Animating with Blender

Combining Different Deformation Methods with Vertex Groups

While the Beast’s dogs only use Mesh Deform modifiers, both the Beast and his mother required something more complex. To use only a Mesh Deform modifier for them, the finger and toe animation would have needed a cage almost as articulated as the fingers themselves. Notice, in Figure 9.44, how the mother’s hands have only a large, very simple structure around them. While the rest of the character is deformed by a mesh deformer, we want to use regular Armature modifier deformation on the hands and fingers the whole way up to the elbow.

Figure 9.44. The mother’s left hand contained within a simple cage

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Figure 9.45 shows a part of the mother’s modifier stack. A ...