Deformation Testing - Game Character Development with Maya - page 339

Value sets the amount by which the joint influences the skin. A setting of
1.0000 will fully influence the vertices. This value is the maximum a vertex
will be influenced. If you set it to 0.5 , a vertex will only be influenced by
0.5 , no matter how much you paint on (unless your paint operation is set to
Add).
The Opacity setting dictates how much of the Value will be painted by each
stroke. So if your Value is 1 but your Opacity is 0.25 , you will only paint
one-quarter of the full value each time.
The Paint Operations (in Paint Weights) you can perform are as follows:
Replace is the paint operation I tend to use most often. This operation simply
replaces the current influence with whatever you are painting. I find it quick
and easy to get good results by only using Replace.
Add will add on top of the current influence.
Smooth averages the influence values of adjacent vertices, much like a blur
operation would soften the edge between a black area and a white area in an
image. Smooth is quite handy when, for example, you have a large area that
needs a gradual, smooth deformation.
Scale reduces the influence on joints that are farther away.
The various brush types are represented next to Profile in the Brush panel. These
influence the way you paint; choose among a fine brush stroke, a solid brush with
smooth edges, a solid brush, and a square brush.
Elbow Weight Painting and Testing
Now that you've seen the weight-painting options, let's paint the elbow and see if we can
get a good shape when it is bent.
1. Set Value and Opacity to 1 (their highest settings). Select the solid brush, which is
third from the left, and choose joint3 , which is the elbow joint.
2. To begin, make sure the vertices away from the elbow are fully influenced by their
respective joints. While we have the settings on maximum, paint around the sec-
tion of vertices highlighted in Figure 6.10 , making them pure white. (Most of
these are already fully influenced by the elbow, but it doesn't hurt to check.)