max: how do you weight a mesh using skin mod?

[stewartjones]

Sounds like you're actually getting there with it. I don't find the envelope method too intuitive myself either and keep clear of it for most purposes.

So, add skin, addbones, tick the 'Vertices' selection option so you can weight by vert. Look for the 'Spanner' icon which opens a floating window. Grab the verts you want and weight according to what you need. The only other option is to grab the 'paint weights' tool and use the brush to paint the weights where you need it.

If you still can't work it out hit the 'F1' key! If you search for 'skin modifier' there is a ton of very useful information there that covers how to use it correctly.

[labbejason]

By no means can you have a final skinned mesh with envelopes, but they are great for initially roughing out the weighting. Then after that, you can start painting in weights with troubled areas that the envelopes couldn't handle. When most of it looks decent, you can start using the weighting tools to get alot more accuracy. I don't think there's a perfect way to skin, but more or less that's how I go about it. I should have more info on my site under tutorials.

[Pascaru]

hey guys,

I am new to rigging in Max as well. I didn't think the Envelope was very good so i totally ignore it.

Sounds likes you guys can use the paint weighthing properly? Jason? Stewart? I didn't have success with it, it did some weird stuff when i tried using it. I am used to the paint weight tool in XSI which is great.

Now i just select the verts and use the Weight tool and add influences with their multiple buttons. It works as i want it, but very time consuming! so if you say the paint weight works i'll give it another try.

... is there a paint selection tool that just selects the surface we are working on? (and not the other side of the model?)

thanks
P.

[labbejason]

Hey Pascuru,

Well I think of it as going through a layered approach. Not one method is going to give you the best out of all worlds.

Envelopes can only do so much, but they weight the general area. This saves alot of time instead of painting all your initial weights. Painting is good for getting large areas that the envelopes missed, but I find it's hard to be very precise with it. So after I get to a stage where I need precision, I use the weighting tools. I actually love getting a selection of verts with 'loop', makes it very easy to distribute weights evenly.

A thing to keep in mind with painting weights, is that you have to set the strength to a low value (0.1ish). When painting blend weights, then you can ramp the value higher for it to take better effect.

[cbaristo]

wow, thanks guys for your time!!

i'll stick to this and see what i get!!!
Not one method is going to give you the best out of all worlds.

i did press f1 and read, but now im needing expert tips, like those from your posts! ; )

big tip number one, the weight tool, ill give it a try, so far i weighted just selecting bones and verts and changing the abs effect, maybe this is the reason for the moving verts around the mesh.

another thing i realise is envelopes seems to be more predictable if I uncheck the "weight all vertex" first. Do you agree?

the check list should be like this so far:

1. add skin
2. add ALL bones at once
3. uncheck "weight all vertex"
4. adjust the envelopes to get a first approach
5. refine with painting tools?

ill check until point 4 and come back later with feedback.
thanks again people!

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