[Tutorial] Maya - Skin & Bones

[crAyon]

Hello everyone.

I am going to start out with a brief introduction into this part of the Maya tutorials. This is a very
basic tutorial and will only show you how to align your model to the skeleton and bind the skin.

This tutorial does not cover skin weights which we will go over next. They are important and we
will discuss them.

This tutorial assumes you already have basic skills with Maya and are familiar with 'persp' view functions and
'look at' functions. This part of the process is very time consuming and will be very frustrating for you to complete.

Don't give up and save often, very often.

Now, we will go over some basics in Maya. The first will be the move, scale, and rotate tools.

The best way to access these tools is the keyboard shortcuts: w (move), e (rotate), r (scale).




These tools are the most important to be familiar with as these will be used for almost everything we
do in this tutorial, which by the way, we haven't even started yet.

The next all important function we will look at is the 'look at' function. We will use this to focus exactly
where we need to so that we can make sure we properly align the skeleton, otherwise we will get
invalid bone index errors when the bones aren't covered by skin.

First select the bone you wish to look at and then click here:


Lets begin.

First start out by downloading the attached skeleton from this tutorial (crayons_skeleton.mb). This
skeleton is the fully tagged, mp ready version for COD7. It contains no invalid bones and will work for
any model you're willing to spend time with, open this skeleton in maya.

Second, import ( File -> Import ) the model you wish to bring in game. Make sure the mesh for the model is all combined
and not "grouped" this will cause funny errors later on if not done correctly. If you have no idea what
I am talking about, then you need to do this:

1. Edit -> Select All
   
2. Select 'Polygons' from Menu Changer ( image below )
   
3. Select Mesh -> Combine ( image below)
   

Menu Changer -> Polygons


Mesh -> Combine


Now, when you click on your model, the whole model turns green, this is what we want.

The next step is to make sure your model is standing on the 'Z' axis.

You will notice the skeleton is also in the Maya scene. This is what we want. However, you may notice that your skeleton is
upside down, or laying flat. This is ok, however, DO NOT ROTATE OR SCALE the skeleton. We will move the model around
the skeleton, using our tools (w,e,r).



Now we have combined our mesh and started to place our model around our skeleton. Continue to fit your model around your
skeleton. Remember, it's very important to look at your model from many angels to ensure your skeleton is INSIDE your mesh.

Continue to move and rotate each bone in the skeleton until all bones are inside mesh, and in correct position.



Once the skeleton is aligned, you will need to verify ALL the tags in the model using the 'outliner' window.


Select the [+] next to the items until you notice TAG_ORIGIN.

Once all the tags are verified, you can bind the skin to the skeleton. First, EDIT -> SELECT ALL BY TYPE -> JOINTS.

Then you will need to HOLD SHIFT and select your models skin. Then click on the 'Menu Changer' and select 'Animation'.

From the Animation menu SELECT: SKIN -> BIND SKIN -> Smooth Bind.

Now Save.

Now, you could probably export at this point, however the skin will most likely stretch and be really ugly as in my
COD Skeleton Fail video. I am working on the skin weights tutorial, but this should get you started.

Oh, I hope the model I used for this offends no one. Used in a matter of artform only.

EDIT:
Do not pay attention to the order in which I open things in the first video, only do it they way its typed here.

[Romuald27]

[4FunPlayin]

Nice model, but why her.. you know.. breast is so small?

[crAyon]

...........

scale tool?

[OrangePL]

import it into game

[crAyon]

Already have...

[4FunPlayin]

Already have...

PICTURES PLEASE.

[crAyon]

Video as soon as I am done editing it.

Btw she has clothes on in game..

[Pozzuh]

Nice tutorial.

We need the naked version ingame though.

[crAyon]

Seriously?

She is very naked, and very well skinned. :X