Deformation Testing - Game Character Development with Maya - page 362

4. As shown in Figure 6.35 (left), rotate the ankle down and the ball of the foot up,
so that Kila is standing on her toes. Then go ahead and edit the weighting informa-
tion on the foot. We need the back of the foot weighted to the ankle joint, and the
front of the foot to the ball joint ( Figure 6.35 , middle).
FIGURE 6.35 Work on weighting the foot.
5. Next, work on the base of her jeans leg, making the very bottom fully weighted to
the ankle joint before gradually smoothing it out up to her shin area ( Figure 6.35 ,
right).
The only area that is a concern now is the underneath part of her shoe, mainly the
front sole. The polygons are laid out now so that the base appears concave when
the foot bends. Adjusting the topology as shown in Figure 6.36 will easily solve
this, but we will need to do it when we detach the geometry from the skeleton. In
addition, notice that we can reduce the sole, removing the vertices that run down
the middle.
FIGURE 6.36 Adjust the topology of the sole as shown, to remove the concave look.
6. We are now happy with the way the lower body deforms, so let's detach the geo-
metry from the skeleton. First reset the joints in the arm and leg so that they are
back in their original positions. Then select the geometry and go to Skin > Detach
Skin.