my shape-keys explode, please help!

I have a dragon model shape-keys. I decided to give it new wings, so I deleted the old ones, modelled the new ones seperately, joined the meshes and attached them. I feared that this might kill my shape-keys, but in fact everything worked just fine at this point.
I continued working, did a few things like rigging the wings - and now activating a shape-key causes the model to explode.
Does anyone know why it does this and how to fix it? I really don’t want to do all the shapes again :frowning:

Edit: Tested again and have to say: the new wings are the problem. So, is there any way to fix the shapes?

i think when you start to work with the shape key your mesh should to be finished.
if you transform your mesh basis after to do some shape key… all explose!
you should to delete all of your shape key and restart to do it!

Yeah, shape keys don’t like the addition of new geometry. If you are really against re-doing the keys, model the wings separately, then keep them as separate objects. This can still work with your rig. There may be a way/script that copies shape keys from one model to another, but I’m not sure. Google it.

I know -.-
I was just hoping that there is another solution.

@Safteyman: thanks - I have to get used to thinking about scripts ^^
I found something:http://aligorith.blogspot.co.at/2011/04/rigging-tool-wip-transferring-shape.html
It worked to transfer the keys from a previously safed version of the mesh - not flawless, but good enough to safe me a lot of work :slight_smile:
After a closer look: it only messed up some verts in the area where the wings are attached, but in the base shape everything is alright, so it can be fixed with shape propagate.

I know this thread is marked as solved already but i wanna point something out. If your shapekeys were for things like facial animation and not having to do with the wings directly, there’s an easy solution. I run into this somewhat often when making characters after i’ve made 60+ some shapekeys for the face. It happens when you delete or add new vertices to the mesh and if you go into edit mode, select your new wings or vertices added and go down at the left of the 3D window and open up Mesh -> Vertices and choose “Shape Propagate” that will basically tell blender that all the vertices you have selected will be completely ignored by the shape keys.
I don’t have ‘too’ much experience with it, such as i don’t know how to use the function if you only deleted vertices (my best guess would be to propagate every vertex that the shape key doesn’t control) but i hope it helps save you time rather than remaking all the shape keys (:

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There are instances when it’s ok to change your mesh after it has been shape keyed.
I have found you can Join multiple Objects and then Remove Doubles to fuse verts together and it will still morph properly, even if the Objects have been rotated. The verts you are merging must share the same deformation if any.

Example

You could animate box flaps by modeling one face of the box and shape key its flap, then duplicate that side and use it for the other sides. (If you make Linked Duplicates deforming one will deform the others anyway) You can then join the face Objects and remove doubles to fuse the faces into one connected box. The shape key data of the flaps will remain correct, each facing their respective direction because you rotated while in Object Mode before joining.

  • Terrible way to animate a box, just illustrating the concept.

Rule
If the Mesh is rotated etc inside Edit Mode then it will screw up the deformation because vert coordinates are relative to the Object, just as Object coordinates are relative to the Scene.

Merging & Duplicating
If merging two vertices in a keyed Mesh, the vert being merged to is the one whose data remains.
If duplicating a vertex in a keyed Mesh the duplicated vert shares the same data as the original. (Do in base shape key)

It’s easy to screw up when editing a mesh that has shape keys. Avoid it if possible. If you’re not sure about the technique you want to try I’d suggest making some simple objects to test on first.

That’s the solution, thx man
I tried so many shape key transfer addons but non of them could do it without bugs
i couldn’t undo, i couldn’t reconstruct the old mesh, couldn’t copy from old versions, etc.

and this just worked… finally after so many hours of searching and testing
what a relief :smiley:

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I am aware this was solved years ago but I have this issue from time to time and have a solution that preserves all shape keys, however; with one condition:

Condition: Having a copy of the Basis (or an ideal new Basis) as a shape key. Alternatively, having at least one shape key being derivative of the basis and another shape key.

Issue/Context: When I’m working on shape keys I have to add a copy of the Basis. If I happen to alter the number of vertices, I get the explody mesh.

Solution: [In Edit Mode] Select the Basis and all its vertices, apply Vertex → Blend Shapes and choose as the reference the copy of your Basis.

I don’t have a copy of the Basis: If you happen to have a shape key that is product of the basis and any other shape key or combination, you could Blend Shape back to the basis if you remember the initial transformations. You could also look back on the logs to find the transformation you had applied (if you didn’t close your session) and then apply the inverse transformations back to the basis.

Hope this helps someone! :3

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