Abstract: We present a general joint component framework model that is capable of exhibiting complex behavior of joints in articulated figures. The joints are capable of handling non-orthogonal, non-intersecting axes of rotation and changing joint centers that are often found in the kinematics of real anatomical joints. The adjustment of joint articulation is done with a relatively small set of intuitive parameters compared to the number of articulations in the motions they parameterize. This is done by making various linear and nonlinear joint dependencies implicit within our framework. An animator is restricted from putting the skeleton in an infeasible pose. We have used our joint framework model to successfully model highly-articulated complex joints such as the human spine and shoulder.