Maya: Painting Skin Weights

In character animation you deal with geometry (child, woman, horse etc.) and with joints (the skeleton working inside the geometry). You don't animate the geometry, you animate the skeleton.

The process to attach the joints to the geometry is called "Bind Skin". The proper layout for joint influences is known as the "Skin Weight". It can be painted interactively – which is what I demonstrate in this video.

If you want to see a tutorial about skinning a hand and painting skin weights for the thumb, check out this: Maya: A Three Fingers Hand    • Maya: Rigging and Skinning A Three Fi...  

The music: "Computer Animation" and "Dubius 170", composed by me for this channel, licensed via GEMA.