Hi
While working on my animation short, I created the below scripts to streamline the rigging / modeling process.
skinLift.ms
http://www.bretkroll.com/scripts/page01.html
When I almost finished rigging my character, I realized that I needed to move the bones a little. But if you move the bones at this point, the vertices weighted to that bone will move as well. So, this script stores then removes all vertex weighting data so the underlying bone structure can be moved freely. Once the changes have been made, the vertex weighting data can be re-applied.
mirrorVerts.ms
http://www.bretkroll.com/scripts/page02.html
There is a mirror vertices feature in Max 6 but this script allows you to mirror vertices across two different models as well. I used this to isolate movements to one side of the model when creating morph targets.
I tested both of them, but if any bugs come up, let me know!
Any feedback would be appreciated as well.
Bret
bk@bretkroll.com
I thought you just switch off ‘always deform’, move your bones then switch on always deform again … oh well … maybe you had problems with that that i don’t know about
Billy
my site
You could have solved the first issue by unchecking “always deform” in the Skin modifier’s advanced rollout. Good job on the mirror weights script, though!
RH
damn, my newbie status meant you got that in before me …
edit: oh maybe you didn’t … its like time travel this newby status thing hehe
Billy
my site
Thanks Billy / RH.
skinLift.ms was an early exercise I worked on when I just started working with MAXscript. Only later did I learn about ‘always deform’
Max surely keeps me on my toes!
- bret
yeah, I remember the early days of max skin i tried to do something similar … didn’t work as well as yours did tho’ just saved out the envelopes …
Billy
my site
thanks for the script.
any chance of a max 5 port? 5 users really need this option…chuggnut has a similar script, but I don’t always get the best results.
Jason
the ‘always deform’ toggle is there in max 5 too … well, 5.1 at least, don’t know about 5
bret – sorry to keep stamping on your script mate
I reckon it is useful for saving a quick backup of your skinning so you can easily and quickly go back to it after trying a few changes
Thanks Jason, I’m glad the script is useful.
Actually both scripts can be run in Max 5. I tested both a few times and they worked perfectly fine.
Let me know if you have any problems.
- bret
hmm…showing my max noob colors.
Having trouble actually running the mirror verts script. When I run it through the listener, rollout doesn’t show up. Tried it with verts selected and unselected. skin modifier is on top of the stack and model is edit poly.running max 5.1. Only mirroring between 2 sides of the same mesh, not 2 seperate models.
I’m sure it’s something simple I’m neglecting.
Thanks,
jason
jason,
- try going to the utilities tab (the one with the little hammer)
- click the MAXscript button which will open another rollout below it
- in that rollout, click the run script button which will prompt you to find the script
- after locating it, it will execute it and put it in the drop down list
- after selecting it from the list, it should display the mirrorVerts window
let me know if you see the window appears after going through the above steps.
-bret
sorry you have to hold my hand on this one.
rollout’s open, designated the source model and selected the verts i want mirrored across…the mirrorVerts button stays inactive though.
jason,
you need to select the source model that has the vertices selected and then click recordVertPairs then loadVertPairs
And then as long as you have a base and target model selected, the mirrorVerts button be enabled.
- bret