Is there any way to edit a RVK while keeping the armature deformations still active? Say I want to retouch with a RVK the deformation of the shoulder once the arm is down. If I add in a RVK and enter edit mode, I loose the pose and it is very difficult to manage the deformations this way. Any way to tell Blender to edit the RVK over the armature deformations?
Thank you in advance.
If you go into the Editing context (F9), in the Shapes panel, there’s a button to lock (pin) a particular shapekey (RVK) on the far left of the row where the shapekey is named. When pinned, a shapekey can be edited using the Sculpt mode tools while armature deformations are also in effect.
But be aware that this can sometimes lead to “crazy space” issues, where the verts you’re trying to edit move in unexpected directions due to the interaction of the sculpt tool and the armature deformations.
If you’re using an Armature modifier, be sure to enable both of the “Editing” options in the modifier itself. Beside the modifier name are three icons – one for Render, one for 3D View and one on the right for Edit mode. Turn on the one for Edit mode, which makes another show up to the right. Click in that button – it puts a little mesh triangle inside of it – to apply the armature modifier’s deform during Edit Mode. Then, you can do what you need.
BTW, this technique works for modifiers other than Armature as well.