In Maya 8.0 I will be attempting to paint weights on a soft skinned model and every time I paint something, then go to a different joint and come back, my painted weights will be different. This is driving me up the wall, any solutions?
One more thing, if you switch from multi-coloured bone weights to greyscale from time to time, it's much easier to spot rogue weights. I usually use the component editor to block in the weights roughly, then fine-tune with painting. Painting right from the start always causes headaches.
Ok, I found something that I was doing wrong I think. I didn't have enough joints to share the weighting. By adding an extra dummy joint, I was able to push all the ones I wanted to rig to 0, which put the dummy joint to full white and allowed me to paint in the joints that I wanted without it shifting around on me trying…
Another way to do it is to select the verts you are having issues with the weights jumping on, then open the component editor. (window->general editors->component editor) then select the Smooth Skins tab. It will list all the influences with a rating higher than one, and often the zero ones too. Find the bone name you want…