Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Weight Painting allows you to adjust
vertex groups visually and interactively.
Enter Weight Painting mode either by
using the keyboard shortcut (not one you
should memorize necessarily)
Ctrl-Tab
or changing the mode selector on the
3D view header from Object mode
to Weight Painting. When you enter
Weight Painting mode, your model turns
blue and red. Blue represents “not in the
group” and red stands for “completely in
the group.” You don't see it yet, but the
colors gradate from blue through green,
yellow and orange, then red. If you don't
currently have the tool shelf on screen,
press the T key to show it. The display
should resemble
Figure 6.36
. The paint-
ing tools are in the tool shelf on the left.
The 3D view shows the colorized mesh,
which represents the state of the cur-
rently active group from the Vertex
Groups panel. If you had more than one
vertex group, LMB clicking on the dif-
ferent ones would instantly change the
colorized mesh display, allowing you to work on the selected group.
Figure 6.35
A selection for hair growth.
Looking at the paint controls in the tool shelf, the important ones to adjust right away are
Jitter
in the
Brush
section and
All Face
in the
Options
section. Make sure Jitter is at 0, and that All Faces is dis-
abled. Jitter applies a random motion while you paint that might be nice for some things, but is awful
for precision paint work. Once you begin painting though, your main controls are
Weight
, followed by
brush
Size
and
Strength
. Weight controls what “color” you paint with. The highest (1.0) is red; the
lowest (0.0) is dark blue. If you want to add an area to the vertex group, paint with red (1.0). If you
want to take away, paint with blue (0.0). Hovering your mouse in the 3D view, you'll notice that the
cursor has been replaced with a circular paintbrush. You control the size of the brush either with the
Size slider on the tool shelf, or by pressing the
F
key in the 3D view, adjusting the size interactively
with mouse motion, and clicking LMB to accept the change. Likewise, brush strength is adjusted with
Shift-F
and the same procedure. Note that a high brush strength is denoted in the 3D view by a very
small circle. Think of it as brush “concentration.”
At this point, painting is as simple as LMB dragging on the mesh in the 3D view and watching the hairs
reapportion themselves every time you paint a stroke. Using this method, it is easy to restrict hair growth
anywhere on your model. If you find that the edges and vertices don't quite line up where you would
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