[Bf-funboard] Some skinning feature ideas

[Benjamin Tolputt]

I thought I would phrase the requirements I am seeing in "my words". I 
may be misunderstanding what you have written (not an unusual 
occurence), but I think there are missing elements that some of us are 
discussing / suggesting.

* Introduction of a "Normalized Weights" view in the Weight Paint mode 
so that the "applied" influence of the selected bone can be easily 
determined
    ** The goal being a WYSIWYG of bone influences on the vertices
* Introduce a mode of operation in Weight Paint mode where one can paint 
the "applied" influence value of a bone on vertices directly. This would 
have the effect of editing the influence of other bones on the painted 
vertex.
    ** The goal here is to allow WYSIWYG "editing" of bone influences, 
so that painting a vertex to be fully weighted to the selected bone, 
will always fully weight the vertex to the bone in deformation.
* Introduce a method of quickly moving between vertex groups / bones 
when in Weight Paint mode allowing quick comparison of influence weights
* Hints & How-Tos for Newbies on rigging using vertex weights
    ** This is needed for Blender as the current documentation very 
briefly glosses over it in preference to bone envelopes & the like.
    ** The hint about painting "green" is good, but given the automatic 
influence algorithms paint assign "red" (or 1.0) to vertices, it is only 
really useful when painting weights from scratch.

The difference between the list you present and mine (as I see it) is 
that I don't think the initial "bone-casting" algorithm is that bad. At 
least, it is as good as any other one I have used. As said algorithm can 
never be perfect or everyone, provided it doesn't suck completely, I 
think it would be better to focus on the inevitable "tweaking" 
functionality the user needs to edit the initial weights to what they need.

I too think the above requirements are "complementary" to the current 
workflow. The "Normalized Weight" view will be useful to anyone painting 
weights (especially when the bones are deformed from their rest state!), 
the quick moving between bones / vertex groups will benefit anyone 
editing the weights of more than one bone, and the "hints & tips" are 
always appreciated by users. The only suggestion above that is outside 
the current workflow is the painting of "applied" weights. But even this 
should not affect anyone, simply allowing another workflow path to the 
end result.

Regards,
B.J.Tolputt