Load and save weights

User Guide > Rigging > Maya Muscle > Skin Deformation >

The Save Weights dialog box allows you to save the various types of weights on an object to a text file. These weights can then be reloaded onto the same or different objects by point order or point position. In addition, by saving and reloading the mesh by point position with mirroring options set correctly, you can use the Save/Load weights to mirror your weighting. (There is a separate Mirror tool for faster built-in mirroring as well.)

To save weights

Select Muscle > Weighting > Load/Save Weights from the main menu bar.
The Save Weights dialog box appears.

The top section holds shared information on what muscle system to load/save weights for, and the filename to use. The second section contains the option to save various types of weights. The third section contains the load options and related features.
Select a mesh that has a Muscle deformer applied and click the load selection button in the Node area.
Specify a file name, or browse to a file by clicking the button.
Select the type of weights you want to save in the Weights drop-down list, then click Save Weights.
All points of the object deformed by the provided cMuscleSystem node are saved, even if only some points are currently selected on the object.

To load weights onto a mesh

Select Muscle > Weighting > Load/Save Weights from the main menu bar.
The Save Weights dialog box appears. This dialog box also contains options for loading weights.
Select the type of weights to load in the Weights drop-down list.
If the weight type is similar, you can save from one type and reload onto another. For example, both Sticky and Sliding weights use the same muscle/bone list, thus you can save one and reload onto the other. All of the Jiggle, Cycle, Rest, Relax and Smooth weights are simple per-point weights, so you can save the weights from one type, then load it onto another. This lets you save weights from Jiggle (for example) and re-load it into the Rest weights.

The Normalize option turns on/off automatically, but you can override the value to determine whether loaded weights are normalized to 1.0 for each point. This setting has no effect on simple per-point weights.
Select whether to load by Pt. Order (Point Order), World Pos. (World Position), or Local Pos. (Local Position).
If the object for which you are loading weights is point-compatible, Pt. Order is much faster. If your point count has changed, or you are reloading onto a different object, select World Pos. or Local Pos.. These modes interpolate weights if new edge loops are added to a mesh, or if the meshes are relatively similar.

You can enter a tolerance value of 0 or higher to make sure loaded weights only occur if points are relatively close to the original mesh, or set it to -1 to ignore. You can also prune weights to any number of decimal places.

When loading by World or Local Position, you can specify an axis that the loaded information is mirrored across. This is often used with the Search/Replace fields.

For example, if you have saved weights for a character but have only weighted the left side, you can chose the X-axis for the Mirror Pos. and enter the appropriate Search/Replace values such as _L and _R. This causes a loaded point to be compared to the opposite side and weights to be applied to matching muscles/bones based on naming.
Select the points you want to load the weights on. If none are selected, all points on the deformed mesh are chosen and loaded automatically.
If you are attempting to mirror weights it is important to only select the points on the side you are loading the weights for. For example, if you have saved weights for a rig that has the left side properly weighted, when loading, you select only the right side points and set the proper mirror options to set the right side values.

NoteRemember that loading weights applies to selected points, or to all points if none are selected. You can use this to your advantage by selecting only the points that need to be loaded both for speed purposes and to make sure you do not change weights on parts of the mesh you want to leave alone.

TipYou can click Select Influences from File to re-select all original capsules/bones/muscles that were used from the originally saved mesh. This is useful if you want to re-apply the same rig onto another object, or if you have removed Muscle deformation and want to reconnect those items. In addition, this option works with the Search/Replace fields. This lets you select opposite side muscles for connection into a Muscle deformer.
For example, if you have a left and right arm mesh and have saved Sticky weights for the left side, you can then set Search and Replace to change the naming from _L to _R, and click Select Influences from File. Because of the Search/Replace settings, this selects the right side influences which you can then connect to the right side mesh.

NoteSaving weights automatically stores all data needed for any load operation later. However, save weight files originating from subdivision surfaces do NOT currently allow for a reload by point position. If you need to use weighting by point position, you must save the weights from either a NURBS or polygon mesh object.