Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 6.5
Select the elbow joint and rotate it to bend the arm.
6.
Do this now—drag a selection around the forearm and rotate the elbow around the
Z axis. This is shown in
Figure 6.5
, right.
Note
Because this is a default bind, the elbow joint may influence the torso.
Don't worry about this now; we will address this issue in the next section.
Although the geometry does bend, it's not a very natural looking elbow. What we can do
now is tweak the way the joints influence the elbow by painting the weights around it.
Painting Weights
Different 3D applications use various techniques for adjusting the way joints drive geo-
metry; Maya's is one of the best and friendliest I have used. When you
paint weights,
you
paint a joint's influence onto the mesh, telling Maya what areas are influenced and by how
much.
Let's get ready to adjust the weights on Kila's elbow.
1.
Select the mesh and go to Skin > Edit Smooth Skin > Paint Skin Weights Tool, and
open up the options window.
Figure 6.6
shows the options now available to you.
