Mesh > Paint Transfer Attributes Weight Tool

The Paint Transfer Attributes Weights Tool lets you blend between the source and target’s attribute values on a per vertex basis to control the influence of either mesh on the resulting deformation. The blending is controlled by an attribute map you paint on the mesh using the Maya Artisan brush tools.

The Paint Transfer Attributes Weights Tool menu item is located under the Mesh menu in the Polygons menu set (Mesh > Paint Transfer Attributes Weight Tool).

Note

The deformer weight feature only applies to positional attribute transfers - all other attributes will always be transferred with a weight value of 1.

Mesh > Paint Transfer Attributes Weight Tool >

Lets you specify the settings for the Paint Transfer Attribute Weights Tool in the Tool Settings editor. In the Paint Attributes section there are some attributes unique to the Paint Transfer Attribute Weights Tool. These unique attributes are described below along with some of the common attributes, and how they apply to this tool. For descriptions of all other attributes in all other sections, see Artisan Tool Settings in the Artisan guide.

Tip

You can define hotkey combinations to change most of the settings without opening the Tool Settings editor. For details on setting hotkey combinations, see Define Artisan hotkeys in the Artisan guide.

Paint Attributes section

These are the descriptions for the attributes in the Paint Attributes section.

transferAttributesn.weights: Specifies the name of the attribute being painted. When painting Transfer Attribute Weights, this is <nodename>.weights. Use this drop-down list to select other attributes to paint (for example, the transfer weights of other transfer attribute nodes).
Filter: TransferAttributes: Sets a filter so that only transfer attribute nodes display on the menu for the button above this one. You are painting Transfer Attribute weights with the this tool, so you do not need to change this filter.

Paint Operation

Select which paint operation you want to perform on the selected cluster.

Replace: Replaces the vertex weight with the weight set for the brush.
Add: Adds the vertex weight to the weight set for the brush.
Scale: Scales the vertex weight by the weight factor set for the brush.
Smooth: Averages the weights of adjacent vertices to produce a smoother transition between weights.

Value: Set the weight value to apply when you perform any of the painting operations.

A value of 0 (black) indicates that the original (un-deformed) mesh value should be used, whereas a value of 1 (white) indicates that the value transferred from the source mesh should be applied. Any value in between blends between the two.
Min/Max Value: Set the minimum and maximum possible paint values. By default, you can paint values between 0 and 1. Setting the Min/Max Values you can extend or narrow the range of values.

Negative values are useful for subtracting weight. For example, if you set Min Value to -1, Value to -0.5, and select Add for the operation, you subtract 0.5 from the weight of vertices you paint.

Positive values are used as multipliers.

Tip
To help you differentiate paint values when you paint with ranges greater than 0 to 1 (for example, -5 to 5), and to maximize the range of values that display when you paint values with ranges between 0 to 1 (for example, 0.2 to 0.8), set Min Color and Max Color (in the Display section) to correspond with the Min/Max values.

Clamp

Select whether you want to clamp the values within a specified range, regardless of the Value set when you paint.

Lower: Turn this on to clamp the lower value to the Clamp Value specified below. For example, if you clamp Lower and set the lower Clamp Value to 0.5, the values you paint will never be less than 0.5, even if you set the Value to 0.25.
Upper: Turn this on to clamp the upper value to the Clamp Value specified below. For example, if you clamp Upper, set the upper Clamp Value to 0.75, and set Value to 1, the values you paint will never be greater than 0.75.

Clamp Values: Set the Lower and Upper values for clamping.
Flood: Click Flood to apply the brush settings to all the weights on the selected cluster. The result depends on the brush settings defined when you perform the flood.
Vector Index: If you are painting a three channel attribute (RGB or XYZ), select the channel you want to paint. Attribute weight is a single channel attribute, therefore you do not need to change this setting.