In this DVD Paul deals with many of the aspects of skinning a character using 3dsmax's Skin modifier. Starting with weighting via envelopes Paul then moves on to build on this foundation with weight painting and blending. Further control is then added via muscle bones, skin deformers and springs for dynamic flexing of the Ogre's stomach.

This DVD is aimed at 3dsmax users that are familiar with the basics of rigging such as IK and FK systems, Expression, Script and Reactor Controllers and so on. The DVD along with the others in the series aims to take those fundamentals skills to the next level and to allow you to create production level character rigs that are flexible, easy to use and fast to work with.

Topics Covered

Chapter 02: Include / Exclude
With the basic enveloping in place, Paul goes on to setup the basic inclusion/exclusion vertex lists for each bone.

Chapter 03: Vertex Weighting / Painting Weights
Paul shows how the vertex paint tool works.

Chapter 04: Painting Blend Weights
And then moves on to show how the blend weights tool can be used too “smooth” out any hard edges in your current weighting.

Chapter 05: Adding Muscle Bones
In some places extra bones can be added to help with muscle definition and other body forms, Paul shows how to do so here.

Chapter 06: Methods & Results
Here Paul explains some of the techniques he has been using on this DVD and the various results he has achieved with them.

Chapter 07: Skin Deformers
When posed in a certain way the skin can take on problematic forms. Paul shows how the skin deformers can be used to get around some of these issues.

Chapter 08: Dynamic Belly With Springs
Our Ogre character has a pretty large belly and to take that into account Paul shows how he has added springs to create a dynamic belly wobbling effect.

Chapter 09: Controlling Springs With Script
The spring controllers used in the last chapter can cause a large lag whilst scrubbing your animation. Paul shows how to turn off the controllers during animation tweaking via MAXscript.

Chapter 10: Skin Utilities
We wrap up the DVD with Paul running us through some of the more advanced features and Utilities found in the Skin modifier.

Reviews & Customer Feedback

"I recently purchased Paul Neale's first DVD title in his intermediate character rigging series and I am delighted to report that Mr. Neale is a very efficient and cogent teacher in addition to his well-known skills as one of the most talented character animators in the business. Paul makes certain to explain the rationale behind his choices as he assembles the extremely well-designed character rig so that a viewer can understand how and why to adapt the techniques to real world projects. I've already revised one of my own rigs based on Mr. Neale's suggestions and I am eagerly anticipating the opportunity to build my next rig from scratch following his recommended workflow."
Mark Johnson, Forensic Arts

"Using this set of DVDs and study of the "Animators Survival Kit" have done more for my knowledge over some focused weekends than my University Computer Imaging program did over 9 credit hours. It was awesome to learn from real world experiences"
Montrose Edmonds, Wolfsong Informatics