I can't select bone in Weight Paint mode, help.

Support Animation and Rigging
1

Hello,

I need help with some things in weight paint mode. I am doing the BSoD introduction to Character Animation Tutorial and it is very fun but it’s my first time using weight painting and I have found a wall I can’t get around. I know there is a simple answer but I just don’t know what to do.

I am in the process of weight painting the mesh and I can load my blend file and start weight painting away but when I move the head bone with G it says I’m rotating it . . . ??? Well, that is the minor problem. The real problem is switching out to pose mode and having to clear ROTATION even though I used G to move the head bone. When I switch back to weight paint mode the armature is black instead of gray and I can’t select any bones.

Basically my questions are as follows:

1.) How do I get the gray armature back when in weight paint mode?

2.) Why, when I try to grab (press G) the head bone in weight paint mode, does it say I’m rotating it?

3.) Is my .blend file corrupted or glitchy?

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

2

make sure your bones are in pose mode and then select the mesh

3

If a bone is Con(nnected) to another (like Head is to Neck), then even if you g(rab) it, it will rotate. That is a feature :slight_smile:

You don’t have to switch to pose mode to clear rotation, it will work while in weight paint, as long as the bone is selected

You must be swtiching back to Object mode for the Armature. Just reselect it, then, switch to POSE mode, and then select the mesh and go back to weight paint. Although using CTR-TAB for both meshes/weight painting and Armatures-POSE/OBJECT mode might be a feature, it can sometimes be a pain as well :slight_smile:

Mike