# EP03 — Overview

https://youtu.be/itwCtgKEuuc?si=6c2SYzurI6eTRtgZ

## 1. Preparing the DCC

- Rigging (bone setup) is complete; only **skinning remains**.
- Add a short test animation to the scene so you can **check poses and motion** while skinning.
- **Frame 0 = bind pose** — it must match your skinning start pose.
- Recommended: **dual monitors** with DCC on the left and SLS on the right.

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## 2. DCC Connection and First Pick

1. Add a Skin modifier to the mesh and assign **skin bones** (initial weights can be broken).
2. In SLS, select your DCC from the **DCC combo** → confirm the **green indicator (connected)**.
3. **Pick** — imports the mesh's weights, geometry, and bone hierarchy.

> **Right after Pick:** The test animation is also cached inside SLS (BoneAniCache). Even with the DCC closed, you can play the SLS viewport timeline to check deformation results in real time.

**First Apply to Skin:** Add Root to a layer → **Flood** 1.0 → click **`> Apply to Skin`** in the toolbar for a basic test.  
An **Influence limit of 8** warning may appear on the first Push.

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## 3. UI Panel Overview

### Layers (Layer Stack)
- The core panel for **stacking weights like Photoshop layers**.
- Each layer has: **Influence (bones)**, **Weight**, and **Mask (region)**.
- Lower layers are the base; upper layers **override** within the mask area.

### Skin Desk
- Shows your currently **visible working meshes**.

### Skin Archive
- The **left-side drawer** — a warehouse of **all meshes** in the project.
- Manage Vis (show/hide) and St (active slot).

### Influence Panel
- Lists the **bones affecting** the selected layer.
- **Used** filter: shows only bones with actual weight values.

### Hierarchy (right-side drawer)
| Mode | Meaning |
|------|---------|
| **Active Hir** | Only bones that influence the current mesh slot |
| **Master Hir** | The full rig bone tree from the DCC |

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## 4. The Seg Bone Concept

- **Main bone** (e.g., Spine1): controls the rig, handles scale.
- **Seg bone** (e.g., Spine1_Seg): the bone that actually receives the skin. Placed as a child of the main bone to isolate scale effects.
- **When skinning:** use the `*_Seg` bones from the Hierarchy as your Influences.

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## 5. Viewport · Brushes

| Key / UI | Mode |
|----------|------|
| **4** / Shader ▾ | Wireframe |
| **5** / Shader ▾ | Gray Shaded |
| **7** / Shader ▾ | Textured |

- **Heatmap:** Option panel → Scene tab — displays weight colors over Gray Shaded mode.
- **Brush modes (P):** Replace / Add / Sub / Multiply / **Smooth** (Shift+R/A/D/M/S).
- **Surface:** paints only visible faces. **Screen:** paints through to the back.
- **Flood:** applies the current value to all vertices at once. The typical workflow is: Flood 1.0 → limit the region with a Mask.
- **Mirror:** X axis (left/right). After Weight Mirror, you also need a separate **Mask Mirror**.