Maya Plug-in

For the production of the 'Psicovip' animated series, created by Bruno Bozzetto and produced by Maga-Animation and Rai-Fiction, Enrico Ferraris and I implemented a node joining different parts of the "ribbon section". The node "surfaceConstraint" accepts a NURBS surface input with U-V coordinates and returns the position and orientation for a ribbon system; enabling the attachment of a joint or locator to a NURBS surface.

Ribbon System

"'The 'ribbon' was utilised in the composition of the arms, legs and back of all the characters in Psicovip. It essentially obtains greater effect with less joint control, creating a type of chain joint - without a parent-child relationship in the hierarchy - used mainly with character's limbs.
Conceptually it is treated as an IK spline, however in effect you can do more (for example, attach a button or other object to a surface). Personally I prefer this method to the IK spline due to the fact that it's more stable and lighter - the "peak" is always located correctly, when an IK spline is too stretched and bent, the tip of the chain can move."
(Enrico Ferraris Charachter TD at "2MinutesAnimation")