I'm figuring this is a CP weighting issue rather than a texture map issue so I put it here in Rigging...

The scarecrow's shoulder textures get a pretty severe stretch/smear to them when they are lowered

Click to view attachment


I think just reweighting parts of one spline ring would fix it, and get a more natural bend to his shoulders.

I used muscle mode on his screen left shoulder to show what I'm imagining it should resemble.

Click to view attachment

I'll take a look at it tonight, Robert.

Okay, I took a look at Scarecrow's shoulders...ideally, I would add another spline, but that isn't an option. I looked at making the splines give a good looking shoulder as you suggested, Robert, but, then you would get stretching on the decals on the arms. I don't know when that seam was made the way it is (I don't remember those bias adjustments...I could be wrong though), but it also makes it necessary to keep that spline close to the other seam spline to maintain the look, I'm figuring. So (for those two/three reasons), I split the difference and did some Smartskinning to make the spline in the middle of the shoulders move toward the arms more. That would divide the stretching between the shoulder patches, so it should be less severe. I ended up making three Smartskins per bicep (I realize I could have done it in one, it just works in my head better that way) to try to account for enough of the possible movement as I could.

Feel free to modify or delete the Smartskins I made on the biceps, it can always be done better.

I hope that helps.

Maybe we're not looking at the same spline.

I marked this up with blue and green to show the corresponding splines on the altered screen left shoulder and the unaltered screen right shoulder. The "a" and "b" show corresponding patch areas.

Click to view attachment

It just seems unnatural to have that blue spline tracking the arm bone 100% and pulling away from the shoulder so much. The "b" area is getting all the stretch and the "a" area gets none. This also creates a hard ridge on the arm which looks odd.

Just fix it, Robert.

You mean do a muscle mode mode fix on this (and all the other) animation where the Scarecrow moves his arms? I really think this is a rigging department thing.

I'm not saying it has to be fixed this minute.

Robert, did you update your scarecrow? You are not using the version David smartskinned.

Also, as David stated, this is a modeled seam in the jacket/shirt, so now you want to stretch the seam? Plus, the texture has a stretched look to it already.

That's the spline I was referring to, Robert....do a final render and you'll see what I mean. You would just get another stretch that wouldn't look good. The way that the seam is modeled made it where you need those splines close together (note the bias on the splines). Like I said, I would rather add another spline, but that isn't an option. If you update your Scarecrow, you'll see what I did. If you still think it should be the other way, I'll change it tonight. Just let me know...I have no problem changing it if that's what it needs, maybe I'm mistaken in my assessment.

Sorry, the way I read the first comment it sounded like David had tried smartskinning and it didnt' work. But I'll update now.

Sorry about the confusion, Robert...I should stop posting just before I fall asleep, I don't make a lot of sense at that point.