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Transfer Weights in Blender; Tutorial
Topic Started: Dec 16 2012, 04:46 AM (18,502 Views)
Segadordelinks
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I was about to write a tutorial for Bone Weight Copy plugin for Blender when I discovered that there is a new version of Blender (2.65).

Among the new features is "Transfer Weights" which is used for the same purpose.

It has also a "Limit Total" option which is used to bypass the "4 bones per vertex limit" (you can choose the number of bones).

Here is a little tutorial:

Posted Image

Transfer Weights (B):
The tool will appear when you enter in Weight Paint mode (A).
It has 3 options (D):
-Group: Selects which weights will be transferred.
*All: Will transfer all weights.
*Active: Will transfer only the active (selected) bone group weights (F).

-Method: Selects how will be transferred. You can choose any of them and see the different results.

-Replace: Selects what will happen if the model already has weights.
*All: All weights will be replaced, the former ones will be erased.
*Empty: The vertex groups with weights assigned will remain untouched.

For a full transfer of Weights I recommend to select “All”, “Nearest vertex” and “All” respectively.

Limit Total (C):
The default number of bones per vertex is 4. We don’t need to change it.
Keep “All Deform Weights” option unchecked.

Transferring:
-Import both models. First, the model with the weights you want to transfer (model 1), then the model where you want the weights transferred (model 2).
I usually make invisible the bones representation by clicking in the eye icon (E).

-Right Click to select model 1.

-Shift + Right Click to select model 2.

-Click in Transfer Weights (B): You can change the options and see the results in real time.

-Click in Limit Total (C): If the message “No vertex group limited” appears, it means that there was no need to use this tool (there wasn’t more than 4 bones in any vertex).

You can check the weights by selecting the different bones in “Vertex Groups” panel (F).

24 bones per material limitation:
To avoid this error you have to subdivide the mesh:
Spoiler: click to toggle

-Click in the "+" button to add a new material slot.

-Click in "New"

-Rename the material. If you want the same material name write "material-0", "material-1", etc.

-Enter "Edit Mode", select faces, select a material slot and click in "Assign"

Renaming the mesh
The name of the mesh will be the name of the .smd file. To change it:
Spoiler: click to toggle

-Right-Click in the mesh in the right panel.

-Click in "Rename" and change the name.



Hope this helps.
Edited by Segadordelinks, Mar 19 2014, 03:20 AM.
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MrPyro
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That would certainly come in handy. I'm sure I and many others would appreciate it.
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hunterk

I know it sucks to keep old versions installed, but you can use the SMD import plugin with the old blender and then save that as a blender-native format, do your bone weight stuff in the new version, then export back using the old one again?
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Deleted User
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I tested the smd plugin with the new blender and it works really fine :)
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hunterk

Yeah, I just tested it, as well, and it seems okay. Not that I really know wtf to do with things once they're imported...

That said: Siegfried129, I'd still love a tutorial on weight copying and bone limiting if you feel up to it. :)
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Deleted User
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I recommend to watch some blender tutorials videos on youtube ;)
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Segadordelinks
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@khaledantar666:
When I try to import smd files I've got this error message: (I've downloaded the latest version of smd tools)
Spoiler: click to toggle

The model appears, but the vertex are screwed up. When there is a vertex for different faces, it creates a vertex for every face.
Do you know how to fix it?
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Deleted User
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Hi Sega,

That is a useful discovery thanks for sharing, I'll certainly try it. Regarding importing smd, I have latest (2.65) version of blender and I am using the same plug-in so I don't know what is causing the problem. Maybe you should try to reinstall blender and then those plug-ins from scratch ?
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Segadordelinks
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Which version of SMD Tools do you use?
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This is the name of file "io_smd_tools-1.5.2.rar" in which both plug-in files were included so I think it is version 1.5.2
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