script skin polygonal objects by envelopes like in 3dsmax, but much more simply and useful.

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Tutorial

Tutorial was on my site, but site was deleted (.
I can describe base workflow.

1. Use CreatePolygonTool to create planes with vertex-snap in orthogonal view.
2. Extrude them. You’ll have polygon boxes as you can see on pictures.
3. Run script.
4. Boxes is your envelopes. Select one envelope that is near joint and shift select joint and hit “Assign envelope”. Result – rigid envelope – that will assign 1 weight of this joint to vertices that is in volume of this envelope. Rigid envelope colored in blue.
5. Select envelope + shift select 2 joints and hit “Assign envelope”. This is blend envelope and it colored in red.
6. Rule – blend envelope MUST have near envelopes – or blended or rigid – as you can see on pictures – all ends of hierarchy of joints ended with rigid envelopes.
7.Select some vertices of your skinned object or whole object and hit “Set verts”.
8. Select all your envelopes (or not all, but it must be ended with rigid envelope in the end of hierarchy) and hit “Set envelopes”.
9. Select anything and hit “Skin”.

Done.

Important – normals of envelopes must be ok :) to watch on this I create button “normals” – you can see on normals of selected envelopes quickly.

All this worked on 2008 Maya

 For begining let