Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
4. Let's take a couple of minutes to check the deformaion mechanism that we are
going to use: vertex groups. With the character object selected, let's go to the
Object Data
tab of the
Properties Editor
, locate the
Vertex Groups
panel and
check the names of the elements in that list; do they sound familiar? Sure they do!
Each vertex group is named after the bone for which it is providing the influence
informaion.
5.
To c h e c k t h e d a t a t h e v e r t ex g ro u p s a r e s t To r i n g , l e t ' s n To w g To t To t h e 3 D V i e w a n d
switch to
Weight Paint
mode (only the character object must be selected). Now
the mesh is shown with a blue color and we can check each vertex group by clicking
on its name in the
Vertex Groups
panel (
Properties Editor
). A more intuiive way
is to right-click on any bone of the armature (the armature should be visible, as
we enabled the X-Ray opion early on in the project) to check its associated vertex
group. By default, Blender indicates no influence (weight of 0) with a strong, dark
blue and full influence (weight of 1) with a strong, vivid red. Let's take a couple of
minutes to inspect how the vertex group for each bone is populated with the weight
informaion deined by the automaic weighing that Blender ofers.
Of course, we can modify the inluence of each bone, by ediing the weighing
informaion stored in its associated vertex group; to do this, we just need to enable
the Tool Shelf Sidebar (
View
|
Tool Shelf
), adjust the brush opions (noice the
weight value shown right below the brush example image and the
X Mirror
opion
in the
Options
panel), and paint over the mesh. Even though the current weighing
informaion is not perfect, it's good enough for the purpose of our walk-cycle
exercise, so we won't be playing with the brush opions to modify the vertex groups'
informaion.
6. Now, let's switch to
Object Mode
, select the
char_skel
armature, switch it to
Pose
Mode
, and take a couple of minutes to try out how the armature is now deforming
the mesh, which is exactly what we needed to have our setup complete. Remember to
select all the bones and clear their transformaions (
Pose → Clear Transform
) before
coninuing with the next part. Also, let's remember to save the ile.
Objective Complete - Mini Debriefing
The third step of the process was dedicated to take the finished armature and making it
affect the mesh of our character. We started by marking some bones not to be used for
deformaion, then we used the automaic weighing command that Blender ofers to
generate the vertex group informaion (thus saving us
a lot
of work). Finally, we just adjusted
a couple of parameters of the
Armature Modifier
added to the character object
and explored around to see how the weighing mechanism works and can be modiied.
