git:20261028.62f2e2f to git:20261031.845cf45

2 added, 2 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: character-model

- description: A procedural blocky humanoid for Three.js 0.186.1 WebGPU, built from boxes with hip, knee and shoulder joints, with a walk cycle, crouch and airborne poses driven by the walker's state. Use when a third-person character needs a visible body without model files. Ships character-model.js.

+ description: A procedural blocky humanoid for Three.js 0.187.0 WebGPU, built from boxes with hip, knee and shoulder joints, with a walk cycle, crouch and airborne poses driven by the walker's state. Use when a third-person character needs a visible body without model files. Ships character-model.js.

---

# Character model

- Target: Three.js 0.186.1 WebGPU, `MeshStandardNodeMaterial`, flat shading. No model

+ Target: Three.js 0.187.0 WebGPU, `MeshStandardNodeMaterial`, flat shading. No model

files, no skinning, no animation clips: the figure is a small hierarchy of boxes and

the animation is three numbers per frame.

`scripts/character-model.js` exports `createCharacterModel(opts)` returning

`{ root, anchorHeight, height, setVisible, setTransform, update, setColors }`.

## Proportions

Everything is in studs of 0.3 m so the figure reads as a deliberate style, not a

failed realistic one.

| Part | Size (w × h × d) | Notes |

| --- | --- | --- |

| head | 1.25 × 1.25 × 1.25 studs | cube on the shoulders |

| torso | 2 × 2 × 1 studs | |

| arm | 1 × 2 × 1 studs | hangs from the shoulder joint |

| thigh, shin | 1 × 1 × 1 studs each | hip and knee joints |

Total height 6.25 studs = 1.875 m; the walker capsule is 1.8 m, so the head just

clears it. The orbit anchor is 45 % of the height from the feet (chest).

Joints are empty `Group`s at the shoulder line, the hips and the knees; the box meshes

hang below them so rotating a joint swings the limb from its top. The root's origin is

at the feet, on the ground.

## Animation

`update(dt, { speed, grounded, runSpeed })`, three numbers and a flag:

- **swing amplitude** eases toward `min(1, speed/runSpeed) × 0.85 rad` on the ground

and toward 0 in the air, at 14 /s. Arms and legs swing in opposite phase; left and

right in opposite phase.

- **phase** advances by `speed × 1.55 × dt`, so stride length is constant and the

cadence follows speed. Nothing animates while standing.

- **lift** eases toward −1.1 rad when airborne: arms rise, legs trail. Landing eases

back.

- **crouch** (0..1 from the walker's crouch blend): thighs rotate −0.62 rad, knees

+1.15 rad, the torso tips 0.14 rad, arms 0.18 rad; the whole upper body drops by the

planted-leg geometry so the feet stay on the ground. Swing is reduced by 30 %.

- A knee bends up to 0.45 rad extra on the trailing leg of each swing so the foot

clears the ground.

That is enough to read as walking, running, jumping and sneaking from any distance

the camera uses.

## Placement

`setTransform(feetY, x, z, heading, crouchT)` once per frame from the walker:

feet at the capsule centre minus the capsule half height, heading from the wish

direction eased at 18 /s (the model turns to where it walks).

## Materials and colours

Three flat-shaded standard materials (shirt, skin, trousers) with roughness 1 and fog

enabled; `setColors({ shirt, skin, pants })` changes them. Flat shading keeps the box

edges crisp under any light. Keep the figure's materials shared across many figures:

with WebGPU, pipeline count is load time.

## Pitfalls

- Hide the model in first person; otherwise the camera sees the inside of the head.

- Do not scale the root for crouch; the pose handles it and keeps the feet planted.

- Cast and receive shadows on every box; a figure without a contact shadow floats.