US Patent 8358310 Musculo-skeletal shape skinning

A method for use in animation includes establishing a model having a plurality of bones with muscles attached to the bones, binding skin to the muscles when the model is in a first pose with each vertex of the skin being attached at a first attachment point on a muscle, deforming the model into a second pose, and selecting a second attachment point for each vertex of the skin in the second pose. A storage medium stores a computer program for causing a processor based system to execute these steps, and a system for use in animation includes a processing system configured to execute these steps.