Weight painting in Blender is primarily done by entering a dedicated mode and painting directly onto your 3D mesh.
The most direct way to begin weight painting on a selected mesh object in Blender is by entering Weight Paint Mode. You can easily switch to this mode from the Mode selector menu located in the 3D Viewport header. A common shortcut for quickly changing modes is Ctrl - Tab.
Getting Started with Weight Painting
Once you activate Weight Paint Mode for your selected mesh object, the display will change. The mesh is shown slightly shaded, and its surface will display a rainbow color spectrum. This color visualization is key to understanding the weight painting process.
Understanding the Color Spectrum
The colors you see on the mesh represent the weights assigned to each vertex in the currently active vertex group. The reference states the default interpretation of these colors:
- Blue: Indicates vertices that are unweighted (a weight value of 0).
- Red: Indicates vertices that are fully weighted (a weight value of 1).
Intermediate colors in the spectrum (like green, yellow, orange) represent values between 0 and 1. A vertex with a weight of 0.5 might appear green, for example.
The Weight Painting Process
After entering Weight Paint Mode and understanding the color representation, you can use painting tools to apply weight values to the vertices of your mesh.
- Select your brush: Choose from various brushes designed for different weight painting tasks (e.g., Draw, Smear, Blur, Average).
- Adjust brush settings: Modify properties like radius, strength, weight value, and blending mode.
- Paint on the mesh: Click and drag your brush on the mesh surface to apply or modify weight values. As you paint, the colors on the mesh will update to reflect the changes in weight.
- Switch vertex groups: If your object has multiple vertex groups (often associated with different bones in an armature), you can select the group you want to paint on from the Properties editor.
Weight painting is crucial for character rigging, allowing you to define how different parts of a mesh should deform when influenced by bones or other deformation systems.
