Working with Bones Lock & Key works just as well with Bones as it does with Objects. However, due to the nature of Bones there are a few details to pay attention to when using Bones with the Plug-In. The most important aspect of using Lock & Key with Bones is the particular nature of Bones and hierarchies. Dealing with Objects and hierarchies is simple: an Object is a hierarchical root unless it is parented to another Object. But Bones are slightly different. All of the Bones in an Object are considered descendants of the Object. Any Bone can be used as an Offset of the Object it affects. If the Object the Bones belong to has a parent, then the Bones in the child Object can be used as an Offset for the Object's parent. Any Bone that does not have a parent defined can also be used as a Key item. Thus it is possible to have several Key Bones affecting an Object. Quite handy for creating cartoon effects and simulating elastic materials. As Null Objects are useful, so are Null Bones. To create a Null Bone in version 4 of LightWave, reduce the bones strength to 0.0001 (you cannot reduce the strength of a Bone to 0). You can also reduce its effective range, but it shouldn't make any difference with it's reduced strength. To create a Null Bone in LightWave 5.0 reduce it's strength to 0%. A Null Bone is extremely handy for use as a Lock item. Since a Bone's pivot point cannot be moved, the Null Bone can be parented to a Bone you would like to use as a Lock item and positioned where you need the pivot point. See the Pivots and Nulls section for detailed information concerning Null items and pivots.