• Maya

Painting the upper body skin weights

Paint the skin weights of the upper body by adding, removing, and smoothing the areas around each selected joint.


00:04

Let's jump up to the torso

00:06

and pause it.

00:08

So we already blocked in the weights here earlier.

00:11

So it looks like we just need to smooth them now.

00:15

And up here,

00:17

we want a nice blend.

00:21

Now, the clavicle

00:24

actually, this has too much of an influence over the body. Let's remove some of that.

00:32

And let's look at the upper arm twist now, which should affect the shoulder,

00:36

remove some of the weights around here.

00:39

If you aren't sure how a part of the body would look as it deforms,

00:43

just look at your own,

00:44

move your shoulder around and see how much of

00:47

its movement affects the rest of the torso.

00:51

We need to update the arm twist joints just like we did with the leg.

00:55

I'll come back to those.

00:57

Let's do some more work on the upper body.

01:03

So as you can see, all I'm doing is adding, removing and then smoothing the area.

01:09

We don't want the clavicle to affect the collar.

01:17

Instead, we need a crease as the shoulder raises.

01:23

So let's build up this area

01:27

around here too

01:32

and soften it.

01:36

Let's test the shoulder.

01:41

Ok. So the armpit is being pushed in too far.

01:45

So let's add some of the influence back to the clavicle.

01:49

Fill this back out

01:55

and smooth again to blend it in.

02:01

That's looking better.

02:03

Now, we need some more influence over the top of the shoulder

02:07

with an area like the shoulder.

02:09

It's important to check each direction it will move in

02:15

if we rotate it forwards. Now

02:20

we get a crease which is good,

02:22

but the clavicle probably needs more of an influence to keep it pushed out.

02:27

Ok. Let's add in the twist joints influence.

02:30

So block it in first

02:34

and then soften it.

02:39

Let's look at the elbow now.

02:43

So this has too much of an influence over the upper arm.

02:46

It should be weighted to the twist joint.

02:49

Let's add that in.

02:54

So I just fill this out

02:59

and now smooth the elbow. So we get a nice blend.

03:05

OK. So I think you have a good idea. Now of how we go about painting weights

03:10

personally,

03:11

I like to block the areas out and then adjust the perimeter

03:14

weights to soften them or fill them out more if needed.

03:18

Remember to observe how your own body deforms

03:20

and try to replicate that with the weights.

03:25

If the model has been built with defamation in mind,

03:28

like with muscle lines, for example, and clean topology,

03:32

you can achieve a much better simulation of the muscles moving

03:36

beneath the surface of the skin with your skin weights.

Video transcript

00:04

Let's jump up to the torso

00:06

and pause it.

00:08

So we already blocked in the weights here earlier.

00:11

So it looks like we just need to smooth them now.

00:15

And up here,

00:17

we want a nice blend.

00:21

Now, the clavicle

00:24

actually, this has too much of an influence over the body. Let's remove some of that.

00:32

And let's look at the upper arm twist now, which should affect the shoulder,

00:36

remove some of the weights around here.

00:39

If you aren't sure how a part of the body would look as it deforms,

00:43

just look at your own,

00:44

move your shoulder around and see how much of

00:47

its movement affects the rest of the torso.

00:51

We need to update the arm twist joints just like we did with the leg.

00:55

I'll come back to those.

00:57

Let's do some more work on the upper body.

01:03

So as you can see, all I'm doing is adding, removing and then smoothing the area.

01:09

We don't want the clavicle to affect the collar.

01:17

Instead, we need a crease as the shoulder raises.

01:23

So let's build up this area

01:27

around here too

01:32

and soften it.

01:36

Let's test the shoulder.

01:41

Ok. So the armpit is being pushed in too far.

01:45

So let's add some of the influence back to the clavicle.

01:49

Fill this back out

01:55

and smooth again to blend it in.

02:01

That's looking better.

02:03

Now, we need some more influence over the top of the shoulder

02:07

with an area like the shoulder.

02:09

It's important to check each direction it will move in

02:15

if we rotate it forwards. Now

02:20

we get a crease which is good,

02:22

but the clavicle probably needs more of an influence to keep it pushed out.

02:27

Ok. Let's add in the twist joints influence.

02:30

So block it in first

02:34

and then soften it.

02:39

Let's look at the elbow now.

02:43

So this has too much of an influence over the upper arm.

02:46

It should be weighted to the twist joint.

02:49

Let's add that in.

02:54

So I just fill this out

02:59

and now smooth the elbow. So we get a nice blend.

03:05

OK. So I think you have a good idea. Now of how we go about painting weights

03:10

personally,

03:11

I like to block the areas out and then adjust the perimeter

03:14

weights to soften them or fill them out more if needed.

03:18

Remember to observe how your own body deforms

03:20

and try to replicate that with the weights.

03:25

If the model has been built with defamation in mind,

03:28

like with muscle lines, for example, and clean topology,

03:32

you can achieve a much better simulation of the muscles moving

03:36

beneath the surface of the skin with your skin weights.

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