Kinematics and Inverse Kinematics

Kinematics:

The study of motion independent of the forces that cause the motion. Includes position, velocity, acceleration.

Forward kinematics:

The determination of the

• positions,
• velocities,
• accelerations

of all the links in an articulated model given the

• position,
• velocity,
• acceleration

of the root of the model and all the transformations between links.

• Forward kinematics is a necessity for skeletal keyframed animation
• Easy to implement.

Inverse kinematics:

The derivation of the motion of intermediate links in an articulated body given the motion of some key links.