1.) While attaching a Mesh<\/h3>\n\n\nDuring parenting a mesh to an Avastar rig you can enable an initial Weight copy from all visible siblings to all bones of the parented mesh. In the image on the right you see the armature (yellow) and the shirt(semi transparent) selected. Initial weight copy will project the weights of the upper body into the weights of the shirt. For more detailed information see the Reference guide<\/p>\n
<\/i> Binding(Assign to Armature)<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"boneWeightCopyOnRigging\"](\"http:\/\/blog.machinimatrix.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/boneWeightCopyOnRigging.png\")
<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n2.) While skinning a Mesh<\/h3>\n\n\nAvastar supports 2 different skinning patterns for animating an SL mesh character:<\/p>\n
\n- Via weighting the mBones
\n(also named Classic Weighting<\/span><\/em>)<\/li>\n- Via weighting the cBones
\n(also named Fitted Mesh Weighting<\/span><\/em>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAvastar can pre configure a Mesh to use either of the weighting patterns. For details read the <\/i> Skinning<\/a> <\/strong>section.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"weighting-06\"](\"http:\/\/blog.machinimatrix.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/weighting-06.png\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\nNote:<\/strong> <\/span>Of course you can mix mBones and cBones manually. In that case you want to use the Fitted Mesh weighting Preset. For more detailed information see the Workflow<\/p>\n <\/i> Skinning with Weight Copy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n3.) Weight Copy Tools in Weight Paint Mode<\/h3>\n\nWhile working on the weights of a mesh in Weight Paint mode you can do a weight copy on a bone by bone base. The details are described in the weight copy tool reference below.<\/p>\nNote:<\/span><\/strong> The Selector in the Mirror Opposite Bones button is new with Avastar-1.3<\/div>\n![\"weight_copy_01\"](\"http:\/\/blog.machinimatrix.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/weight_copy_01.png\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\nThe Weight Copy Tool Reference<\/h3>\n
Below you find all Copy tools explained in more detail.<\/p>\n
Selected to Active Bone<\/h3>\n\n\nIf you want to copy from another bone, then you must ensure that you have selected exactly 2 bones, where the source bone must be selected first while the target bone is SHIFT Selected second (so the target bone becomes the active bone!)<\/p>\n
Note:<\/strong> The target bone’s weights will be entirely replaced by the weights from the source bone, not added or merged!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"boneWeightSelectedToActiver\"](\"http:\/\/blog.machinimatrix.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/boneWeightSelectedToActiver.png\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\nMirror from Opposite Bone<\/h3>\n\n\nIf you want to mirror copy then you only have to select the target bone(s). You can select a set of bones. Avastar will perform the mirror function on each selected bone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"boneWeightCopyMiror\"](\"http:\/\/blog.machinimatrix.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/boneWeightCopyMiror.png\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nNew in Avastar-1.3:<\/strong><\/span> You now can specify if your copy shall use Topology mirror <\/em><\/span>or Vertex Mirror<\/span><\/em>. Please be aware that topology mirror can only be used when the mesh is not symmetric! For perfect symmetric meshes you will always use Vertex Mirror.<\/div>\n![\"weight_copy_06\"](\"http:\/\/blog.machinimatrix.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/weight_copy_06.png\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/h4>\n
Note:<\/span><\/strong> If you have Sparkles-Pro (to be released soon), then you get one additional option Shape Mirror Copy<\/em><\/span> which is less accurate but works in any case even if the topology is completely different on both sides of the mesh.<\/p>\nDetails about Mirror Copy<\/h4>\n\nA common pitfall with Weight Copy happens when your mesh is slightly asymmetric. on the next image you see an example:<\/p>\nThe boots look pretty much equal, so you have the impression that a weight copy should be no big deal. But actually i have moved the left boot slightly out of symmetry, so all vertices have a small offset from perfect symmetry. And you can not see this slight asymmetry by just looking at it.<\/p>\n
Lets assume you have carefully weighted the left boot and now you want to mirror copy the weights from the left ankle to the right ankle.<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"weight_copy_02\"](\"http:\/\/blog.machinimatrix.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/weight_copy_02.png\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nSo you will select the right ankle bone, and then perform a Mirror from Opposite Bone<\/span><\/em>. But you end up with the weights not mirrored. In the image you see the weights are not copied to the right ankle as expected, but the weights remain on the original vertices.<\/p>\nWhenever you see this happen you can be sure that your mesh is not exactly symmetric. In that case you can try a topology mirror copy, but unluckily this has its own pitfalls as well…<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"weight_copy_04\"](\"http:\/\/blog.machinimatrix.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/weight_copy_04.png\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nSo lets try to do a mirror copy with topology mirroring enabled (select Topology in the selector right to the Bone Mirror Copy Butto). In my case i ended up with a very strange result as you can see in the next image.<\/p>\nThe problem with topology mirroring is that the used function needs a more complex mesh to identify the mirrored vertices. I have not fully understood how it works, but apparently it does not work for low polygon meshes, hence Topology mirroring is in general not suitable for game engine development.<\/p><\/div>\n
During parenting a mesh to an Avastar rig you can enable an initial Weight copy from all visible siblings to all bones of the parented mesh. In the image on the right you see the armature (yellow) and the shirt(semi transparent) selected. Initial weight copy will project the weights of the upper body into the weights of the shirt. For more detailed information see the Reference guide<\/p>\n
<\/i> Binding(Assign to Armature)<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Avastar supports 2 different skinning patterns for animating an SL mesh character:<\/p>\n Avastar can pre configure a Mesh to use either of the weighting patterns. For details read the <\/i> Skinning<\/a> <\/strong>section.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Note:<\/strong> <\/span>Of course you can mix mBones and cBones manually. In that case you want to use the Fitted Mesh weighting Preset. For more detailed information see the Workflow<\/p>\n <\/i> Skinning with Weight Copy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n Note:<\/span><\/strong> The Selector in the Mirror Opposite Bones button is new with Avastar-1.3<\/div>\n Below you find all Copy tools explained in more detail.<\/p>\n If you want to copy from another bone, then you must ensure that you have selected exactly 2 bones, where the source bone must be selected first while the target bone is SHIFT Selected second (so the target bone becomes the active bone!)<\/p>\n Note:<\/strong> The target bone’s weights will be entirely replaced by the weights from the source bone, not added or merged!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you want to mirror copy then you only have to select the target bone(s). You can select a set of bones. Avastar will perform the mirror function on each selected bone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Note:<\/span><\/strong> If you have Sparkles-Pro (to be released soon), then you get one additional option Shape Mirror Copy<\/em><\/span> which is less accurate but works in any case even if the topology is completely different on both sides of the mesh.<\/p>\n The boots look pretty much equal, so you have the impression that a weight copy should be no big deal. But actually i have moved the left boot slightly out of symmetry, so all vertices have a small offset from perfect symmetry. And you can not see this slight asymmetry by just looking at it.<\/p>\n Lets assume you have carefully weighted the left boot and now you want to mirror copy the weights from the left ankle to the right ankle.<\/p><\/div>\n Whenever you see this happen you can be sure that your mesh is not exactly symmetric. In that case you can try a topology mirror copy, but unluckily this has its own pitfalls as well…<\/p><\/div>\n The problem with topology mirroring is that the used function needs a more complex mesh to identify the mirrored vertices. I have not fully understood how it works, but apparently it does not work for low polygon meshes, hence Topology mirroring is in general not suitable for game engine development.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n2.) While skinning a Mesh<\/h3>
\n
\n(also named Classic Weighting<\/span><\/em>)<\/li>\n
\n(also named Fitted Mesh Weighting<\/span><\/em>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n3.) Weight Copy Tools in Weight Paint Mode<\/h3>
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\nThe Weight Copy Tool Reference<\/h3>\n
Selected to Active Bone<\/h3>
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\nMirror from Opposite Bone<\/h3>
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/h4>\n
Details about Mirror Copy<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"weight_copy_05\"](\"http:\/\/blog.machinimatrix.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/weight_copy_05.png\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"copyAllBones\"](\"http:\/\/blog.machinimatrix.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/copyAllBones.png\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"