Weight Skirts In Maya

[Evangeline Eames]

Any tips for weighting a skirt in Maya?  I can't seem to get away from that split that happens when walking, no matter how I paint the weights.  I'm wondering if there is no getting around it other than designing your skirt to stand farther away from the body.  Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Cathy Foil]

It would help if you posted a few photos of what you are talking about and a wire frame photo.

A common problem with skirts is that when walking part of the legs poke through as the skirt is stretched.

If this is happening you need to add vertices between where your legs are.  The vertices closest to your legs would be weighted 100% to each leg and as you go towards the middle of the skirt the vertices would be weighted 75% for the closest leg and 25% for the opposite leg.  As you get to the vertices that are exactly in between the legs they would be weighted 50% for the left leg and 50% for the right leg.

I know skirts seem like such a simple shape and not need as many vertices but they really do so it moves with the avatar correctly.

I hope that helps.

[Evangeline Eames]

Thank you for the advice Cathy!  It does help.  I'll play around with that