Vertex weighting

[clu]

I'm in the process of weighting vertecies to bones, and I'm having trouble assigning absolute values (using the ABS effect spinner).

 

- I select a bone in the list (cervical)

 

- I select a bunch of vertices (near the neck)

 

- I set the abs effect (under weight properties) to "0.5" and hit enter

 

- I have "rigid" and "rigid handles" unchected (although I DO have "normalize" checked)

 

- When I deselet the verticies and click on them again, they all have weights of zero (not the "0.5" I assigned)

 

- This is driving me crazy!!!!

 

 

 

-clu

[Psyk0Sith]

Yeah i get that sometimes, it looks like a bug (well for me it looks like it)

 

Try adding those verts to another bone, remove them and go back to the original bone you want to weight. Or click add selected verts.

 

Sometimes i need to "get out" of the bone modifier.

 

If the vert has no previous weight assigned to it, it should turn red or have full abs.

 

I always type 1.0 and then select the parent bone, type 0.5 and get 50/50 weighting.

[clu]

Thanks much. Here's a couple of follow ups/clarifications if you have a moment. I really appreciate the help. Weighing the mesh makes me want to cry:

 

1) When you say "Add selected verts" you mean the same as "include verts, right? I'm using Max 5 if that helps.

 

2) I'm actually trying to weigh every vert 100% to some bone just to make my life easier. What's the philosophy there? Are there some places where I should do 50/50 (or other ratios)?

 

3) The problem of the ABS spinner greying out happens quite a bit when I am trying to weigh tags (bolt_whatever) to a particular bone. I select the verts, but then it doesn't let me type in any values (greyed out).

 

4) Any other general advice you have regarding mesh weighting would be great. I'm using Spacemonkey's tutorial and it's quite helpful, but still just looking to see what everyone else is doing out there.

 

Thanks again.

 

-clu

[clu]

Sorry...also, in addition to the stuff above, do caps have to be weighted as well?

 

-clu

[Psyk0Sith]

1)Yes i mean "include verts"

 

2)The 50/50 weighting is doing a great job for me, when i see two bones joining each other i add 50/50 right at the meeting point, my mesh is usually made with that in mind.

 

Just take a look at the arm for example, the two bones meeting at the elbow are "humerusX" and "radius", so i know that this exact spot will have lots of deormation, by adding 50/50 you get equal influnce by each bone this will most of the time give good results.

 

3)First make sure the "vertices" option is checked in the "Filters" section, i usually uncheck envelopes and cross sections.

 

This always happens to me when i have selected many verts and i want to modify the amount of abs, what you need to do, is to hold down ctrl and click only 1 vert, the box wont be greyed out anymore.

 

I have no idea why it's doing this...it's like some kind of refresh you need to do everytime you want to change the amount of abs.

 

Same goes when selecting verts, i have to rotate the view to make sure all the verts are selected (the viewport is refreshed and i can see the new additions i've made).

 

4)Well i cant really say there's some magic way, once you've done a full mesh you kinda know what you need to do the next time. Like i said, when you see a joint, use the 50/50 method.

 

Dont forget to move the bones around to see how it deforms (hit ctrl-z to put back the bone in it's place).

 

5)Yes the caps need to be weighted and the 50/50 method is THE ONLY WAY IT WILL WORK...if you dont make them deform equally you will see the caps tear apart.

 

The situation can be different depending on how you built your mesh, if only one bone is near the caps then they BOTH need to be weighted to that same bone with full abs.

 

If your model was weighted with 50/50 at the shoulder for example, then the caps will need the SAME weight or they will not follow the shoulder movement properly.

 

Hope that helps and makes sense?

[clu]

That makes great sense. I appreciate it. I've found that your advice with assigning 1.0 abs, then selecting the other bone and assigning 0.5 works the best (if you assign 0.5 right away, Max doesn't seem to like it).

 

OK, I'm in the process of exporting to XSI (couple of probs I put up in another post), but after reading your post I think I will go back and fine tune some of my weighting.

 

I can't wait to get this guy in game. Again, thanks much for the help.

 

-clu