Character Joint

Character Joints are mainly used for Ragdoll effects. They are an extended ball-socket joint which allows you to limit the joint on each axis.

If you just want to set up a ragdoll read about Ragdoll Wizard.


The Character Joint on a Ragdoll

Properties

Connected BodyOptional reference to the Rigidbody that the joint is dependent upon. If not set, the joint connects to the world.
AnchorThe point in the GameObject's local space where the joint rotates around.
AxisThe twist axes. Visualized with the orange gizmo cone.
Swing AxisThe swing axis. Visualized with the green gizmo cone.
Low Twist LimitThe lower limit of the joint.
High Twist LimitThe higher limit of the joint.
Swing 1 LimitLower limit around the defined Swing Axis
Swing 2 LimitUpper limit around the defined Swing Axis
Break ForceThe force that needs to be applied for this joint to break.
Break TorqueThe torque that needs to be applied for this joint to break.

Details

Character joint's give you a lot of possibilities for constraining motion like with a universal joint.

The twist axis (visualized with the orange gizmo) gives you most control over the limits as you can specify a lower and upper limit in degrees (the limit angle is measured relative to the starting position). A value of -30 in Low Twist Limit->Limit and 60 in High Twist Limit->Limit limits the rotation around the twist axis (orange gizmo) between -30 and 60 degrees.

The Swing 1 Limit limits the rotation around the swing axis (green axis). The limit angle is symmetric. Thus a value of eg. 30 will limit the rotation between -30 and 30.

The Swing 2 Limit axis doesn't have a gizmo but the axis is orthogonal to the 2 other axes. Just like the previous axis the limit is symmetric, thus a value of eg. 40 will limit the rotation around that axis between -40 and 40 degrees.

Breaking joints

You can use the Break Force and Break Torque properties to set limits for the joint's strength. If these are less than infinity, and a force/torque greater than these limits are applied to the object, its Fixed Joint will be destroyed and will no longer be confined by its restraints.

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Page last updated: 2007-09-12