Skin Clusters break sometimes. Or you just want to copy skinning from one character to another.
Usually when I have a skin cluster playing up I rebind a duplicate of the mesh to the joints and copy the skin weights from the original mesh.
To do this:
1. Duplicate mesh
2. bind duplicated mesh to the same joints as the original
3. copy skin weights over from old mesh with Skin > Edit Smooth Skin > Copy Skin Weights
Gives you a fresh skin cluster but with the skinning you’d setup already.
I’m preparing for a new showreel and want to render the mesh wireframe for my rigs.
I found this tutorial to be spot on!
http://blog.ayanray.com/2010/01/the-best-way-to-render-wireframe-in-maya/
Today I wrote a little tool that simply groups whatever you have selected, for the purposes of cleaning up transforms. Also works with multiple objects selected and groups them all under a group in the same worldspace as the first selected object.
Grab the code here and place it on your shelf.
import maya.cmds as cmds
import maya.OpenMaya as om
grpList = cmds.ls(sl = True)
parentObj = cmds.listRelatives( grpList[0], parent = True )
cmds.group( em = True, name = grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP' )
cmds.parentConstraint( grpList[0], grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP' )
cmds.delete( grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP_parentConstraint1' )
cmds.scaleConstraint( grpList[0], grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP' )
cmds.delete( grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP_scaleConstraint1' )
cmds.parent( grpList[0], grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP' )
try:
cmds.parent( grpList[0] + '_Zero_GRP', parentObj )
om.MGlobal.displayInfo( grpList[0] + ' now has a group above it' )
except:
om.MGlobal.displayInfo( grpList[0] + ' has no parent object, grouped in world space' )
cmds.select( grpList[0] )
newParent = cmds.listRelatives( parent = True )
listEndNumber = len(grpList)
remainingObj = grpList[1:int(listEndNumber)]
for i in remainingObj:
cmds.parent( i, newParent )
om.MGlobal.displayInfo( grpList[0] + ' now has a group above it' )
I’ve found myself using Windows sticky notes to jot down thoughts, ideas and lists.
Then I bought an Android phone and started using a sticky notes app to do the same.
After some time I found my notes fragmented and difficult to manage, then a friend suggested Google Keep.
Google Keep is a note taking app for android phones, which works a charm. Though this still didn’t solve my problem.
I then decided to make the jump to the Chrome Browser where I can use the Google Keep browser app.
This means I can open chrome and start the Keep app and have it sync with my phone. Nifty!
But I was still not happy, as this removed some functionality form the Windows sticky notes, as they open on system logon.
I set about to solve this and have a solution for you!
1. install the Google Keep app for you phone and Chrome Browser. (links below)
2. on your PC right click on the Keep app in the Chrome apps window > create shortcut > desktop.
3. Now right click on that shortcut to Google Keep on you desktop > properties.
4. copy the whole line of text from the target text-field ( Ctrl + A > Ctrl + C )
5. start up Windows task scheduler > action > create basic task.
6. Name it “start google keep”, click Next
7. set the trigger to “When I Log on.”, click Next
8. action “start a program”, click Next
9. paste the text into the Text/script text-field.
10. click Next then Finish and you’re done!
Once this is complete you can delete the shortcut from your Desktop.
Google keep should now start when you log on and you can sync notes from you phone to you PC desktop with ease!
Chrome Browser – https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/
Google Keep for Chrome – https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-keep/hmjkmjkepdijhoojdojkdfohbdgmmhki?hl=en
Google Keep for Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.keep