add bones to vertex weight table?

ran into a prorblem with my first rigged model. it’s somewhat nonstandard, and when I go to rig it with auto weights, it makes a mess of the vert weight table, pulling essentially all the wrong bones onto it. I know you can delete the bones you DONT need attached to the verts from the table, but many times, auto weights isnt detecting bones I need attached, and I don’t see any options to add a particular bone to that table, anyone know how to do that?

many thanks.

Im not following you. “Delete the bones you don’t want”? you do not add bones you do not want. can you post a blend file? http://www.pasteall.org/

no. I’m saying I understand how to remove bones from the table, but can’t get how I can add bones I want included into the table.

The table is nothing more than a bunch of vertex groups, each with the exact same name as their attached
bone. If you add a bone to your armature, and want to add it to the “Vertex Weight Table” simply add a new vertex group (use the + icon) and name it the same as the bone.

which + Icon, I must be missing something big…? is what i’m seeing in the properties section just a frontend for weights? if so how do I get to the main interface… this sure is frustrating, like it’s right there… yet it’s not.


well, thanks for the help. finally found the groups interface I was looking for under armatures. that object properties window is INCREDIBLY distracting.

Well, you may still be looking at some add on front end.



Here is where it all begins. I have the mesh selected (not the armature) and it is in Edit mode (creating a vertex group also works in object mode, but you can’t assign vertices to the group in object mode). Notice in my 3D Viewport properties SHELF I don’t have any panels between grease pencil and view.That’s why I think you may be using an addon to get that Vertex Weights panel. At any rate, look at the Properties EDITOR, on the right.

I have selected the mesh tab (the triangle icon) and have the Vertex Groups panel open. That is where the + icon I spoke of earlier is located. To add a new vertex group, click the +, and give the new group a name. Here I called the new group “Bone name”.

Now, if I want to assign vertices to this group, I can select them in the 3D Viewport and then press the ‘assign’ button. To remove selected vertices press the ‘remove’ button. You can also adjust the weight assigned to the added vertices with the weight parameter. (you can also skip assigning vertices to the group, and use weight painting to do this.)

When you have a mesh parented to an armature, Blender will move the vertices in the vertex group with the same name as the bone when you pose the armature. This particular model has only two bones in its armature, leg.l and leg.r, so my new vertex group won’t have any effect unless I add a new bone called “Bone name” to the armature.

It can get confusing with all the tools added to make life easier for expert riggers, but the basis of deforming a mesh with bones is this: Blender matches the NAME of the mesh Vertex Group with the NAME of the bone. That’s the connection… a name in one place matches a name somewhere else.

1 Like