SHAPES is an easy to use blend shape editing tool for Maya. It offers a unified and simplified workflow for creating blend shape targets and other related dependancies for character work. Part of the SHAPES suite of tools is a WeightDriver node. Recently, the WeightDriver node has undergone some additions.
Most notable add is a new Radial Basis Function (RBF) mode. If you’re not familiar with RBF, it is a more efficient system to perform calculations and it can be used to interpolate custom input positions. Great for doing character work!
Rigging can require a vector-based pose reader to hurdle some Euler issues in rotations. Vector-based readers are good for this because they only rely on orientations, rather than axis values.
The Weight Driver node is part of the SHAPES plugin, but also freely available. Scenes created with SHAPES might contain the weightDriver node and might be passed on to colleagues and customers.
Get the Brave Rabbit’s WeightDriver node for Maya, and be sure to check out the video describing the new RBF mode available.
