Deleting Joints in Maya

AdrianST

So I've tried searching this up, and this is honestly my first time using Maya but I would really appreciate any help. I have a model completely rigged that I bought, but when imported into Unity I found out the model needs to be smooth binded. So I'm trying to get rid of all the joints but it keeps deleting things like the eyeballs and belts attached to them. I've tried detaching them and no luck. Am I just not detaching them properly? Any help is appreciated.

erroldynamic

Have you tried unparenting the objects from the joints?

rorozilla

The short-cut for un-parenting a selected object is Shift+P. You can also go in your outliner (window, outilner) and middle mouse button+drag the object out of the bone hierarchy.

But, out of curiosity, why are you deleting the joints if you need to smooth bind your skin to them? wouldn't detaching the skin and smooth binding back onto the bones be the way to go?

throttlekitty

If you delete history on the mesh first, you also remove the connection from the mesh to the bones (skinning data). From there you can do whatever you need to do to the bones without worrying about breaking things, and bind again when you're done.

From what you've said, it sounds like you have portions of the model as children to the bones? For a smooth bind to work properly, the model(s) should not be part of the skeleton hierarchy.

AdrianST

Thanks for the help everyone! I figured I had to unparent it but couldn't find how. I feel bad asking such a simple question, but was able to solve my issue. Much appreciated. I'll probably end up making a whole new rig now that better suits my needs.