Why is my mesh scaling when the bone rotates?

I am using the “Skinny Guy Jump” skeleton with the MakeHuman 1.8b mesh for my character. When I bend the hand bones, the associated mesh not only bends but also shrinks! If I rotate the bone controlling the fingers toward the palm, the fingers shrink and by the time bone rotates completely halfway the fingers are but stubs.

If the bone finishes rotating around the bones return to normal size. This is true of both the hand and the fingers.

Deleting the x-axis action on the lower hand bone does not prevent this odd scaling from occurring. What could be causing this unintended scaling?

Thanks, Bob

Usually when I get that kind of scaling, it is because I have the same verticies assigned to more than one vertex group. Ususally if you just to that to the joints, it’s okay, but I’m talking about a whole limb being assigned to two different vertex groups. I would check your vertex groups to see if there’s anything wierd like that.

Thank you for the reminder to check the basics! No matter how much we think we know, the foundation always remains the same.

Bob