CP weights are a new feature to me. I have only just started playing with them and love what they can do for those troublesome areas around joints. The problem that I am having is with the scant documentation. I have the Techtalk movie but that always throws out a C library error and crashes on both my machines. I don't think it covers my question anyway.

What I would like to know is if I adjust my CP weights in an action am I creating values which are specific to that action or am I adjusting the "base" values which I have set up in model mode. It appears that new values are created in an action. Is that correct?

Thanks for any info on this.

Similar to Smartskin......any cp weighting done in an action translates into the model. But be careful. Making changes in the action doesn't "dirty" the model, so when you press Control+S, your model isn't being saved. Just make a small change in the model and undo to get it to "stick".

Hmmm. That's not what I am seeing. If I look at CP weights in an action they show different values to what I get when viewing the same CP in a model window. This is A:M14.0.


Sorry, Ken. It must be me but I don't understand what you mean here.

By "dirty", I mean the star beside the names in the PWS....ie they've been changed. So, when you modify cp weights in the action, you won't see them in the model until the model has been changed (dirtied) and saved.

Ooooh...wow! I did not know that...are you sure? I'll have to watch for that...

Back to your Q Paul...CP weights are universal...you can't adjust them in a pose or chor or action and expect them to ONLY be like that in that pose/chor/action... the change will be across the board.

This is what I thought. So it surprised me to find that I can see different weight values depending on whether I view them from the model window or an action window.

Thanks.

Compare them again after you've save project/model and re-opened.

I've never seen that... could be a version-specific thing.

YOUR GONNA LOVE WEIGHTING! I haven't reached for SmartSkin once since CPWeights came along! AND- I find I can get away with less 'fan bones'...they are an all-around good-thing!

I was hoping you had discovered some hidden feature, but if I'm in an action and "edit CP weights" (in muscle mode, the only way I see to even get access to that menu item) it changes the values in the model.

Would have been cool if it had worked. If you can document an example where it works, please do!

Weighting in an action is the best bet.

Modifying the weights in an action does update the model in the modeling window, an asterick DOES appear next to the models name.

Ken, you DO NOT have to do anything extra to the model (dirty the model and undo) to get it to stick. If control+save isn't saving it, it's a bug. I right click the model to save with no problems, I've been doing alot of weighting the last couple of years.

This is the way I seem to remember it working as well...Ken must have some strange UK version of hash... (smiler)

Yeah they model on the wrong side of the window

ROFL, Nancy!

I've done it with two tiled windows (the model in one window, an action in the other) and then used the model window to select the points and set the weights. Then look over to the action window to see the results. I'm sure I saw it done that way in some video tutorial or something. Makes it easier to get at the CPs that are tangled up in a bended joint.

Yes. This is the approach that I have adopted now. It hasn't helped my model though. It still looks a mess.
I'll post a 360 in my Hunter-Gatherer thread if you want to see just how bad.

I DO NOT weight in the modeling window, you may move the cps without knowing it and that will be a perminent change once you save. In an action, this is only muscle motion and is not applied to the model.

And yes Nancy, I got a good laugh out of that too.

Why would I use a UK version when I don't live there? Jeeze Yanks and geography just don't mix.

I just tried it out on a new test model and it works....inconveniently. It's definitely been broken on the model I'm currently working on as I've lost weighting data because of it. Obviously Paul is experiencing the same. I guess he's using a UK version though.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Thanks for all the good advice, everyone!
With your weighting pedigree, Mark, I have no hesitation in taking your advice. I will stick to weighting in an action and just forget about those other values in the model, trusting that they get updated correctly.

Thanks for the kind words, Paul.

If you are not seeing the astericks, after the models name under the objects folder, after weight in an action, there is a problem somewhere.

Hi
Do any of you know where there might be some tutorials on this CP weighting process? I have been rigging with Barry Z's videos and seems like a lot of extra bones. My understanding of CP weighting is that it will do the same thing as cosmetic constraints or am I just misunderstanding it?

CP weighting is not a replacement for fan bones (though it can be, but the results may not be enough). I would start with basic fan bones and cp weighting, then smartskin if needed.

You can try looking in the tech talks and the tutorial forums for any tuts.