All images from Maya 2008 Character Modeling and Animation by Tereza Flaxman.

VFXWorld continues excerpting a new series from the Thomson Course Technology book Maya 2008 Character Modeling and Animation. VFXWorld readers will take on the challenge of animating realistic and compelling characters using the latest version of Maya, the powerful 3D graphics and modeling software. Excerpts will show beginning to intermediate animation students and enthusiasts how to create professional quality characters, explaining the full character animation process from pre-production to final full body and facial animation.

In the last excerpt you learned how to create a basic smooth bind in Maya. This excerpt will teach you how to better control the deformation around joints using a technique known as ''painting weights.''

Smooth Bind Challenges
When you bind a character by using the smooth bind method, the point weights that Maya automatically assigns often do not deform the geometry properly. In this case, you must edit the point weights manually by using the Paint Skin Weight tool.

The points have weight values from 0 to 1, and these values are represented by the colors black and white. Black has a value of 0, and white has a value of 1. With the Paint Skin Weight tool, you can change the points' values to any weight between 0 and 1 to adjust the geometry deformation properly.

[Figure 1] Paint Skin Weights Tool options box selection.

1. Select File > New Scene.

2. Select Create > Polygon Primitive and uncheck Interactive Creation.

3. Select Create > Polygon Primitive > Cylinder Option Box. In the Subdivisions Along Height field of the Polygon Cylinder Options window, type 20 and then click the Create button.

4. Scale the cylinder 10 units on the Y axis.

5. Create three joints: joint1 at the bottom of the cylinder, joint2 at the middle of the cylinder and joint3 at the top of the cylinder.

6. Select joint1, joint2, and the cylinder.

7. Select Skin > Bind Skin > Smooth Bind Option Box.

8. In the Bind To field, select Selected Joints and click on the Bind Skin button.