I am using 2.40, and am noticing something that seems strange, but I must admit I have not used softbodies much at all prior to 2.40.
I am dropping a surface (like a table cloth - all weights = 0) over a shape using softbodies. After the first test, I decided that the softbody needed to have more vertices for a better looking result. So I went in to edit mode, and with the vertex group showing, clicked on “Select”. All verts were selected. I then clicked on sub-divide, still, all verts are still selected, then clicked on assign, so that all verts would be in the vertex group. However, this changed the weight of all the vertices to 1.0000.
Is this working as designed? Is there another method for sub-dividing, and adding to the same vertex group without changing the weights?
Yes, it is working as designed. Above the cluster of buttons containing the ‘Assign’ button you should see a number edit that (by default) says “1.000”. This is the weight that will be assigned to the vertices selected.
You cannot add vertices to a vertex group without also specifying a weight, so that is why all your vertices weights were changed to 1.0. If you want them all to be zero, you can select them again, change the number edit to read “0.000” and press ‘Assign’ again.
Otherwise you’ll have to either consider each vertex individually or use the (much more convenient) Weight Paint Mode.