Segmented character and mirroring skin wieghts
Hey all. So I've got a character that I've modelled and segmented into multiple body parts. The issue that I'm running into is that I can't mirror from one body part to it's counterpart on the other side (so say right knee and left knee).
Does anyone know of a script or trick to accomplish this? I had hoped to be able to swing something with exporting the weights but Max is being 'all or nothing' about that, and the format it's exporting in isn't easily read.
I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be doing it manually (augh) so anything would be helpful
Thanks!
Does anyone know of a script or trick to accomplish this? I had hoped to be able to swing something with exporting the weights but Max is being 'all or nothing' about that, and the format it's exporting in isn't easily read.
I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be doing it manually (augh) so anything would be helpful
Thanks!
Replies
Hope this helps,
1. Combine a copy of all your body parts into one object.
2. Skin the single object and mirror the weighting in the opposite side.
3. On each original part apply a Skin Wrap modifier, add the skinned model, and click Convert to Skin.
If this isn't what you meant, you need to be more specific with your problem.
Why can't you mirror? Did you find the mirror tool? Does it not work? Are you getting unexpected results? Are your segments separate objects? Screenshots would help also.
But i've also done this "manually": first i skinned the mesh as a single piece, skin one side and mirror it, max should be able to do it without *much* problems.
Duplicate the mesh, select the area you want to be segmented, now hit invert selection and hit delete. You are now left with a segmented and presumably still weighted portion. Repeat process for each segment.
Or you could also detach everything and simply copy paste the whole skin modifier (make sure you copy it before segmenting!) on each body part afterwards.
Dunno if that made sense...
To clarify - this character was one model that I made and then separated into body parts (Torso, Head, Left Arm, Right Arm, etc) by detaching each part into it's own object (all in the same scene and lined up). I did this because when I get him in game, he needs to be able to have limbs removed by sharp things
For parts that can use and need symmetry (ie. Torso, trunk) mirroring is working great, it's just those pesky arms/legs/hands/etc.
Anyway - I'll give both the envelope and combine/copy/skin wrap solutions a try and report back on how it goes.
Thanks all!
-V
If it is a problem with mirrorins weights on an instanced skin modifier between objects, it might be worth putting in a bug report to AD.
If the latter is the case, you could quite quickly make a pipeline tool which would generate all the mesh chunks from a single mesh. This means you can work on your model in the normal manner, then split it apart on export. That's the way I'd go at it anyway.
Good luck!
also, my usual caveat - send me the scene and I will take a look and maybe fix it.
Jedi Academy by any chance?...