From Physique to Skin: The Great Evolutionary Leap 🦍→🚀
In the world of 3D animation, Physique is like that old piece of furniture you keep for nostalgia, even though it no longer fits in your home. Today, Skin dominates the scene with better FBX support and retargeting. But what if your character is still living in the past? Don't worry, there are ways to modernize it without starting from scratch. 😉
Converting Physique to Skin is like translating an old book: if you do it right, the essence remains, but with better readability.
Skin Wrap: The Smart Shortcut
The simplest method in 3ds Max 2025 is to use the Skin Wrap modifier. Basically, you trick the software into copying the deformation from Physique to Skin without any drama:
- Duplicate the mesh with Physique.
- Apply Skin Wrap to the copy, linking it to the original.
- Convert the result to Skin with one click. Magic! ✨
Weight Transfer: For the Detail-Oriented
If you're one of those who checks every weight with a magnifying glass, scripts like Weight Transfer Tool or SkinUtilities can extract the data from Physique and apply it to Skin. It's a bit more technical, but you avoid surprises in critical areas like shoulders or hips. 🎯
Exporting Without Scares
Once converted, test the FBX with Bake Complex Animation enabled. If the destination is Unreal Engine 5.4 or Unity HDRP, don't forget to export tangents and binormals to maintain shading. And above all... collapse transformations! (unless you want your character to turn into flying spaghetti 🍝).
On foro3d, there are dozens of practical cases with solutions for every scenario. Because, let's be honest: we've all had that moment of "why does my character look like a rubber glove?". The answer is usually in a step we forgot. 😅