I like to ask the gurus here if there’s a maxscript or plugin that can rescale a animation rigged model that has skinned data. Our artist says it’s not possible to rescale the model once it has skin data, and he must reskin the model if the scale is adjusted.
I believe there must be an easier way since in programming terms, skin data only weight influences to bones, where the vertex positions should not have any effect as they are calculated at runtime (Anyway, this is how I would implement skinning).
It’s easy enough, I’ll describe the manual method and it’s fairly quick.
Rescale the rig (in figure mode if using biped) with the skinned model in place. The model will stretch as it’s skinned to the bones.
For each skinned part of the model (most models are one part):
Copy the Skin modifier in the stack (right click, Copy)
Paste it on the stack (Right click, Paste)
Turn off the Copy (light bulb)
On the first skin modifier, collapse it (Collapse To, not Collapse All). You’ve now taken the stretched model and effectively baked that data back down to edit poly/mesh.
Turn on the copied skin modifier - the model will deform wrongly.
In the skin modifier, go to Advanced and find the Always Deform checkbox. turn it off, then back on.
Done.
If you need to edit the mesh, simply turn off the skin, edit the mesh, then repeat steps 5 and 6.
I have tried your method,but end up the skinned meshes were still stretched by rescaled Biped rig. I think the copied skin modifier is still holding streched skin data since it is copied from the first skin modifier.
Copies the skin data to keep it safe (you could just bake it out and reload it, but this is faster). This is the copy/paste/turn off part.
Uses the initial skin modifier to stretch the mesh when you edit the biped. After adjusting the rig you then collapse this skin modifier. This is an intentional deform.
Reapplies the skin data.
If you DON’T want the mesh to deform when you edit the rig, that’s even simpler:
Turn off the skin modifier, edit the rig. The mesh won’t change but the rig will it.
Turn on the skin modifier, and the mesh will pop. YOu don’t want this…
…so toggle the always deform off and on in the advanced rollout.
I use these methods all the time, but not usually to stretch a mesh instead just to re-pose it. If I get a mesh in the T-pose and need it in the A-pose I’ll rotate the clavicles and arms to match the pose, do a quick skin and then use the bones to re-pose the mesh. After that I just collapse that updated pose back down to an editable mesh.
Update - I use the first method for larger changes of scale and pose, and the second method for minor ones, such as adjusting the position of facial bones or making legs thinner/bulkier.
-save the skin(advance setting in skin modifier),
-delete the skin modifier,
-group the mesh and the biped(figure mode),
-scale them,
-ungroup it,
-reset xform the mesh
-apply the skin, make sure that u have added the same bones as before,
-load the skin(advance setting in skin modifier),