Skinning plugin

[Bytehawk]

good idea
:beer:

[oxygen_77]

wouldn't that be a weighting plugin then and not a skinning plugin? Maybe I'm confused...

[KillMe]

weighting / skinning same difference - skinning sounds more approriate for characters even if you are technically using weight maps

[oxygen_77]

Weird.. I always thought skinning involved the texturing process... bit of a confusing term eh? Thanks for the info!

[uncommongrafx]

Someone released something akin to this. I thought it was very cool.

Can't remember where it is or what it's called...

Hopefully, the creator will wander into this misnamed thread and say, "Hey, I can do that!"

Here's hoping,
Robert Wilson
UnCommon Grafx

[PSIpower]

This is half way to what you're looking for?
Not a complete solution but with a little work it might get you allot closer to what you're looking for I guess.

Weighting plugin Click Here (http://earthwormjim.free.fr/lscript/modeler/weighter.html)

[Earthwormjim]

Yo

I'm the one who has coded the'Weighter' Lscript...

2 Months ago, Timothy Albee suggested me an idea like that one.

For now, this can be done with weighter as it is, but it may take a long time to process.. because Lscript is slooow.

Look at the script page, section "Polygon distance and direction checking"

It is the closest thing now...

I'll try to had more specific functions like this one, but later, I haven't enough time for that now :annoyed:

btw, I'll soon update another of my script : Custom select, wich is quite usefull too...


I you have some other suggestions or idea to implement, send me a mail at earthwormjim@free.fr

bye

Alexx

[sketchyjay]

You're thinking of this

Weighter (http://www.flay.com/GetDetail.cfm?ID=1677)

this transfers your weights from a simple object to the complex object. exactly what you want to do.


Jay

[KillMe]

yeah i had seen stuff about the weighter plug before but what i was thinking was thateach box would already have absic weight info and realtionship with the other boxes so you never needed to worrya bout teh weight maps at all

might be asking abit much but damn i would pay alot for that since i hate weighitng characters and it can be damn slow going too

as for lscript being abit slow for the job yeahi can imagine it would be but maybe a plugin version could be created they are suppsoed ot be alot faster aren't they?

well if you do make sucha thing i will gladly buy a copy (assuming i'm not in debt at the time like i currently am)

[wgreenlee1]

Um...I dont really have anything to add to this riging stuff but that alien model is pretty good there Killme....you dont have a wire frame shot do ya?:thumbsup:

[KillMe]

ignour the eyes i accidentally sub devided them about twice and so far haven't been bothed to replace them

http://www.3dactionplanet.com/hlp/hosted/ott/killmenowstuff/wire.jpg

[sketchyjay]

Originally posted by KillMe
yeah i had seen stuff about the weighter plug before but what i was thinking was thateach box would already have absic weight info and realtionship with the other boxes so you never needed to worrya bout teh weight maps at all



You already have it.... you gave me the idea when asked about plugin.

I use ACS4. Each bone has a name so what I am going to do is make a box for each bone and give each one the weight and name corrisponding to the bone. Once that initial set of boxes is done you then get to work...

layer 1 your model
layer 2 weight box object
layer 3 skelegons

activate 2 and 3 and put 1 in background. then size everything to fit. activate 1 and 2 and apply the weights from your boxes and you're done....
If you have your own rig you like to use you can do the same thing. once the boxes are setup it will be a piece of cake to apply all those weights to the skelegons using a script.

yeah alot of work in the beginning but fun times after that. Once I get this plugin i'm going to create the boxes and lscript(although it may already exist!)

Jay

[uncommongrafx]

I got weighter for just this purpose.
Keep us apprised if you actually do make that lscript.
TIA,
Robert Wilson
UnCommon Grafx

[Earthwormjim]

Hi,

For now, Weighter is a bit slow, and it can be really faster running as a plugin... unfortunatelly, I never learned C++ coding, so it will be hard for me to convert it...

I've asked a friend to do the conversion, but he must before learn the LW sdk...

So weighter will become a plugin, but not right now.

I'll then try to add more functions to simplify skelegons weighting.

And I wish good luck for those who will try to do a script/plugin like weighter, I had many brain explosions when coding it :p

good luck ;)

Bye

Alexx

[sketchyjay]

Originally posted by Earthwormjim
And I wish good luck for those who will try to do a script/plugin like weighter, I had many brain explosions when coding it :p

good luck ;)

Bye

Alexx

Thanks

I just purchased your plugin.

Going to try the mapping idea I suggested earlier and see what happens... (I kind of want to play with the ACS4 ninja rig anyway :thumbsup: )

Jay

[Joviex]

Not to sound like an ass, but as I am sure many have seen S.G. mention many many times, why not avoid having to use weights whenever possible :)

[uncommongrafx]

It's in the toolset, ready to make things a bit more 'convenient'.
Since I got ACS4, I have merely thought about weighting but I see where it will come in handy for the occasional wild mesh.
Robert Wilson
UnCommon Grafx

[sketchyjay]

S. G.? no I haven't read about not using weights?

don't they give you better control over what is going on with bone interaction?

jay

[uncommongrafx]

S.G.?

What's that mean? Guess I missed that.
Robert Wilson
UnCommon Grafx

[sketchyjay]

Originally posted by amorano
Not to sound like an ass, but as I am sure many have seen S.G. mention many many times, why not avoid having to use weights whenever possible :)

that is the S.G. i was talking about...

I was questioning if we actually need weight maps or if in the end they are not needed.

Jay

[uncommongrafx]

Seen God?
Sucks Grits?
Sexy Girl?

I have to admit I still don't know what S.G. means.
:shrug:
Robert Wilson
UnCommon Grafx

[Joviex]

uncommongrafx I am suprised ;)

S.G. = Splinegod. He has numerous posts on how a good rig can be done without weightmaps. I totally agree, and prior to a few years back, we never really needed them.

I have been known to use them for texturing though :)

[SplineGod]

Originally posted by sketchyjay
S. G.? no I haven't read about not using weights?

don't they give you better control over what is going on with bone interaction?

jay
I dont just go in and add weight maps. I check the deformations on my characters first and then determine if its quicker to add a hold bone or two. Adding weights doesnt guarentee that your characters deformations are going to behave the way you THINK they will. Sometimes its a lot of unnecessary work.
If I do add weight maps, I ONLY add them where I have determined I really need them. Why add weight maps to fingers for example if theyre working fine already. Its really a matter of attacking things logically rather then jumping into the thick of things. Adding weights is like adding a whole other set of bones except with more tweakiness. Once you go down that path its harder to back out of.

[shivacola]

http://earthwormjim.free.fr/lscript/modeler/weighter.html

[Earthwormjim]

Hi,

I've updated one of my script : Custom Select.
It allows to do points and polygons selection using many different ways :

Random / Poly Normal / Pattern / Shape / Axis / Vmap / Area / Perimeter / Mirror / Concave & Non planar

Try it :)

http://earthwormjim.free.fr/lscript/modeler/customselect.html

have fun

Alexx

[alaklij]

Originally posted by KillMe
ok dokey i had an idea (original or not i have no idea) basically with the likes of acs4 and tsm rigging has gotten very easy but i find skinning a pain in the ass so i had me this idea

how about if you had a plugin that does it for you
heres how i think it could work

first it creates a series of boxes in teh vauge shape of a character liek this

you then adjust the boxes till the fit your character as closely as possible

then you set the plugin to work

basically each box has a predetermined realtionship to the ones around it and it weights them accordingingly then in the bits between the boxes it works a smooth transition from one box to the next

ideally it would then have sort ofa gaussain blur effect over all the weight maps and bang your character should be pretty much weighted correctly - might need abit of tweaking but should eb almost done

i have no idea if any of this is possible but would any of the scripting guru's like to give it a try? or how about newtek =) would add a nice feather to lightwaves character tools cap.

If I'm reading this correctly, what your asking for is the same as the Calculate Weights option in Vertex Paint. I use this tool to calculate a general weight map for the deformation bones of my characters. I can then adjust the maps by painting overlapping 100% value maps, and then normalizing the maps. Very fast and efficient. I can finish a character in less than an hour with this method. And the nice thing about weight maps, is the can be adjusted at any point in time of the animation. I can make a tutorial of how I use Vertex paint if your interested.

[mohh]

Hey alaklij,

A tutorial would ber great!! Please do one. I've read the docs on Vertex Paint, but I have yet to play around with it. A hands on approach would be really useful.

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