Multi-Object (Weight) Painting #85666

New Issue

Demeter Dzadik · 2021-02-15T19:06:48+01:00

Demeter Dzadik commented

2021-02-15 19:06:48 +01:00

Multi-object weight painting would be extremely useful when rigging characters with clothing pieces that are separate objects. If a character has a shirt and a jacket, they both have to be weight painted identically, but separately.

The objects could be combined, but that would mean they must share a modifier stack, which is not always an option. We could also paint one then transfer the weights, but that only works between very similar objects. So we are stuck with meticulously weight painting both clothing pieces, while making sure the weights match between them.

With multi-object weight paint, the same brush strokes could affect both meshes, so they would be a lot easier to keep in sync.

The bare minimum functionality that I would consider useful:

Be able to select an armature then several meshes that are rigged to it, and enter weight paint mode
Selecting a bone activates the relevant vertex group on all meshes
Brush strokes affect all meshes
Can switch to multi-object edit mode
Geometry masking features work

In my personal workflow, supporting multiple armatures is not important.
If anyone thinks this is important, please comment with a use case example.

Additional functionality that would be nice to have:

Indicating active object in the 3D View. So far this hasn't been necessary, since it was always just one object.
Changing the active object without leaving weight paint mode. Symmetry settings are stored on the mesh, so this would be needed to be able to access those.
All of the above for Vertex and Texture Paint :)

I tried to keep wall of text to a minimum, I hope this is not too bad @ideasman42 :)

Multi-object weight painting would be extremely useful when rigging characters with clothing pieces that are separate objects. If a character has a shirt and a jacket, they both have to be weight painted identically, but separately. The objects could be combined, but that would mean they must share a modifier stack, which is not always an option. We could also paint one then transfer the weights, but that only works between very similar objects. So we are stuck with meticulously weight painting both clothing pieces, while making sure the weights match between them. With multi-object weight paint, the same brush strokes could affect both meshes, so they would be a lot easier to keep in sync. The bare minimum functionality that I would consider useful: - Be able to select an armature then several meshes that are rigged to it, and enter weight paint mode - Selecting a bone activates the relevant vertex group on all meshes - Brush strokes affect all meshes - Can switch to multi-object edit mode - Geometry masking features work In my personal workflow, supporting multiple armatures is not important. If anyone thinks this is important, please comment with a use case example. Additional functionality that would be nice to have: - Indicating active object in the 3D View. So far this hasn't been necessary, since it was always just one object. - Changing the active object without leaving weight paint mode. Symmetry settings are stored on the mesh, so this would be needed to be able to access those. - All of the above for Vertex and Texture Paint :) I tried to keep wall of text to a minimum, I hope this is not too bad @ideasman42 :)

Demeter Dzadik commented

2021-02-15 19:06:48 +01:00

Added subscribers: @ideasman42, @Mets

Campbell Barton was assigned by Demeter Dzadik

2021-02-15 19:10:37 +01:00

Demeter Dzadik commented

2021-02-15 19:10:37 +01:00

Trying to assign this to the right people/places, let me know if any of this is wrong (or just rude)...