Skinning a cylinder by smooth skinning

This example is similar to Skinning a cylinder by rigid skinning, so that you can compare smooth skinning with rigid skinning.

To create the cylinder

1. Create a NURBS cylinder with the default options, except set Height to 8, Number of Sections to 16, and number of Spans to 32.

   

To create the skeleton for the cylinder

1. Build a skeleton for the cylinder. Have the skeleton consist of a single joint chain with about seven joints.

   

To bind by smooth skinning

1. Select skeleton’s root joint (default name: joint1).
2. Select Skin > Bind Skin > Smooth Bind.

To exercise skeleton

1. Select the joint approximately at the center of the cylinder (for instance, joint4), and rotate it about 90 degrees.

   

To paint creasing effects

1. Select smooth shaded display mode (hotkey: press 5).
2. Select the cylinder.
3. Select Skin > Edit Smooth Skin > Paint Skin Weights Tool > .

   The Paint Skin Weights Tool displays. The Influence box lists the names of all the joints.

4. In the Influence box, click on a joint name. For example, click joint3.
5. Click on another joint name. For example, click joint4.

   

6. Check the influence of one more of the joints. For example, check the influence of joint2.

   

7. Use the Paint Skin Weights Tool’s brush to paint how the joints influence creasing.

   

Skinning a hand

To create the polygonal sphere to simulate a muscle bulge

1. Create a polygonal sphere, adjusting the scale attributes to approximate the muscle shape (for example, set Scale X to 1.5, Scale Y to 0.7, and Scale Z to 0.7).
2. Position the sphere inside hand, between thumb and index finger.

   

To make the polygonal surface an influence object

1. Select palm skin object. (This is the smooth skinned NURBS surface that the sphere will deform.)
2. Select the sphere.
3. Select Skin > Edit Smooth Skin > Add Influence.

To link the bulge to fist formation

1. Now you will link the rotation of the thumb joint to the scaling of the influence object (the polygonal sphere).

   

2. Open the Set Driven Key window ( Animate > Set Driven Key > Set ).
3. Load thumb1 (the thumb joint) as driver, select rotate Z attribute, and set the attribute to 0.
4. Load pSphere1 (the influence object) as driven, select the scale Y and scale Z attributes. (Keep scale Y and scale Z at 0.7.)
5. Click Key.
6. Set thumb1’s rotate Z attribute to -40.
7. Set pSphere1’s scale Y attribute to 0.8.
8. Set pSphere1’s scale Z attribute to 1.
9. Click Key.
10. Click Close to close the editor.