Mirko Haenssgens

Autoweight v.1.00
Users Manual

kogen
05.11.2013

CONTENT
1.

Why Autoweight .......................................................................................................................................... 2

2.

Things you can do with Autoweight ............................................................................................................ 2

3.

Things you cant Expect from Autoweight ................................................................................................... 2

4.

Activating Autoweight ................................................................................................................................. 3

5.

Uninstalling Autoweight .............................................................................................................................. 4

6.

Autoweights UI Explained ........................................................................................................................... 4

7.

What the Legal Note is About ...................................................................................................................... 6

8.

Autoweight for Max 2011 and 2010 ........................................................................................................... 7

9.

How you can contact me ............................................................................................................................. 8

10.

What you can do if you encounter strange errors .................................................................................. 8

1. WHY AUTOWEIGHT
Autoweight (Automatic Weighting) is a Max Script that was designed to make skinning more comfortable and
faster than it comes with Basic 3DS Max.
Please note that Autoweight comes to you as a two version script. On one side there is Autoweight Lite
which holds the very basic functionality. On the other side there is Autoweight which holds all features of the
software. Autoweight Lite can be used freely. Autoweight is available for 39.95 $ on
http://www.kogenspage.com. At the end of its trial version, Autoweight becomes Autoweight Lite.

2. THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH AUTOWEIGHT

Autoweight will find bones (normal, biped and CAT) and customized boned objects such as any other objects
specified and adds them to a skin modifier. Autoweight is as well able to determine automatically which parts
of your 3D mesh belong potentially to which bone-object, this process is called automatically region definition.
You can also manually refine those regions and write them to a file to use later-on. Autoweight is also able to
set the bone weights and the transition weights from one bone to another in the object where the skin is
applied to.

3. THINGS YOU CANT EXPECT FROM AUTOWEIGHT

Autoweight is an aid for skinning and most of it automatic features can be enough when it comes to the
skinning of 3D objects in 3D Studio Max but you cant expect Autoweight to do all of your skinning work. There
are times when you will manually have to make some region-additions or tweak the skin-weights afterwards.
However, Autoweight gives you a solid base to start from when it comes to skinning.
Another thing to keep in mind is that Autoweight will not recognize overlapping regions. If you work with two
bones in the same space (e.g. for twist bones) Autoweight will pick one of them and apply it to a distinct
regions.

4. ACTIVATING AUTOWEIGHT
After having Autoweight installed to your 3DS Max Folder, you can find it under Kogen Tools in the
Customize-menu of 3DS Max (Image 1). Please note that the category has changed compared to prior
versions!

Image 1: Autoweight as a Quad menu icon

When using Autoweight the first time, a new dialog pops up (Image 2) asking you to activate the software.
Activation is totally free. Please note that without activating the full version of Autoweight is not activated
either. Functions belonging to the full version will not be unlocked. If you only want to use Autoweight-Lite
deinstall Autoweight and reinstall only Autoweight-Lite unchecking Autoweight Trial in the install dialog.

Image 2: Autoweight Activation Dialog

After activating the software you can continue using the trial for 5 days. If you want to buy Autoweight click the
Purchase button, to order your personal license code and unlock the software (Image 3). After ending the

trial period Autoweight will lock all its non Autoweight-Lite functionalities again. You can always uninstall the
software and switch to Autoweight Lite to not being bothered by the licensing system again.

Image 3: Autoweight Activation Dialog after activation

5. UNINSTALLING AUTOWEIGHT
If you want to unsinstall Autoweight, go to your 3DS Max Root Directory (e.g.: C:\Program
Files\Autodesk\3DSMax 2013) and run AutoweightUninstall.exe. This will delete all program components of
Autoweight.

6. AUTOWEIGHTS UI EXPLAINED
Import and Export
Image

Name

Description

Import

Allows the user to import Autoweight-data from a file to use formerly set-up
regions. The file is a binary file (AutoWeight-Binary, AWB) storing region colors.
(This feature is not supported by Autoweight Lite)

Export

Allows the user to export Autoweight-data to a file to use defined regions lateron. The file is a binary file (AutoWeight-Binary, AWB).

Threshold

Sets the color threshold that combines colors together. The higher the
threshold the more colors will be merged to a region. Normally 1 is enough to
get the same result that was exported.

Set

Sets up a color for a new region according to the selected vertices.

Get and Set

Select one or more points to define a specific new region.

Select no points to create regions for bones or elements automatically
(radiobuttons). (This feature is not supported by Autoweight Lite)
Select all points to redefine all regions that already exist on the model (the

functionality works like exporting all regions and importing them immediately).
(This feature is not supported by Autoweight Lite)
-

Bone,
Element

Colors regions automatically based upon the closest bone to the 3D object or
individual elements of the 3D object.

Get

Selects all vertices that belong to a region.

Selects on or more regions from one or more selected vertices.

Mirror
Mirror

Mirrors the selected region(s) along the /+X, -/+Y or -/+Z direction.
Select all vertices of those regions you want to become mirrored on the other
side, make sure youve checked the right Mirroring Direction and click the
button. If youre experiencing imprecise results, try selecting and mirroring each
region separately or raising the Mirror Threshold.
(This feature is not supported by Autoweight Lite)

X=>-X, Y=>-Y,
Z=>-Z, -X=>X, Y=>Y, -Z=>Z

Mirroring direction. Mirrors selected regions from one side e.g. X to the other
side e.g. X

Threshold

Mirroring precision, the higher this value is the more tolerant the mirroring
algorithm will be with vertices on the other side.
If you encounter problems by having an imprecise mirroring result set this value
higher and mirror again.

Clear Calculate Skin

Calculate
Regions

Calculates the colored regions and stores them in the Regions-listbox. If

Auto-Find Bones is checked it uses the closest bone for the specific region. If
it is unchecked only the region is stored in the listbox.

Add Skin

Adds a skin modifier using the bones and regions from Regions-listbox and
the transition value and the transition From, To and Dec values.

Erase

Clears all stored colors and makes the 3D object one single region.

Object and Bone Setup

-

Select EPoly
Object

Set the editable poly object for which the skin shall be created.
Rightclick on the pickbutton, to clear the object from the button.

Get
Hierarchy

Allows the user to define a root object and use its complete child-hierarchy as a
bone-structure. Only these bones will be used for the region calculation then.
Rightclick on the pickbutton, to clear the object from the button.

Auto-Find
Bones

Uses the closest bone for the specific region and stores it in the listbox, visible
and changeable to the user. (This feature is not supported by Autoweight Lite)
If it is unchecked only the region is stored in the listbox.

Up / Down

Moves one or more bones from the selected region in the listbox to the upper /
lower region.

Trans

Sets the transition value for one or more selected regions in the listbox. Select
no regions and the transition value is set globally for all regions.

From

Sets the start value for the decline of the transition falloff. Select no regions and
the transition value is set globally for all regions.

To

Sets the end value for the decline of the transition falloff. Select no regions and
the transition value is set globally for all regions.

Dec

Decline function, at the moment linear decline is the only available method of
the falloff of the transitions.

Normal View
Mode

Sets the picked object into normal view mode.

Vertex Color
View Mode

Sets the picked object into vertex color view mode. Defined regions can be
viewed in a colored scheme here.

Influence
View mode

The strength and the maximal influence of one or more selected regions can be
seen in this mode. The right influence of a region might be just seen when the
spinner Trans, From or To is changed.

Remove

Removes one or more bones from the selected region(s) in the listbox.

Pick

Lets the user pick a specific bone for the selected region in the listbox. If no
custom hierarchy is provided it is only possible to select bones (normal, CAT,
Biped). If a custom hierarchy is provided by the Get Hierachy button it is
possible to select any object.

7. WHAT THE LEGAL NOTE IS ABOUT

Though Autoweight and its attached files were tested on viruses and errors Mirko Haenssgen won't
guarantee that. If the script or other files you receive from Mirko Haenssgen cause damages to your data, hard
disc or computer Mirko Haenssgen is not responsible for that and won't be liable for defects.
Furthermore you accept to use the software on your own risk.
If you do not agree to these conditions, do not install or run the program and delete all provided data.

8. AUTOWEIGHT FOR MAX 2011 AND 2010

This section covers the use of Autoweight (full) in Max 2011 and 2010. Autoweights core was written in .Net
4.0. Unfortunately Max 2011 does not use .Net 4.0 by default. You can alter that by changing the 3ds
configuration file: 3dsmax.exe.config (located in your Max folder). Just change the complete content of the file
with the following lines:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<system.diagnostics>
<assert assertuienabled="false"/>
<sources>
<!-- This removes Binding error messages coming from AdWindows
components -->
<source name="System.Windows.Data" switchName="SourceSwitch">
<listeners>
<remove name="Default" />
</listeners>
</source>
</sources>
<switches>
<add name="SourceSwitch" value="All" />
</switches>
<trace autoflush="true" indentsize="4"></trace>
</system.diagnostics>
<startup useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy="true">
<supportedRuntime version="v4.0.30319"/>
<supportedRuntime version="v2.0.50727"/>
</startup>
</configuration>
Alternatively you can download the changed file from the Autoweight-Selling page:
http://www.kogenspage.com/?page_id=125
Replace your old file (dont forget to back-up) with this new file and you will be able to use Autoweight with
.net 4.0 in 3DS Max 2010 and 2011. Special thanks goes to Marsel Khadiyev from EPHERE Inc. who figured this
out.

9. HOW YOU CAN CONTACT ME

Website: http://www.kogenspage.com
Email: M.Haenssgen@kogenspage.com

10. WHAT YOU CAN DO IF YOU ENCOUNTER STRANGE ERRORS

Please dont get mad on Youtube or Scriptspot, write me an email describing what you did as detailed as
possible and what error occurred. You may also add an image or even better if you are allowed to attach the
current object youre having trouble with in a maxfile. I will get in contact with you shortly afterwards.