Importing to a character in another scene
After you export the weight maps, you can import
them to a smooth-skinned surface in another scene so that its skin
deforms the same as the first surface. The surface in the second
scene must have the same UV orientation as the original surface,
but it can differ from the original as follows:
- It
can be scaled differently but must be proportioned similarly in
regions of significant deformation, typically around joints.
- It
can have a different number of spans and sections.
- It
can have a different world space position.
Importing back to the original character
You can also import the maps back to the original
surface. Examples of how this is useful follow:
- If
you are roughly satisfied with the skin weights for a surface but
want to experiment with different weights to enhance the look, you
can export the maps to have a backup of the satisfactory version.
- If
you apply an influence object to the surface, Maya alters the weights
of the smooth skinning in the region of the influence object, sometimes with
undesirable results. To avoid this situation, you can export the
maps, add the influence object, import the maps to the surface again,
then paint weights near the influence object. This avoids the unintended
automatic weight alterations.