Enveloping

[wazmol]

hey guys i was wondering if anyone could tell me how to get the weights after i have enveloped the model to be perfect, now at the moment im just exporting a normal ep3 clone just to get the hang of it and i wonder how i can get my model in game so that it isnt "slanted" or "funny looking". im sure theres a nice simple way but what on earth is it lol?

thanks in advance

-Wazmol

[AceMastermind]

Weight editing can be a tedious task, there is no 'quick' way to get it perfect, it just takes a fair amount of patience and time.

After you envelope the mesh to the skeleton you will have to do some weight editing, because by default XSI will assign points to whatever bone they are closest to regardless of where they are on the model, which if left unedited will look messy ingame.

Weights are nothing more than how much a bone controls a point (vertice) on the mesh.

Start by switching your 'Camera' viewport to 'User' and expand it, you can use the S key to navigate around the mesh with ease, use the LMR mouse buttons to Track, Dolly, and Orbit respectively.

Press ctrl+e to open the Weight Editor, you should then notice a list of bones that are currently being used, the name color corresponds to the color of the bone in your 3d viewports for easy identification.

Press the T key to enter point selection mode and tag a few points on the model.
You can also press hotkey F10 to go into raycast point selection mode after pressing T to be more precise in your selection, shift+ (grow selection) also comes in handy. You will then see in the Weight Editor the points that you tagged and what bone is currently controlling them.

If you want to change what bone controls whatever point you've selected, just click on the bone name in the Weight Editor that you want to reassign it to and then move the slider to 100%. What this means is that the point you reassigned is controlled by that bone and that bone only, 50% would be that at least 2 bones control that point.

How you reassign points to bones is completely up to you and how you think it should be and what might look best. You can test your new weighting by simply clicking on a bone in the 3d viewport and rotating that bone to see if you have gotten the deformation that you're looking for, and then ctrl+z to undo and resume editing other weights.

This is merely how I go about weight editing, but if you find other methods easier for you then by all means have at it, XSI provides many different ways to get the same results. Hope this helps.

http://softimage.wiki.softimage.com/xsi ... m#Rdc63717

[wazmol]

thanks ace i will try that...

-waz

Edit: i tryed it and i selected the points i want to be assigned to the bone, now what the colour is red when i select them and when i deselect them they go back to different colours not the colour i want?

thanks in advance

EDIT2:

i managed to do it but now in game there are holes in the soldier, like polys are missing, what have i done wrong?

-Waz

[AceMastermind]

i managed to do it but now in game there are holes in the soldier, like polys are missing, what have i done wrong?

Lets see a screenshot of the problem area, i've only seen this happen when models weren't "cleaned up" properly before enveloping.

[wazmol]

heres it in xsi:

and in game:


hope that helps...

off-topic: say ace did you get my pm the otherday?

-Waz

[AceMastermind]

You should weld those cyan colored edges back together on your model.

[wazmol]

okay so thats my problem?

and how do i do that, sorry i just never done that before?

-waz

[AceMastermind]

It may not solve the problem, but it's good practice to re-weld the disconnected edges, 2 overlaying disconnected edges produce 2 extra points (1 edge always has 2 points/vertices) which might be overlooked when weight editing because 4 points will appear as 2 and could be directly related to incorrect weights causing missing polygons ingame.

To weld single pair:
Switch to wireframe so you can be sure you're not selecting other edges and press the E key to go into edge selection mode, and select the cyan edge (you will actually be selecting 2 edges at once, they are on top of each other appearing as 1) and right click then select Weld Boundary Points/Edges and then close the ppg that pops up.

To weld multiple:
Select the object, then go to:
Model>Modify>Poly.Mesh>Weld Boundary Points/Edges
In the ppg that pops up, change the Distance value to about .001, then close the ppg.

[wazmol]

thanks ace!

BUT...

that isnt what did it, it was actually my weights, but now thanks to you ace i have it superb!

pic:


-Waz

[VF501]

Their is also another, quicker, easier, but less refined way of editing weights on an envelope (By less refined, I mean you can't do any fine tunning like 1%-99% weight values).

Stay in textured or shaded view (Wireframe gets to confusing at times). Go to point select mode, then carefully pick the verticies you want to reassign.

Then go Animate>Envelope>Reassign Locally.

Then in Explorer View pick the bone you want to reassign the vertices to and then right click to finish.

Works perfectly and eliminates the need to figure out which point is which in the Weight Editor.

[AceMastermind]

... eliminates the need to figure out which point is which in the Weight Editor.

You don't have to figure out which point is which, the points you selected are the ones being modified, either way you'll still have to pick the right vertices to reassign which is still tedious.

Actually I think the quickest way would be to paint the weights on but you'll still have to be somewhat careful to get the weights perfect. Painting weights will not paint points behind objects either, which means you'll still be doing more hand editing when you're done painting.

It all comes down to whatever you feel more comfortable doing, i'd recommend trying different methods to see what you like best.


XSI Learning Movies

[wazmol]

thanks guys great help!

maybe we should keep this thread pen so other people with problems can post here?

maybe....

-Waz

[Syth]

hey waz, you could try these threads to get the model shiny like

http://www.gametoast.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8031
http://www.gametoast.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5150

[wazmol]

yes, i tried them but you need special lighting in ZE and so for units that isnt that good


waz