Skin menu

Found in the Rigging menu set.

Important: Rigid Bind menu options have been removed from Maya to streamline other workflows. Rigid Bind functionality is still present using the scripting commands provided in the Rigid skinning topic. You can also obtain a Rigid bind using smooth skin with 1 influence per vertex.

Bind

Bind Skin: Binds geometry to any transform node or hierarchy of nodes such as an empty group node or a locator. For example, you can create a deformation effect by binding a polygonal mesh to locator nodes that are connected to the CVs of a spline curve.; Using the Bind Skin Options, you can limit the number of joints that influence nearby skin points and limit the range of influence for joints.; To open and change the Bind Skin Options, select Skin > Bind Skin > .
See also Bind smooth skin.
Interactive Bind Skin: To open and change the Interactive Bind Skin Options, select Skin > Interactive Bind Skin > .
Unbind Skin: After you have bound skin, you might decide that you want to modify the skeleton, change the bind pose, or do some further modeling on the skin. To do these things, first unbind the skin from the skeleton, then bind the skin again.
Note: Unbind Skin removes all skin clusters from the selected geometry, even with multiple skin clusters.; To open and change the Unbind Skin Options, select Skin > Unbind Skin > .
Go to Bind Pose: Returns the skeleton to the position where its bind pose was set based on the selected surface. See Bind pose.; Go to Bind Pose supports multiple skin clusters. To use multiple skin clusters with Go to Bind Pose, select Skin >Go to Bind Pose > to open the Manage Multiple skin clusters topic.

Weight Maps

Paint Skin Weights

With the Paint Skin Weights Tool, you can paint weight intensity values on the current smooth skin. See the following topics for more information on working with the Paint Skin Weights Tool:

See also How Artisan brush tools work.

Note: Reflection is disabled for the Paint Skin Weights Tool. Use Skin > Mirror Skin Weights as an alternative method of reflecting skin weights.

Select Skin > Paint Skin Weights >

to open the Paint Skin Weights Tool.

Mirror Skin Weights

You can mirror smooth skin weights, either from one smooth skin object to another, or within the same smooth skin object. You can also mirror skin weights on selected components of the skin.

To open and change the Mirror Skin Weights Options, select Skin > Mirror Skin Weights >

Copy Skin Weights

This tool copies the skin weights of the selected source skin to the selected destination skin. For information on how to copy smooth skin weights, see Copy smooth skin weights. See also Copying smooth skin weights.

Tip:

For best results when copying smooth skin weights, note the following:

When copying skin weights using spatial comparisons the source and destination skins should be positioned in the same positions in your scene. For example, the skinned meshes you are copying weights to and from should be located at the same X, Y, Z coordinate positions. In addition, your source and destination skins should look similar in size and proportion. For example, copying the smooth skin weights from one medium sized biped model to another produces much better results than copying smooth skin weights from a small biped model to a large biped model.
When copying skin weights on characters that are spatially separated or have widely varying scales and proportions, you should use the UV space association option.

To open and change the Copy Skin Weights Options, select Skin > Copy Skin Weights >

Smooth Skin Weights

Smooths the skin weights of the selected skinned object.

To open and change the Smooth Skin Weights Options, select Skin > Smooth Skin Weights >

Hammer Skin Weights

Assigns selected vertices with the same weight values as their neighboring vertices, resulting in smoother deformation. This is a quick way to fix selected vertices that have weights causing undesirable deformation on the mesh. See Fix smooth weights.

Hammer Skin Weights supports multiple skin clusters. To use multiple skin clusters with Hammer Skin Weights, select Skin > Hammer Skin Weights >

to open the Manage Multiple skin clusters topic.

Copy Vertex Weights

Copies the weight value of a selected vertex. See Copy smooth skin weights.

Paste Vertex Weights

Pastes a copied vertex weight value to other selected vertices.

Prune Small Weights

Prunes the small weight of the current joints. Pruning the small weights speeds up processing. See Prune insignificant smooth skin weights.

To open and change the Prune Small Weights Options, select Skin > Prune Small Weights >

Reset Default Weights

Resets the weights of the selected joints to their initial, default values. See Reset skin point weights to default weights.

Reset Default Weights supports multiple skin clusters. To use multiple skin clusters with Reset Default Weights, select Skin > Reset Default Weights >

to open the Manage Multiple skin clusters topic.

Normalize Weights

When you enable normalization for smooth skin, Maya normalizes weight values so that as you change one weight value, other points affected by the same influence are automatically changed.

The following options let you control weight normalization:

Disable Weight Normalization: Turns off the automatic normalization of smooth skin weights for the current skeleton.; Disable Weight Normalization supports multiple skin clusters. To use multiple skin clusters with Disable Weight Normalization, select Skin > Disable Weight Normalization > to open the Manage Multiple skin clusters topic.
Enable Weight Post Normalization: Turns on automatic normalization of smooth weights and sets the Normalize Weights mode to Post. See Normalize Weights mode.; Enable Weight Post Normalization supports multiple skin clusters. To use multiple skin clusters with Enable Weight Post Normalization, select Skin > Enable Weight Post Normalization > to open the Manage Multiple skin clusters topic.
Enable Weight Normalization: Turns on the automatic normalization of smooth skin weights for the current skeleton.; Enable Weight Normalization supports multiple skin clusters. To use multiple skin clusters with Enable Weight Normalization, select Skin > Enable Weight Normalization > to open the Manage Multiple skin clusters topic.
Normalize Weights: Adjusts the weighting of the selected skeleton so that all its smooth skin weights add up to one. See Set normalization mode and normalize weights.; Normalize Weights supports multiple skin clusters. To use multiple skin clusters with Normalize Weights, select Skin > Normalize Weights > to open the Manage Multiple skin clusters topic.

Export Weight Maps

Opens the Write Map file browser so you can specify a path and name for a folder (or directory) to hold the map files. To open and change the Export Weight Maps Options, select Skin > Export Weight Maps >

. See also Export skin weights.

Note: By default, Maya puts the folder name you specify under the sourceimages folder of your current project.

When you smooth skin a surface, Maya creates one weight map per joint. The Export Weight Maps menu item lets you export all the weight maps at once.

Import Weight Maps

Launches the Import file browser, letting you import skin weight maps to your scene. See Import skin weights for information on both importing weights to a character in another scene, or importing back to the original character.

Import Weight Maps supports multiple skin clusters. To use multiple skin clusters with Import Weight Maps, select Skin >Import Weight Maps >

to open the Manage Multiple skin clusters topic.

Other

Interactive Skin Bind Tool

Lets you quickly set initial weights for a selected mesh by modifying the shape and position of volume manipulators. The manipulators give you a visual indication of the influence of each object on the mesh. See Interactive bind for smooth skinning.

To open and change the Interactive Skin Binding Tool setting, see Skin > Interactive Skin Bind Tool >

Move Skinned Joints

Makes the Move Skinned Joints Tool your current tool.

To open and change the Move Skinned Joints Tool settings, select Skin > Move Skinned Joints >

Move Weights to Influences

Moves the weight values of selected vertices from their current influence to the selected influence.

The first selected influence acts as the source influence and all other selected influences act as targets. If an influence is locked in the Paint Skin Weights Tool or Component Editor, it does not receive weights when you move weights from neighboring influences.

This menu item is also available as a button in the Paint Skin Weights Tool. See Move weights and Move weights to other influences for more information.

Edit Influences

Opens the Edit Influences menu.

Substitute Geometry

Use Substitute Geometry to swap an unbound piece of geometry with your character’s bound geometry and transfer all your smooth skin weights to it. See also Replace bound geometry with unbound geometry.

To open and change the Substitute Geometry Options, select Skin > Substitute Geometry > .

Bake Deformation to Skin Weights

Opens the Bake Deformer Tool which lets you create deformations from arbitrary deformers so you can export complex rigs to applications with limited deformer support. It lets Maya bind a mesh to a skeleton using a method that calculates 'smarter' weight values than other bind methods. See Bake Deformer Tool for a description of the options in the window.