The Mirror Weights window
is a fast way to reflect weighting values from one side of your
mesh to another. While the Save/Load Weight window
does let you mirror weights, the Mirror Weights window
does not require an external file. It uses a simpler closest point
algorithm for matching points, and so is faster, but it works best
when the mesh sides are symmetric or close to symmetric.
Like the other weight
tools, Mirror Weights can operate
on the entire mesh, or only on selected points.
To mirror weights for a mesh
- Select
Muscle > Weighting > Mirror Weights from
the main menu bar.
The Mirror
Weights window appears.
- Select the mesh you want to mirror weights
for and click to load
it into the window.
Tip -click
the
Node field to select from a
list of Muscle deformed objects in the scene.
- Select the weight type you want to mirror
from the Weights drop-down list.
- Select the position to use during mirroring. World
Pos. uses the world position of the mesh, Local
Pos. uses the object position.
- Specify the Point Position Match
Tolerance.
Since points on the opposite
side are matched by position, this specifies how far they can be
and still be determined as a match. Larger values means they are
more likely to find a match. A smaller value is more precise. The
default tolerance is -1, which means that the closest point will match
regardless of distance.
Tip -click
the
Tolerance field to bring up
several default settings.
- Set the direction to mirror across. This
defaults from +X to –X, setting weights for points on the –X
side.
- Enter the Search/Replace string
for your naming conventions. In order to properly mirror influence-based
weights such as Sticky weights, your muscles/bones should be named
with some sort of naming convention. For example, if your left side
muscles use _L at the end, and the right use _R, set the _L as the
Search and _R as the Replace when mirroring from the left to the
right sides.
Tip -click
the
Search field to bring up several
common naming conventions.
- Select any points you want to load weights
for. If no points are chosen, all points on the mesh for the side
you are mirroring to are used.
- Click Mirror Weights.
The weights are mirrored from one side to the other.