3ds Max CAT rig/skinning problem!

Hey guys, I need some help with a skinning problem I am having with a mesh that is using a CAT rig and that has a face rig built with CAT as well. The head bone and face bones are not working together properly. The face rig is linked to the head bone via scene explorer. I am using BonesPro to skin. The face bones are all skinned the way I want them to be, the issue is with the head bone. When I rotate the head bone as to simulate an animation, the face bones move with it like they are supposed to. The problem is that the geometry deforms because the Head bone does not have enough influence on the vertices that the face bones control. BonesPro, or any skinning to my understanding, will not allow two bones to have %100 weight, the weight has to be divided/shared. So how am I going to be able to have the face bones controlling the geometry with the correct weight, and also have the head bone move and the face move correctly with the head bone? The pictures show what I am talking about, the picture where the head is blue is illustrating the head bone skin. If I were to have the face bones selected, you would see greater influence on the vertices where the lips are, and generally any area that is dark blue on the picture belong to the face rig. Thanks in advance guys.

**These pictures were taken before I linked the face rig to the head bone, the only different now is that the Face bones follow the head bone, but the deformation remains.

 

First off go to the skin modifier and under Advanced parameters change the Bone affect limit to 4 (Unity will only recognize 2-4 anyway).

Now if you have weighted the face properly and linked the face rig to the head bone, there shouldn't be a problem. Any vertices that are left behind, don't have their weights correctly set, you will have to manually make sure they have the correct weights and that they add up to 1.

 

yea each vertice is weighted correctly for the face bones. But the face and the head can't share the weight, so when I link the face rig to the head bone it is getting the undesired effect. Will bone affect limit change that? I am using BonesPro, and then I convert to skin modifier afterwards otherwise I would try it out first.

 

Look if it was weighted correctly what you are seeing wouldn't be happening. Convert to skin modifier and see what happens.

Else post your scene so I can check it out.

 

Dont use Bones Pro
Use Max Skin modifier

 

Since I am also working on face skinning these days I can help you. I had the exact same thoughts when I started it, I couldn't understand why I couldn't set 100% weight to multiple bones then I understood.
1- Start with the neck bone, set all the head weights to 100%.
2-Then move to the various face bones, and add the weight to them. These will be substracted from the neck bone, so it is very important that the face bones are all attached to the neck bones, so that if you move the neck it is also moving all the face bones and the sum of the weights is always 100% thus allowing rotating the face completely.

On your first image I can see the neck rotate but the face bones are still in place, that's why the face is deforming. Link the bones to the neck and should work.

EDIT
I just read you linked the bones, try removing the bones from the modifier and readding them, probably it has cached something, happened to me lots of times. If still doesn't work remove the modifer and readd everything, surely it's just not updating.

 

Hi rmele09,

I am encountering exactly the same problem you have mentioned in your thread "3ds-Max-CAT-rig-skinning-problem".
I am using bonespro and the traditional 3ds max biped. When I rotate the head bone, the face bones move with it but the geometry deforms. (my problem is exactly as you have described it in your post)

Did you manage to resolve your problem?

Thanks in advance

 

For those who have the same problem, I found the solution here :
http://www.maxforums.org/threads/3ds_bones_cat_bones_rigging_issue/0001.aspx