Importing a GLM with Weights

[mrwonko]

Version 2.68 and upward added vertex weight viewing and editing, though I've yet to see if @@mrwonko's GLM import plugin works with a newer version of Blender...

It's tested up to 2.69, but new Blender versions can load older saves just fine (and mostly vice versa, too) so you can just save as a .blend and load it in a 2.7+

[Milamber]

@@Milamber has been rubbing this plugin under my nose for half a year now

now share it plox @@Scooper

 

 

[Scooper]

Got easter vacation now, I'll see if I can squeeze in some time to finish the last stuff on the plugin.

[minilogoguy18]

The shoulder deal is the animation, a lot of the base animations really need to be fixed up and remade.

[Cerez]

The shoulder deal is the animation, a lot of the base animations really need to be fixed up and remade.

 

Yep, but it's also a problem with the skeleton's design. The JKA skeleton is a standard looking skeleton, but the animations the characters are doing are like almost full 360 arm-swinging, so they really should have implemented a circular joint design, or something that allows for that sort of twist in the shoulder.

 

Then again, I've never really noticed this until I started rigging. I always thought it was just a small bug in the animation when I paused the game awkwardly at certain times. Most of the action is too fast-paced to really notice it. I've made my peace with it, now. I can't change how the game works... I'll figure out some way to cover it up a little with carefully positioned textures.

 

What a lot of good JKA modelers do is cover up the shoulder joints with cloth mesh on top, so that you can't actually see the deforming joints. Also, it's not so obvious if your model has thicker arms (like Kyle).

[minilogoguy18]

Well they do compensate for excessive twisting, that's why there are 4 bones in each arm, the problem is that there needs to be a bone that acts as a shoulder blade that weights on the back can be weighed to rather than using the clavical bones. I do this by on the back of the character letting the thoracic have more influence over the back of the shoulders than the clavical does in the front of the character.

 

Another problem is the piss poor topology of a raven character, none of the edge loops follow the characters muscle structure from an anatomically correct standpoint, that alone would make a HUGE difference in how a character deforms.

[Cerez]

Agreed. Those are really good points. *nods*

[Cerez]

If you want a pro's look at things ... import a Hapslash model. Infinity Blade was a pro rigger who weighed 95% of Hapslash's models.

 

Great suggestion. I have visually compared my model's shoulders to his Leia, and it's doing quite well in comparison. So I guess I did a good job, even if I don't feel the results...

 

I knew Infinity Blade. He was a great guy. He's HapSlash's brother, you know. I really feel for HapSlash, now that IB is not around anymore...  They are both honorary members of our greater community. We were honoured to have them, truly.