Addon for blender containing tools for simplifying workflow in blender weight paint mode. Useful for riggers, animators and character artist but not only.

• convenient pie menu for applying weights to vertices - with properly working symmetry and auto normalization
• custom weights mirroring for all tools, works even if topology is not symmetrical.
• symmetrize vertex groups that works even if topology is not symmetrical
• easy picking/copying vertex weights, from multiple selected vertices.
• Transfer vertex weights - add, replace, multiply weights from one bone to another
• improved smoothing, level weights - with properly working symmetry and auto normalization
• Draw gradient with custom gradient falloffs (Ease, linear, Gaussian), and mirroring.
• Override from adjacent- replace broken weights on selected vertices from adjacent geometry.
• Project weights - Project weights from non selected mesh parts to selection

Video Tutorial¶

Then select your Mesh Object and switch it to Weight Paint Mode. Weight Paint Mode will now allow you to pose your selected Bone while weight painting the Mesh Object to it. While in Weight Paint Mode, you can select bones with RIGHTCLICK. Blender 2.8 - While in Object Mode, select the Armature Object first and the Mesh Object last. Addon for blender containing tools for simplifying workflow in blender weight paint mode. Useful for riggers, animators and character artist but not only. Gumroad – Weight Paint Tools for Blender.

For blender 2.79 but lots of things are the same in Blender2.8

Installation¶

To install Weight Paint Tools you need zip file from your Gumroad account.
Then, inside Blender, go to:

• Edit -> Preferences -> Add-ons, and click 'Install' button.

And navigate to Weight Paint Tools_2.x.zip (for Blender 2.8) file location.

Updating¶

Weight Paint Tools has build in auto updater. When you use it, updater will download latest Weight Paint Tools release and install in background. To use auto updater go to:

• Edit -> Preferences -> Add-ons -> Weight Paint Tools -> press 'Check for update'.

If new version is found, press 'Update addon' button, wait few seconds for download, installation and restart blender. Or you download update manually by getting new zip file from your Gumroad account. You should have received download link to zip file, with email when you purchased Weight Paint Tools.

Location¶

Weight Paint Tools pie menu in Weight Paint Mode:

• 'Ctrl+X' hotkey (can be changed in addon preferences).

Support¶

For support or bug reports use this discord server.

If the Gfycat demos are too fast, you can right click them to change speed.You can still learn from this guide, even if you don't use Rigify.
* IMPORTANT *

There is a known bug in Blender that occurs when attempting to Undo (CTRL+Z) in Weight Paint mode or Sculpt mode.
- Demo: Undo Bug
- Bug Reported
Workaround: After adjusting the brush values (Weight, Radius, or Strength), switch to a different paint brush (Add, Subtract, Mix, etc.), and then switch back to your previous paint brush.
- Undo should now work as expected.

If you plan on rigging with the Rigify add-on, make sure you are familiar with the Bone Positioning Guide here:
- Rigify (Archive)
- It's a little old, but the tips are still applicable to the current version of Rigify.
- More details will be available below.

If you have MMD Tools add-on active, it will conflict with Rigify's Generate Rig functionality.
- MMD Tools Reported Bug
- If you plan to use Rigify's Generate Rig function, make sure to disable the MMD Tools add-on before using the Rigify armature.

For beginners, I recommend starting with rigging character models that don't have face bones, like a masked character:
After you've mastered the basic body rigging, you can then move on to Face Rigging.
[Explained later in SECTION 8]

Bone Naming Conventions [INFO]

Click to Show

Here are different types of Objects you may encounter in Blender:
We will focus on only 2 Object Types:
- Armature Object
-

Weight Paint Blender 2.8

Mesh ObjectA rigged 3D character model contains 2 essential things:
- Skeleton (Armature Object)
- 3D Model (Mesh Object)

The 3D model is the Child.
The Skeleton is the Parent.
Wherever the Skeleton moves, the 3D model follows.

In Blender, you parent the Mesh Object to the Armature Object, then you can continue with the Weighting or Weight Painting process (explained later).

Select children first, then select the parent last.
Hotkey: CTRL + P [Opens the Parent Menu]

• Set Parent To:

  [ Object ]

  Click to Show
• Set Parent To:

  [ Armature Deform ]

  Click to Show
• Set Parent To:

  [ Armature Deform with Empty Groups ]

  Click to Show
• Set Parent To:

  [ Armature Deform with Automatic Weights ]

  Click to Show
• Set Parent To:

  [Armature Deform with Envelope Weights]

  Click to Show
• Set Parent To:

  [ Bone ]

  Click to Show

A 3D model can be a singleMesh Object
- this is common with low-poly character models.A 3D model can be composed of multipleMesh Objects
- this is common with high-poly models with optional clothing, weapons, etc.

You can parent multiple Mesh Objects (Head, Arms, Legs, Clothing, etc.) to a single Armature Object.

What is the purpose of Vertex Groups?

Vertex Groups are extremely useful for different things:
Rigging, Organizing, Physics Simulation, etc.

Click Here to Show

• Vertex Groups can be used for organizing and making it easier to Select/Deselect vertices/faces on a Mesh.
  [Example: If your character is a singleMesh Object, you can assign different parts of the character (Hat, Weapon, Jewelry, Clothing, etc.) into their own Vertex Groups, which will make it easier to separate them later as their own Mesh Objects.]
  
• Vertex Groups can be used for physics simulation/collisions.
  [Example: Assign vertices from clothing, hair, or breasts to react to physics]
  
• Vertex Groups can be used as Bone Vertex Groups for rigging/weight painting.
  - https://streamable.com/n73te
  [Example: Assign vertices from the character's left upperarm to the Vertex Group 'upperarm_L' (bone name) with a weight value from 1 to 0 or 100% to 0% ]
  Weight influence 100%(Red) - 0%(Blue)
  This will be explained later in the guide.

How to Create, Assign, Select, Deselect and Remove a vertex group in Blender 2.79?

How to Prepare/Clean the 3D model before rigging?

Example 1: [Symmetry]

Click to Show

Example 2: [Alignment]

Click to Show

Scale and position your Armature (skeleton) to fit inside the character Mesh Object.
Before rigging a character, make sure both the Armature (Skeleton) and the Mesh Object(s) (Character Meshes) have their Transforms applied.
- Hotkey: CTRL+A [Object Mode]
- Object --> Apply --> Location | Rotation | Scale

Example 3 [Bad Seams]

Click to Show

In Example 3, you will want to join all the Mesh Objects together before rigging, to avoid the seams.
Select all the Mesh Objects and join them together CTRL+J.
Afterwards, in [Edit Mode], select the seams (overlapping vertices) and Remove Doubles or Merge by Distance.
Later in the guide, you will learn how to separate the Mesh Objects.

Example 4 [Bone Heat Weighting: failed to find solution for one or more bones]

Click to Show

Check if your character Mesh Object has:

• Overlapping mesh parts:
  - armor, clothing, hair, tactical gear, ammo pockets, holstered sword
• Internal mesh parts:
  - eye balls and teeth

Then try separating them into separate Mesh Objects which will be excluded from Automatic Weights, for now.
- Hotkey: L [Edit Mode] Select Linked (Vertices, Edges, Faces)
- Hotkey: P [Edit Mode] Separate Mesh

Click to Show

• Method: [Weight Painting]

  
  - Weight Painting is recommended for high quality rigging.
  - Make weight painting in Blender 2.8 similar to Blender 2.7 by disabling Lock Object Modes (Optional).
  - Right click video to change speed.

  Normalize Weights - Tip
  Normalize Weights - Troubleshoot

  Weight Paint - Vertex Selection Masking
  Weight Paint - Face Selection Masking (Bug Fixed in Blender 2.81)
  - Select a Face or Vertex: CTRL+LEFTCLICK
  - Select multiple Faces or Vertices: SHIFT+LEFTCLICK

• Method: [Vertex Weights Panel]

  
  The Vertex Weights panel is only available while Vertex Selection Masking is enabled.
  You can open the Vertex Weights panel with the N key.
  You will only be able to view/edit the weights of individual vertices, one vertex at a time.
  This is a great way to troubleshoot weighting issues:
  - [Example 1] [Example 2]
  You can also copy the weight values from one vertex to another:
  - [Demo]

• Method: [Automatic Weights]

  
  - It's a quick way to weight the mesh object(s) to the bones in the Armature.
  - It's not always perfect.
  - If you take a look at the Vertex Groups, weight values will have already been generated for each bone (Bone Vertex Group).

  Fixing Automatic Weights Demo:
  - Right click video to change speed.
  - Vertex Weights Panel [INFO]

  View Clipping Region:
  - Use View Clipping Region to easily work in difficult areas in a 3D model.
  - Demo:View Clipping Region and Weight Paint [Starts at 04:10]
  - Blender 2.8 Shortcut: ALT + B

• Method: [Assign Automatic from Bones]

  
  [Blender 2.7 Demo]
  Similar to Automatic Weights, except it is for individualbones.

• Method: [Transfer Weights]

  
  Great for clothes or other loose parts.

  Related:
  Transferring Armatures and Weights from One model to Another
  How To attach Clothes to A Rigged Character Mesh In Blender 2.8

• Method: [Parent to Bone]

  
  - First select the Mesh Object and then the Armature Object.
  - Switch to Pose Mode and select a Bone.
  - Press CTRL+P.
  - Set Parent to Bone
  Great for simply attaching something to a bone:
  -- Glasses --> Head Bone
  -- Gun --> Thigh Bone
  -- Knife --> Calf Bone
  No weights or vertex groups needed.

Click to Show

Click to Show

Weight Paint Blender 2.8 Gallon

• Introduction to Shape Keys:
  - To make things easier, use Proportional Editing.
• Blinking Eyelids with Shape Keys:
  - To make things easier, use the appropriate Pivot Points.
• Mouth Shape Keys:
  - To make things easier, use Proportional Editing.

Rigging and Weight Painting Videos:

• [Blender 2.80]Blender 2.8 3D Female Bone Positioning (Hips, Breasts, Shoulders, Hands, Feet, Spine)
• [Blender 2.80]Blender 2.8 Weight Painting mini-tutorial (and how to undo a 'neck fix')
  - Mostly Weight Painting
• [Blender 2.78]Blender Human Meta-Rig. Clear HD tutorial
  - Excellent tips for preparing the mesh and setting up bones and rolls
• [Blender 2.77]Blender: Weight Painting (Part 1 of 2)
  - Vertex Group tips, Weight Painting tips
• [Blender 2.76]How To Rig A Simple Female Character In Blender 2 .76
  - Rigging with metarig, fixing bone rolls, custom IK controls, custom foot roll controls, Automatic Weights, breast physics
• [Blender 2.69]Simple rigging of a character in Blender
  - Setting up a custom rig from scratch with IK controls, custom bone shapes, and Automatic Weights
Work In Progress...

Extra Resources:

• Controlling Armature Deformation
  - Fundamentals of bones, deformation, vertex groups, weight painting

Troubleshooting:

• And how to add a bone to centre of eyeball?
  - Demo - Setup Eye Bone
• Can you show me how to add eye bones for supergirl model (SFM)?
  - Demo: [Part 1] [Part 2]
• After fix legs (SFM DazV4), how to save 'fixed version'? And how to fix this? [Image]
  - Demo: [Part 1] [Part 2]
• Do you know how to weight paint RE2R model? I want to fix legs but don't know how to do this right. [Image]
  - Demo - Troubleshooting a rigged Resident Evil model
• I don't know why I can't Mirror Vertex Group. I ticked at X Mirror in Option tab from Context, still can't work. [Image]
  - Some 3D meshes are asymmetrical in order to mimic natural appearances. In these cases, Mirror Vertex Group may not always work.
  - You will have to either make the 3D mesh symmetrical or manually weight paint both sides.
• Can you make a demo that you clean and fix that eyelid (SFM)?
  - Demo: [Part 1] [Part 2]
• How to copy bone weights to another bone, or how to merge weights from different vertex groups?
  - Demo: [Part 1] [Part 2]

Work In Progress...

Want to rig some free models?

Weight Paint Blender 2.8 Inch

Try these...

- Pack 3D Models
- Models Resource
- Free3D
- Sweet-Berrie
- GR-85
- KittyInHiding
- Sketchfab

Submit 3D Models and Resources:

Common Mistakes Made in Blender

Rip Your Favorite 3D Game Character Models FREE

Contact:https://www.deviantart.com/xcurtainx

Click for Change Log

DONATE!The Blender Development Fund!