The Greek term skéllein , which can be translated as “desiccate” , became skeleton . It came to scientific Latin as sceleton , from which the word skeleton comes.
A skeleton is a set of hard elements that, articulated together, give consistency to the body of a living being, serving as support and providing protection to its soft parts. In vertebrate animals, the skeleton is made up of bones .
It can be said that a skeleton is a structure that supports and safeguards soft tissues. Thanks to the skeleton, vertebrates can move and support the different parts of their body.
When the skeleton is internal, it is called an endoskeleton . Dogs, horses and pigeons, to name a few, have endoskeletons. On the other hand, if the skeleton is responsible for covering the body surface of the being, it is called the exoskeleton or dermoskeleton . Crabs, scorpions and lobsters, among other animals , have an exoskeleton.
There are also mechanical exoskeletons : artificial skeletons that humans use for defensive purposes or that, in certain circumstances, are used for a medical purpose. Armor, for example, are primitive exoskeletons that man already used in ancient times.
Beyond living beings , a skeleton is called the framework - physical or symbolic - that provides support for something: “Despite the earthquake, the skeleton of the building remained standing” , “The ship ran aground more than a century ago in front of these beaches: only their skeleton remains, which can be seen when the tide goes out” , “The goalkeeper, the central marker and the holding midfielder are the skeleton of the team” .
When writing a literary work or a journalistic article, for example, it is also possible to speak of a skeleton to refer to the main axis and connector of all its parts, to that essential line without which the result would be different. Just as it happens in our body, that skeleton must be dressed with several layers of different elements that, in this case, give it more depth and, worth the word, "body"; However, the basic structure will always be the same regardless of the "skin."
It is through the skeleton that the different main events come together, articulating to give meaning to the story, although without delving into the details. If this base is achieved successfully, then it is possible to proceed to dress it with all the desired information to obtain a richer and more colorful result; If, however, the skeleton is not consistent, subsequent efforts do not matter.
In the field of three-dimensional animation, the concept of a skeleton is also used to coordinate the different movements of the models. It is important to note that the skeleton of a three-dimensional character is not as complex as that of a living being; In fact, it does not pretend to be, since its function is different: it is not used to hold your skin, but simply to manipulate its parts and record the poses of your animations more easily.
If skeletons were not used in the field of computer animation, then it would be necessary to manipulate the vertices manually, something practically impossible given the complexity of today's three-dimensional models. However, bones are not necessary in all cases: if we simply want to move a rigid, inanimate object around the stage, we can do without them.
In short, the skeleton of a three-dimensional character serves so that each of its bones groups several vertices so that it is possible to move them all simply by moving the bone. Additionally, thanks to properties such as hierarchy, the skeleton is defined so that modifications do not alter its basic form beyond the designer's wishes.