Binding skin and painting weights

[estuary24]

I have a rather plump character; I need to bind skin to the bones properly. The legs are bending really well but the arms; when I move them up they have influences on the head and also on the torso. Maybe if I make the character more skinny the arms will no longer have influence on the rest of the body. I do however want to keep this character the way he is. I tried painting weights and interactive weights but no use. The shoulders bend like there are no bones inside. Do you really think that if I make the character skinny it will work better or is there another solution ? If anybody could please explain this to me?

[sean.heasley]

Hi @estuary24

It may be more of an issue on where the controls and joints are than the painted weights.

That said, can you post a screenshot of your rig and/or attach the scene file here or via dropbox/google drive or another file sharing program so I can take a look at it?

[estuary24]

I haven't binded skin to the bones in this file because I don't know what skin binding method and what settings work best for my model 

When I bind the skin using smooth bind and then rotate the shoulder it influences the rest of the body or the arm doesn't bend at the shoulder correctly. 

Also, I don't know how to use controls, I usually just use rotate tool to move the joint in the shoulder 

can you please help me and look a the file.

[sean.heasley · Accepted solution]

Hi @estuary24

Thanks for attaching the scene file!

I loaded it up and noticed what you were saying about the limbs affecting the body of the character.

If painted weights isn't helping, you could use Skin->Interactive Bind Skin. This tool will give you much more control over each joint and in about 2 minutes I was able to properly adjust the influence on the shoulders to control the arm but not affect the rest of the body!

If you need more information on the tool we have an article here that may help you out!

There's also this video which while its a bit long, gives a great breakdown on the tool and how to use it!

Please let me know if this helps or if you need any more assistance!

If one or more of these posts helped answer your question, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

Kudos are greatly appreciated. Everyone likes a thumbs up!

[sean.heasley]

Hi @estuary24

I'm just checking in again to see if you need more help with this. Did the suggestion I provided yesterday work for you?

If so, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

[estuary24]

Thank you very much. Yes your suggestion about the location of joints has helped me. You said sometimes the location of the joint is what's making a leg or arm bend in the correct location.