Automatic Envelope Assignment Property Editor

 
 
 

Envelopes are deformed in reaction to the movement of their associated skeletons.

To apply: See Assigning Envelopes to Deformers [Character Animation].

To display: Select the enveloped object then choose Edit Properties Animation Properties and click the Automatic Envelope Assignment tab.

The parameters control how each point in the envelope is assigned to the deformers. The higher the weight, the more a point is affected by a particular deformer.

Number of Skeleton Objects

The number of deformers to which each point on the envelope is assigned. For example, if you leave this parameter at the default of 2, each point is assigned to clusters for the two nearest skeleton objects and its weight is divided between them. The relative weight of the deformers on each point depends on the Assignment Method.

Assignment Method

The method used to assign deformers and weights to points on the envelope:

  • Distance-based simply assigns points to the nearest deformers. Weights depend on the relative distance from a point to its deformers.

  • Normal-based considers the directions of the surface normals as well as the distance. This option is useful, for example, when enveloping things like legs and fingers. This method will never assign points from adjacent appendages to a deformer. The restriction is that the deformers must be entirely inside the envelope surface.