-user is restricted to the manikins supplied by the program maker. This hinders e.g. the ability to perform ergonomic simulations of 3D models made from body scans of the actual factory workers. There are also large offerings of professionally created models of very high quality which may be used to diversify the simulated work force, more akin to the actual situation in many factories rather than using a one-size-fits-all manikin.
We use a method for automatically attaching a rigged mesh to a biomechanical skeleton, given some information about the bones as well as the binding pose. With this method ready-made characters exported from professional modeling programs can be imported into a manikin program with only minimal human effort.
