Face groups and weight maps

stabio

Hi all

Sorry total beginner question...

Are face groups somehow related/connected with weight maps or do they have absolutely nothing to do with each other? My understanding was that each weight map has to be assigned to a face group...

What actually confuses me is when i looked at the Genesis 3 foot in the Geometry Editor. Each toe has two nodes (bones) with their corresponding weight maps. But only one face group exists for all 5 toes together. My understanding was that each bone controls a face group considering the weight map. Isn't that the case? When i look at the hand, each bone has a corresponding face group... Why is this different for the foot?

Thanks in advance!

Regards

stabio

3WC

Surface groups are only for textures or shaders.  Face groups are different. Those are what are associated with bones, and that's where your weight maps are.

stabio

Thanks wwes. I meant the face groups sorry. I edited my question. I could not find face groups for each toe in the Geometry Editor...

Richard Haseltine

You don't have to have face groups - weight maps in DS apply to the whole figure, and Poser can do single-skin rigging too. However, face groups can be used as a quick way to generate weight maps (by flood-filling the group for each bone with 100% weight for that bone) and are used for selecting the bones in the viewport - also if you are creating a new figure (rather than transferring rigging from an existing figure) the bones will be aligned with the bounding box of their group, if there is one, which can be an aid in setting the skeleton up.