2009

Table Of Contents
various poses. It is common for a surface to look good in one pose but
not in another. Strive to make the surface look good in the poses that
you are likely to use during animation.
2 If you want more practice, pose the right arm as you posed the left arm
and fix the corresponding irregular region in the right breast. This time,
fix the region by modifying the weights for the upper_back joint rather
than the right_arm_root. As mentioned previously, you can modify point
weights of alternative joints to get a similar effect.
Influence objects
You can create an object and use it to influence the shape of smooth skin.
The object, called an influence object, acts like a surgical implant against
which the skin deforms. For example, you can create a sphere and use it to
simulate a muscle or bone that bulges as you pose the character in certain
positions. You can also use an influence object to smooth deformation and
maintain volume in regions that collapse while bending.
In the next steps, youll use a sphere as an influence object to simulate an
elbow jutting out as Jackies arm bends. To use an influence object, the skeleton
must be in the bind posethe original pose at which the skin was bound to
Jackie.
To return the skeleton to the bind pose
1 Click the Select Tool and cancel the selection of Jackie.
2 Turn off Modify > Evaluate Nodes.
After you use an IK handle to pose a character, you must do this step
before you can return the skeleton to the bind pose.
3 Select back_root, the root of the skeleton.
326 | Chapter 7 Character Setup