" Puppetshop" problem in Max

NiGHTS2o06

Hey,

After i've created a Puppetshop rig in Max and try to attach it to the model via physique (attach to node), i've found that it creates an envelope for everything including all the attached control points and helpers. Is there anyway around this so that only the actual bones are selected or is this how most people do it (im just posing the model for beauty shots not for actual animating).

Thanks in advance.

Mark Dygert

Use the skin modifier instead?

NiGHTS2o06

I was thinking that, but I hear a lot of people saying that Physique is just infinitely better. But if I can achieve a decent effect via skin then that might be the way to go.

Thanks Vig.

renderhjs

Physique is dated and a old relict back from the character studio plugin days (like max 2 ,3). It has not been updated for ages whereas the skin modifier had a recent big update in Max 8 and probably some fixes in between. Someone please correct me if I am wrong here.

The skin modifier has a better support and all in all you can better tweak your vert- weights and even mirror them.

Mark Dygert

Here's my take on it.

Physique
Pros:

• Deformable envelope cages and overlap controls make envelop skinning pretty easy.
• Designed to work with biped, later upgraded to work with custom rigs, kind of.
• Allows for use of floating bones (all bones in skin are treated this way)

Cons:

• Individual vert weighting is insanely more complex then it needs to be.
• Zero weight painting tools.
• Hasn't been updated in years, its largely considered the Edit Mesh of the 3dsmax rigging tools.
• Common bugs like unexplained vert weight corruption and crashes have gone unfixed.
• Lack of mirroring verts and bones.
• Copy/Paste doesn't always work.
• Is hierarchy dependent, which influences how you create your rigs.
• Unless you're using it with biped, for a really quick test, its more or less useless.

Skin
Pros:

• Does almost everything that physique does plus a few things.

Cons:

• Still is a little buggy but much better then it used to be.
• Could benefit from deformable envelopes and various other upgrades and work flow improvements.