1 Introduction
RESEARCH IN BIOMECHANICS is moving away from two-
dimensional (2D) descriptions of human movement
towards three-dimensional (3D) analyses. Two-dimen-
sional analyses could not easily account for segmental
movements out of the plane of motion or for rotations
about a segment's longitudinal axis. Recent technological
developments in the automatic capture of 2D marker loca-
tions (i.e. CODA-3, EXPERTVISION, SELSPOT II, VICON, WATS-
MART, ELITE) and in mathematical techniques to define a
point in 3D space from several 2D images, have persuaded
many biomechanic laboratories to consider 3D analyses.
Accompanying this change in the direction of bio-
mechanics research was the problem of defining the loca-
tion of segments in 3D space. A choice must be made
between the three types of co-ordinate systems that may be
used; namely the spherical, cylindrical and orthogonal
(Cartesian) systems. Even within the most commonly used
orthogonal system there are different ways of describing
the location of a segment. Some of these techniques are
limited to describing the location of the extremities,
whereas others generate only gross solutions or multiple
solutions. Most of these methods have no relationship to
human anatomical movement patterns.
PANJABI et al. (1974) suggested using a central co-
ordinate system for the total body when it is standing in
the anatomical position (body standing erect, elbows
straight with palms facing forward, head held erect and the
medial border of the feet parallel to the sagittal plane). The
origin of the co-ordinate system is located at the hiatus
between the cornua of the sacrum. The positive y-axis is
directed vertically upward, and the x-axis and z-axis would
point to the left and front of the body, respectively. Imbed-
ded within each segment and parallel to the central co-
ordinate system would be a local co-ordinate system. The
origin of these local co-.ordinate systems would be at con-
venient palpable points on the body. Six co-ordinates
would have to be defined for each joint to define the six
First received 27th November 1986 and in final form 4th February
1987
9 IFMBE: 1987
Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing September 1987
degrees of freedom allowed, both linear and rotational
(KINZELand GUT~OWSKI,1983).
DAPENA (1978; 1981) in his film analysis and simulation
of the Fosbury flop high-jumping technique did not com-
pletely describe the 3D location of all body segments. A
body-fixed reference system was located in each segment,
with the origin at the segment's centre of mass and with
one of the axes parallel to the longitudinal axis of the
segment. The location of each body segment was defined
from the projection of the longitudinal axis of the segment
onto each plane. The location of the other axes were not
defined, and so segment longitudinal rotations could not
be calculated. Only the trunk segment's longitudinal rota-
tion was determined by calculating the difference between
the shoulder and hip axes. These axes were defined as
straight lines between the proximal endpoints of the upper
arms and thighs, respectively. The longitudinal rotations of
the extremities were thought to be insignificant and there-
fore were not determined.
ALEXANDERand COLBOURNE(1980) devised a method to
calculate 3D kinematics of a limb segment using a body-
fixed reference system. The method requires knowing the
location of three non-colinear points on a segment as a
function of time as well as the endpoints of the proximal
segment. One of the body-fixed vectors is defined as the
longitudinal axis of the limb segment. A second vector is
calculated as the cross-product between the vectors rep-
resenting the longitudinal axis of the segment and the lon-
gitudinal axis of its proximal segment. The third
orthogonal vector can then be calculated as the cross-
product of the first two. This method allows for calculation
of velocities corresponding to anatomical movements as
flexion-extension, adduction-abduction and internal-
external rotation. However, its use is limited to the extrem-
ities. Furthermore, computational problems could arise in
determining the second vector if the proximal and distal
segments' longitudinal axes were parallel.
DUL and JOHNSON (1985) developed a redundant-
distance method to model relative movements of the foot
with respect to the shank. The ankle was modelled as two
uniaxial joints, the upper ankle joint between the shank
and the talus and the lower ankle joint about the
527
talocalcaneo-navicular axis. In their kinematic model, the
axes defined for each segment depended on that segment's
proximal segment and on bony landmarks from which
measurements could easily be made. The resulting trans-
formation matrix was solved as a least-squares problem to
calculate the orientation angles of the foot segments.
Occasionally, the solutions found were unrealistic because
the minimised function had many local minima with vir-
tually identical minimum values. These local minima were
probably due to the geometry of the segments and noise
within the input data which could alter the directional
cosines considerably.
Total body movements have also been described using a
body-fixed reference system in which human movement
patterns are followed. In describing and simulating somer-
saulting and twisting movements, YEADON (1987)
employed three angles corresponding to motions of somer-
saulting, tilting and twisting to locate the body in space.
The rotations are performed sequentially about their
respective axes: sagittal, frontal and vertical. In each rota-
tion the other two axes are carried along, such that the
final set of axes about which the rotations take place are
not orthogonal. To the authors' knowledge this method
has not been applied to locating individual body segments
in 3D space.
The purpose of this paper is to describe a method of
locating a rigid segment in 3D space. The method
employed c a n be generalised to all body segments and has
the advantage of following anatomical movement patterns.
A body-fixed reference system is located within each
segment with its origin at the segment's proximal endpoint.
The segment's location can then be completely defined by
knowing the 3D location of the proximal endpoint and
three angles, known as cardan angles. The cardan angles
rotate the segment from an initial standard position to its
spatial location using appropriate amounts of flexion-
extension, abduction-adduction and internal-external rota-
tion.
2 Theory
2.1 Definin9 the reference system and location o f a segment
in space
The absolute position of a segment in 3D space can be
defined by knowing its linear and angular orientation with
respect to a standard or global reference system, say A.
One approach would be to know a minimum of three
non-colinear points which would map the orientation of
the segment from some standard position to its spatial
location in A. The standard position is defined as a vertical
position, in which the segment's endpoints lie along the
vertical axis y with the proximal endpoint at the origin. To
obtain this position, each segment is rotated about each of
the horizontal axes, x and z, from its anatomical position
until vertical. In the standard vertical position, a segment's
body fixed axis system, B, is aligned with the external stan-
dard reference system, A. Therefore, in the standard refer-
ence system and the body-fixed system for each segment
initially, the positive y-axis points vertically upward paral-
lel to the longitudinal axis of the segment and the x- and
z-axes point forward and to the right, respectively.
The choice of the three non-colinear points is arbitrary
and may be determined from bony landmarks (ALEXANDER
and COLBOt1RNE, 1980) or from a set of markers distributed
on the surface of the segment (PIERRYNOWSKI, 1982). From
the three known non-colinear points the angular position
of the segment in absolute co-ordinates can be determined
from the projections of the segment onto the three refer-
528 Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing
ence orthogonal planes. However, these angles will have
no relationship to what the segment may be doing ana-
tomically unless the segment is aligned with the external
reference system. A better method of describing the
angular position of a segment for biomechanists would be
to have the measurement system reflect the anatomical
movements which a segment can perform. These are
defined in opposing pairs of flexion-extension, abduction-
adduction and internal-external rotation. Individually
these motions correspond to movements about the z-, x-
and y-axes, respectively, when the segment is in the stan-
dard position.
One set of angles which are used by mechanical engi-
neers to describe the orientation of space craft are cardan
angles. These angles were named after the Italian mathe-
matician Geronimo Cardano (1501-1576), who is credited
with the invention of the universal joint. Each set of
cardan angles consists of three angles corresponding to
sequential rotations about each of the three body-fixed
axes. The sequence in which these rotations occur is
important as each sequence will define a unique orienta-
tion of a rigid body in space.
2.2 Definin9 cardan angles
Cardan angles are a set of three angles which describe
the orientation of a rigid body B in a reference system A.
Consider two dextral sets of unit vectors a 1, a2, a 3 and bl,
b2, b3 which are fixed in the reference system A and body
B respectively (see Fig. 1). Initially let the body B rotate
about the body-fixed axis bl through an angle ct. The other
axes, b 2 and b3, are carried along with the body such that
their orthogonality is preserved. Now let the body B rotate
about the b~ axis through an angle ft. As before, the
remaining two axes b~ and b~ are carried along with the
body. Finally, let the body B rotate about the b~ axis
through an angle V, such that the axes b~ and b~ are
carried along with the body. In each rotation the other
two axes are carried along, such that the set of axes about
which rotations occur (b x, b~, b~) are not orthogonal.
Nevertheless, the orientation of the body B can now be
described using the set of cardan angles ct, fl, 7.
The sequence of rotations chosen is significant, for each
sequence uniquely defines a different body orientation.
There are six permutations of the three axes about which
Fig. 1 Cardan angle rotation of the first kind. bl, b2, b3 are a set
of body-fixed axes which initially align with the reference
axes al, a2, a a . The first rotation is about b 1 through an
angle ct. The second rotation is about b'2 through an angle
ft. The third rotation is about b~ through an angle ~,. The
primes denote the position of the body fixed axes after the
first ('), second (") and third ( ' ) rotations
September 1987
rotation will occur. Therefore there are six kinds of cardan
angle systems9 Fig. 1 illustrates cardan angles of the first
kind, in which rotations occur about the x-, y- and z-axes,
respectively. KANE et al. (1983) refer to this rotation as
a body-three: 1-2-3 system where the three rotation axes
are fixed within the body, and the order of rotation is x,
y and z.
The cardan angle system chosen to represent human
segment movement is of the third kind, also known as a
body-three: 3-1-2 rotation9 In this system, rotations occur
about axes which closely imitate the major anatomical
movements which occur at a joint with three degrees of
freedom9 For example, flexion-extension, adduction-
abduction and internal-external rotation movements all
\
\
.. \ \
\
-, ~i i ::~ ~:~~~
.. 9 9 , -
Fig. 2 Body three: 3-1-2 cardan anole rotations of the rioht leo about the hip joint: (a) 45 ~ about the z-axis (flexion); (b) - 3 0 ~ about
the x-axis (abduction); (c) - 4 5 ~ about the y-axis (external rotation) and (d) the le9 in the final position with eardan anoles
(45 ~ --30 ~ --45 ~
Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing
occur about the hip joint9 The order chosen can also be
related to the decreasing range of motion which occurs
about 3D joints during such c o m m o n human movements
as walking and running. Positive rotations correspond to
flexion, adduction and internal rotation movements at the
right hip.
The reference system A and the rigid body B axes are
initially aligned and chosen with their origin at the
segment's proximal endpoint. The segment begins in the
standard vertical position 9 For each segment, the first rota-
tion is about the third axis, z, and corresponds to a
flexion-extension movement at the right hip or right shoul-
der (Fig. 2a). The second rotation is about the first axis, x,
and imitates adduction-abduction movements (Fig. 2b).
9
:i i
"!
:i I
~'-....
September 1987 529
The last rotation about the y-axis corresponds to internal-
external rotation at the right hip or shoulder (see Fig. 2c).
For the example shown in Fig. 2, the cardan angles, ~, 8, 7,
are 45 ~ - 3 0 ~ and - 4 5 ~ respectively.
2.3 Transformation between space-fixed and body-fixed
co-ordinates using cardan angles
It is often desirable to be able to express the orientation
of a rigid body B either in terms of its body-fixed axes and
its cardan angles (a; fl, 7) or in space-fixed co-ordinates of
the reference system A. The two systems are related by a
transformation matrix C consisting of the direction cosines
between the bases vectors a~, a2, a3 and b~, b2, b3 such
that
a = C6
where if the sine and cosine of an angle are denoted by s
and c, respectively, then C is given by:
[-s s s7 + c7c s s/Jc7 + sTc ]
C =| c~s/3s7 + cTs~ cacti -c~sfc7 + s~s~|
L -c~s~ s~ c~c~ I Similar calculations determine the internal rotation angle 7
Similarly, a rigid body B's body-three: 3-1-2 cardan angle
velocities 0z, 02, 03 can be transformed to angular velo-
cities eg~, ~o2, co3 in reference system A by:
co, = - 0 ~ cos fl sin 7 + 02 cos 7
~2 = 01 sin fl + 03
~3 = 0~ cos fl cos 7 + 02 sin 7
Time differentiation of eqn. 2 would yield the relationship
between the tangential angular acceleration components of
a body B in reference system A and the differentiated com-
ponents of a set of body-three: 3-1-2 cardan angles.
2.4 Generating positional data using cardan angles
Eqn. 1 can be used to calculate the 3D location in refer-
ence system A of any point P on a segment. Let the vector
p define the location of the point P with respect to the
proximal endpoint when the segment is in the standard
vertical position. From the given body-three: 3-1-2 cardan
angles the transformation matrix C can be calculated.
Multiplying p by the transformation matrix C determines
the orientation of p in the reference system A. Translation
of p using the location of the proximal endpoint in real
space completes the task.
2.5 Generating cardan angles from the transformation
matrix using an exact solution
Cardan angles can be calculated directly from the 3D
locations in reference system A of a segment's proximal
endpoint, distal endpoint and a directional vector. The
directional vector, which has the same length as the
segment, is used to indicate rotations about a segment's
longitudinal axis. Initially, this vector is directed from the
proximal endpoint along the positive z-axis when the
segment is in the standard vertical position.
Two vectors, u and v, are defined such that u is directed
from the distal endpoint of the segment to the proximal
endpoint and v is the directional vector. A third vector w is
defined as the cross-product of u and v such that the
vectors u, v and w form a right-hand axes system. When
the segment is in the vertical position, then the vectors w, u
and v align with the x, y and z axes, respectively. When
these vectors are normalised so that they represent direc-
530 Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing
tional cosines, then these vectors become the columns of
the transformation matrix C in order from left to right of
w, u and v (PAUL, 1981). Cis therefore given by
W1 U1
C= w2 u2 v2 (3)
W3 U3 1)3
The cardan angles are calculated by matching the matrix
elements of the segment's directional cosines given in eqn.
1 to those in eqn. 3 (KANE et al., 1983). Element u 3 is used
to calculate the adduction angle fl between - 9 0 ~ and 90 ~
fl = arc sin u3 (4)
The flexion angle ~ is calculated using element ul to yield
an angle between and including - 9 0 ~ and 90 ~ Element u2
(I) is used to determine if the supplementary angle of ~ is
more appropriate.
ct = arc sin ( - u l / c o s fl) (5)
= ~ if u2 > 0
= 180- ~ if u 2 < 0
by employing elements w 3 and v 3 .
7 = arc sin ( - w 3 / c o s fl) (6)
7= ~ ifv 3 > 0
= 180- 7 if v3 < 0
(2)
For those cases where fl = + 90 ~ ~ is calculated using w2
and w 1 and Vis set to zero.
ct = arc sin w2 (7)
=ct if wl > 0
= 180- a if wl < 0
2.6 Generating the transformation matrix to be used in
direct solutions
Calculating the transformation matrix C which trans-
forms a segment from one 3D space (the vertical position)
to another 3D space (the real location of the segment in
space) can be problematic. Even measurement of bony
landmarks from which the body-fixed axes of the foot were
determined directly sometimes resulted in a solution which
did not conform to the physical realities of a segment's
location in real space (DuL and JOHNSON, 1985). The trans-
formation matrix could also be calculated from marker
kinematic data when specific segmental planes and joint
axes cannot be identified on the body during the data
collection session. The transformation matrix C for each
segment is determined using eqn. 3, i.e. by knowing the
directional cosines of a longitudinal vector (u), a direc-
tional vector (v) and a vector perpendicular to both u and
v (w). These three vectors, which are known when the
segment is in its standard vertical position, have to be
rotated to their 3D orientation. The rotation is determined
by calculating a transformation matrix T which minimises
the error in mapping a set of four or more non-colinear
points found on the segment's surface from one 3D space
(the segment in the vertical position) into another 3D
space (real space) (ROGERS and ADAMS, 1975). The trans-
formation matrix T is solved using an overspecified system
with 12 unknown transformation elements. Once u, v and
w have been transformed to their 3D location the cardan
angles can be calculated directly using eqns. 4-7.
In most cases, the accuracy of the cardan angles calcu-
September 1987
lated directly from the transformation matrix C relies on in reference system A, cardan angles 45 ~ - 3 0 ~ - 4 5 ~ the
the accuracy of three transformation elements u3, ul and spatial location of its endpoint Q and directional vector
w3 . For rigid body segments on which many fixed markers endpoint R can be found using the above matrix C and
are evenly distributed, these errors may be minimal. eqn. 1. Let the proximal endpoint of the segment in the
However, in human motion research, body segments are standard vertical position be represented by the vector
not rigid and considerable movement of the markers may p = (0, O, 0). By definition the endpoint of the segment Q
occur due to subcutaneous tissue movement or shifts of the can be represented by the vector q = (0.0, -0-4, 0.0) and
skin over the underlying skeletal structure. Furthermore, the endpoint of the directional vector R can be represented
movement patterns may obscure markers such that by the vector r = (0"0, 0.0, 0.4). Then the location of the
minimal numbers of markers are seen or that the distribu- points Q and R in reference system A, P' and Q', respec-
tion of known marker locations is bunched or localised. tively, can be found using eqn. 1.
Moreover, the longitudinal rotation of segments which
have a large length-to-diameter ratio may contain more q' = Cq
error due to the smaller inter-marker differences in the
0"2500 -0"6124 - 0 ' 7 5 0 0 ] F 0"0]
plane normal to the longitudinal axis. Finally, the trans-
formation matrix T calculated from ROGERS and ADAMS = 0'7500 0'6124 -0'250011-0"4 /
(1975) performs translation, rotation, scaling and shearing 0"6124 -0"5000 0.612431 0-OJ
on the segment.
Shearing would affect mainly the directional vector v F 0.245]
--/-o.245/
and the calculated vector w and therefore eventually the
longitudinal angle ~. PIERRYNOWSKI(1982), noting that the L 0"2003
rigid body segments could not undergo shearing and per- and r' = Cr
spective, eliminated the shearing and perspective com-
ponents from the transformation matrix T using a 0.2500 -0.6124 -o 00]V 007
nonlinear best-fit solution. Similar problems may also exist = 0.7500 0.6124 -0.250011 0.0/
with scaling when transforming a segment to its real space 0.6124 -0.5000 0"61243[--0"43
location.
--0.300]
= -0.100|
2.7 Generating segment locations using a best-fit solution 0.2453
The approach adopted here solves a nonlinear system of
M equations in N unknowns, where M is greater than or Translation of the vectors q' and r' would yield the final
equal to N, using the International Mathematical and Sta- co-ordinates of points Q' and R' at (2-255, 2.755, 4.200)
tistical Library (IMSL) subroutine ZXSSQ, which finds the and (1.700, 2.900, 4.255), respectively.
minimum of the sum of squares of M functions in N vari-
ables using a finite-difference Levenberg-Marquardt algo-
rithm (IMSL, 1985). The method minimises the x, y and z 3.3 Generating cardan angles directly from the
residuals of the set of L marker locations which are trans- transformation matrix
formed from their vertical position to their spatial location From the segment position data of the proximal and
(eqn. 1) from their experimentally measured 3D location. distal endpoints and the directional vector in real space it
Each marker contributes three equations, one for each co- is possible to calculate the cardan angles. Recalling that
ordinate, to the set of M functions which are minimised by the transformation matrix is composed of columns of
ZXSSQ. Four additional equations are used to improve directional cosines (eqn. 4), we define two vectors
the solution by exploiting the orthogonal relationships
between the columns of the transformation matrix C. Six
unknowns (N = 6) are solved: the x, y and z co-ordinates
F-0.245] - 0"300]
u = [ 0.245/ and v = -0.100 /
of the segment's proximal endpoint and the three cardan
angles ~, fl and 7 (see Appendix for the functions which are L-o.2ooA 0.245j
minimised). This approach minimises the error in deter-
and calculate the third vector w
mining the cardan angles better than the exact solution
method as the calculations are dependent upon not just
0.040]
three transformation elements but also upon the location
of the L markers on the segment. W ~ H X ~ -0.120[
0.098J

3 Examples Normalising these vectors so that they represent direc-

tional cosines and substituting them into eqn. 3, we obtain
3.1 Calculating the transformation matrix
Given cardan angles of 45 ~ - 3 0 ~ - 4 5 ~ for the right 0.2500 -0.6125 -0.7500]
lower limb (Fig. 2), the transformation matrix C can be C= 0.7500 0.6125 -0.2500[
calculated directly using eqn. 1 to yield 0.6125 -0.5000 0.61251
-0.2500 -0.6124 --0.7500] Finally, the cardan angles can be calculated from eqns.
C= 0.7500 0.6124 --0.2500 / 4-7. fl is calculated from eqn. 4.
0.6124 --0.5000 0.6124_]
fl -- arc sin U3

3.2 Locating arbitrary points in space = arc sin (-0.5)

For a segment with proximal point P' located at (2, 3, 4) = - 30.0 ~
Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing September 1987 531
Then from eqn. 5
= arc sin ( - u , / c o s fl)
= arc sin ( - ( - 0 . 6 1 2 5 ) / c o s ( - 3 0 . 0 ) )
= 45.0 ~
and finally from eqn. 6
7 = arc sin (-Wa/COS fl)
= arc sin ( - ( 0 . 6 1 2 5 ) / c o s ( - 3 0 . 0 ) )
= _45.0 ~
In calculating the last two angles, c~ and ~, the supplemen-
tary angle was rejected (see eqns. 5 and 6).
4 Conclusion
C a r d a n angles provide an alternative m e t h o d of describ-
ing the orientation of rigid b o d y segments in space. They
are a set of three angles which represent sequential rota-
tions of a segment a b o u t each of its three body-fixed axes.
The set of c a r d a n angles described closely imitate a n a t o m -
ical joint movements, are applicable to any b o d y segment
and can be determined from kinematic marker data, which
are the m o s t c o m m o n l y collected data in biomechanics
today. Examples of obtaining cardan angles from segment
location data and vice versa are presented.
It was not the purpose of this paper to dictate to the
biomechanics c o m m u n i t y that body-three: 3-1-2 c a r d a n
angles and translations of the proximal endpoint of a
segment should always be used to define the location of a
rigid b o d y in space from its vertical orientation. Hopefully,
this paper has shown that such a scheme has anatomical
justification. O f m o r e importance is the need for each bio-
mechanics researcher, when reporting 3D rigid b o d y data,
to explain their m e t h o d of locating h u m a n b o d y segments
in space.
Acknowledgment--The authors wish to gratefully acknowledge
Professor F. P. J. Rimrott for providing helpful comments on
these ideas.
References
ALEXANDER,M. J. L. and COLBOURNE, J. (1980) A method of
determination of the angular velocity vector of a limb segment.
J. Biomech., 13, 1089-1093.
DAPENA,J. (1978) A method to determine the angular momentum
of a human body about three orthogonal axes passing through
its center of gravity. Ibid., 11, 251-256.
DAPENA,J. (1981) Simulation of modified human airborne move-
ments. Ibid., 14, 81-89.
DUL, J. and JOHNSON, G. E. (1985) A kinematic model of the
human ankle. J. Biomed. Eng., 7, 137-143.
IMSL (1985) IBM MATH/PC-LIBRARY,International Mathematical
and Statistical Library Inc., Houston, Texas.
KANE, T. R., LIKINS,P. W. and LEVINSON,D. A. (1983) Spacecraft
dynamics. McGraw-Hill, New York, 30-38, 73-78.
KINZEL, G. L. and GUTKOWSKI,L. J. (1983) Joint models, degrees
of freedom, and anatomical motion measurement. J. Biomech.
Eng., 105, 55-62.
PANJABI, M. M., WHITE,A. A. III and BRAND, R. A. Jr (1974) A
note on defining body parts configurations. J. Biomech., 7,
385-387.
PAUL, R. P. (1981) Robot manipulators: mathematics, program-
ruing, and control. The MIT Press, Cambridge, London, 66-84.
P1ERRYNOWSKI,M. R. (1982) A physiological model for the solu-
tion of individual muscle forces during normal walking. Ph.D.
Dissertation, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British
Columbia.
ROGERS,D. F. and ADAMS,J. A. (1975) Mathematical elements for
computer graphics. McGraw-Hill, New York, 46-88.
532 Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing
YEADON,M. R. (1987) The simulation of aerial movement. Part I:
The determination of orientation angles from film data. J.
Biomech., 20, (in press).
Appendix
Calculating the functions to be minimised in a nonlinear
best-fit solution
The set of M equations to be minimised in the nonlinear best-
fit solution using the IMSL subroutine ZXSSQ can be divided
into two parts. The first part consists of minimising the difference
between the set of L segment markers as located by transforming
them from their standard vertical positions to their spatial loca-
tions using an estimation of the solution set of six variables, and
the same set of segment markers as empirically measured in 3D
space. Each marker contributes three equations, one for each
co-ordinate, to the set of M functions, which are minimised using
ZXSSQ. The second part consists of minimising the orthogonal
relationships which exist between the columns of the cardan
angle transformation matrix C. These columns represent the
directional cosines of the final spatial location of the three body-
fixed axes for each segment.
Let a represent the 3D locations of the set of L markers on a
segment when the segment is in the standard position and let b
represent the same set of markers as measured empirically. Then,
there exist a cardan angle transformation C and a translation
vector t which transforms the set of markers from the standard
position to the spatial position. Therefore, the first part of the set
of functions F to be minimised can be given by
3
Fro(l, j) = ~ au Cii + t i - btj (8)
i=1
where m = 1, M - 4
l = 1, L (L = number of markers)
j = 1, 3 (xyz co-ordinates of point l)
The second part of the set of functions to be minimised are
determined by calculating the three dot products of the columns
of the cardan angle transformation matrix C and the determinant
of C, which should be zeros and one, respectively.
FM-3 = ( u 9 v) = 0
FM-2 = (u" w) = 0
F u - 1 = (v 9 w) = 0 (9)
FM = DET (C) = 1
Authors" biographies
Susan J. Tupling is a doctoral student in the
Graduate Department of Community Health,
Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto,
Her interests are in the area of sport bio-
mechanics and in particular mathematically
differentiating between the techniques for per-
forming twisting somersaults. Ms Tupling has
recently been the Newsletter Editor of the
Canadian Society for Biomechanics and is a
member of the Canadian Association of Sport Sciences and the
International Society of Biomechanics.
Michael R. Pierrynowski is an Associate Pro-
fessor in the School of Physical & Health Edu-
cation, University of Toronto, and is
cross-appointed to both the Department of
Preventive Medicine & Biostatistics and the
Institute of Biomedical Engineering. He
obtained his Ph.D. from Simon Fraser Uni-
versity in 1982. His main research interests are
in biomechanical modelling of the human
body. Dr Pierrynowski is a member of the Canadian Association
of Sport Sciences, the Canadian Medical & Biological Engineer-
ing Society, the Canadian Society for Biomechanics and the
International Society of Biomechanics.
September 1987