Bones

[marlow]

I am doing the Intro to Max 2011 course and i am at the section where the instructor is giving an example of how Bones could be used to influence the Pod's cables. I am just curious as to what exactly a Bone in Max is.
In the context of a Skinned Character Mesh, X files and the Direct X API i understand a Bone to be more or less a 4 x 4 Matrix and that the vertices of the Mesh are influenced or attached to one or more Matrices\Bones. Is this how i should view a Bone in Max or is it something else?

[libertycityanimation]

max bones are when you want to rid something like a object. I don't like using max dones when for example rigging a character i always like to use the biped to rig one, it's a lot simper to rig a character using the biped.

you can use the bones to rig a cable if you make the front viewport bigger using alt and the W key. go into the system category and select the bones. Click the mouse on the first point then again on the second point and finaly on the 3rd point. skinn is a lot more harder.

Prepare the skin (mesh or patch object) and skeleton (bones or other objects). Carefully place the bones inside the mesh or patch object so that its elements are able to influence polygons or patches in their immediate vicinity

Click Edit Envelopes and select an envelope to modify the volume in which each bone can influence the surrounding geometry. once you added the skin modifer