General Weight Map Issue

Faux2D

I converted a TriAx figure (Genesis 2) to a General Weight Map figue. Below you can see the weight maps for Abdomen and Abdomen2 overlaping.

Now let's say I want to modify Abdomen and paint some weight on it. Seems to work fine but then I see that whatever I painted gets subtracted from the weight map of Abdomen 2 (and vice-versa). In fact whatever I paint on one weight map gets substracted from all the other weight maps.

Why is this happening and how do I fix this?

Faux2D

Edit.

I think I figured it out. It was the normalize function for General Weight Maps. If I turn it off and then change the Binding to Dual Quaternon the weight maps overlaps without issue. As far as I can tell at least.

Richard Haseltine

But if you turn normalisation off then applying both/all bends thata ffect a vertex will result in its moving more than required. Normalisation can be turned off usefully, for example in adding handles to adjust the drape of clothing, but probably not for general rigging.

What are you wanting to achieve here? The requireemnts of general weight maps are quite different from TriAx, which is why Genesis 3 and 8 have some bones split in two - bend and twist. TriAx also allows for bulges, pushing the mesh out in the angle of bends, which need to be replaced - at least to an extent  -with JCMs for general weight maps.

Faux2D

Richard Haseltine said:

But if you turn normalisation off then applying both/all bends thata ffect a vertex will result in its moving more than required. Normalisation can be turned off usefully, for example in adding handles to adjust the drape of clothing, but probably not for general rigging.

What are you wanting to achieve here? The requireemnts of general weight maps are quite different from TriAx, which is why Genesis 3 and 8 have some bones split in two - bend and twist. TriAx also allows for bulges, pushing the mesh out in the angle of bends, which need to be replaced - at least to an extent  -with JCMs for general weight maps.

I'm trying to find a work-around the issue of TriAx not having a translate map. I created a facial rig for Genesis 2 but it would be optimal if I could translate the bones.

My first attempt was using extra bones not weight mapped to anything that act as a pivot for the bones I would like translated. The translation would be done in a semi-circle rather than a straight line but if the bone is long enough it can be close to looking like it's in a straight line. It's servicable but very fidgety use.

Now I'm trying to mimic the TriAx bending for a General Weight Mapped figure. I'm doing this by creating a separate bone for each bulge parented to the appropriate bone. For example Abdomen has a Z map bulge therefore I have a bone parented to Abdomen with identical orientation and size. The general weight map for this AbdomenBulge bone is the weight map from the TriAx Z rotation bulge maps.

I did only use this trick for the torso bones and so far I'm getting similar (80-90%) results as I would get with a TriAx figure. It works great if it's only in one drection but as you pointed out if it's more than one axis there's a lot more fidgeting to do. I do know about the splitting bones trick which I tested prior and works nicely. The real issue is with the Collar and Thigh joints, fingers crossed.

I did try to use JCM's in my Poser days but I would get unusable results when all the axis were in play. I guess it's the same issue as with my method but this way I can manipulate the morph in real time so to speak.

Faux2D

Update for whomever might be interested: it works.

Attach a comparison file between regular TriAx and my General Weight Map method with Dual Quaternon and no normalization. The General Weight mapped figure looks better to me.

Now question is why wasn't this trick of mine implemented in the Gen3 series? What am I missing? It's not exactly rocket science so someone else must've thought of it too. I avoided Gen3 becase it had crappy topology and terrible bending. From what I know it has several level of details you can sculpt over but the same can be achieved with normal maps for any figure.