# F06 — Bone Hierarchy

> SkinLayer Studio **1.3.x Standalone** UI reference.  
> Practice: EP00–EP12 · Features: **F01–F17** (order 50+).

> Bone hierarchy panel in the viewport **right drawer**.  
> Open: [UI layout — drawer handles](/guide/skin-layer-studio/ui-layout-overview?lang=en) (vertical bar between Viewport ↔ Influences)

> **What is this panel for?**  
> See **which bones are bound to the active mesh**, and quickly attach missing ones.  
> If Max added a finger bone and you **Pick** the whole mesh again, geometry and weights reload — heavy.  
> Use Hierarchy **+ Bone** (or Master Hier → Add to Active Mesh) to attach **just 1–2 bones**.

---

## Active Hier vs Master Hier

Switch between two views in the same panel.

### Active Hier (active mesh)

![Active Hier](hierarchy_active_hier.png)

| Item | Description |
|------|-------------|
| Title | Current **active mesh**, e.g. `Mesh: Face_Geo` |
| **Bones: N** | Bones that **directly influence** this mesh (e.g. 5) |
| Tree | Active mesh bones + parent chain for display (borrows Master hierarchy for the tree) |
| Use | When you want to see/edit only “bones bound to this mesh now” |

Parents without direct weights may still appear; tooltips explain them.

### Master Hier (full master skeleton)

![Master Hier](hierarchy_master_hier.png)

| Item | Description |
|------|-------------|
| **Bones: N** | Total bones in the scene/master skeleton (e.g. 166) |
| Tree | **Full hierarchy** from `Root` through full-body · clothing bones |
| Use | Pick bones not yet on the mesh, or inspect overall structure |
| Inactive bones | Bones not in current Skin are dimmed / tooltip `Not active in current Skin` |

### One-line comparison

| | **Active Hier** | **Master Hier** |
|--|-----------------|-----------------|
| Scope | Active mesh influences | Full master skeleton |
| Bone count | Mesh-based (can be small) | Whole skeleton (can be large) |
| When | Painting · influence editing | Add bones · explore structure |

---

## Shared UI

| UI | Action |
|----|--------|
| **Search bones...** | Filter by bone name |
| **Hierarchy** check | Tree (hierarchy) display on/off |
| **+ Bone** | Add bone to active mesh by name (below) |
| **Pick-only Bones** | Refresh bone transforms only from DCC (below) |

---

## + Bone — add bones to the active mesh

> **When to use**  
> Bones were unavoidably added in the DCC, and SLS only needs those bones synced.  
> **Pick** reloads mesh · skin · weights — too heavy for 1–2 bones. Use **+ Bone** instead.  
> New bones start at **zero-weight**; paint them later in Influences.

Press Hierarchy **+ Bone** to open the dialog.

![Add Bone to Active Mesh](hierarchy_add_bone_dialog.png)

| Item | Description |
|------|-------------|
| **Mesh:** | Target = current active mesh (e.g. `EyeInSide`) |
| **Bone name:** | Type name then **Add** → stacks in the list below |
| List | Staging list of bones to add |
| **Remove Selected** | Remove from list |
| **Cancel** | Cancel |
| **Add to Mesh** | Register listed bones on the active mesh at **zero-weight** |

Notes:

- Bones already on the mesh (duplicates) are **auto-excluded**
- Names missing from the DCC scene show in **orange** but can still be **added**

> This does not “create a new bone” in DCC; it **attaches an influence to the active mesh by name**. (Bone creation is on the DCC side.)

---

## Pick-only Bones

> **When to use**  
> You changed pose/bone transforms in Max but want Studio **weights unchanged**.  
> Pick-only refreshes **transforms only** — not mesh/weights.

| Item | Description |
|------|-------------|
| Action | Re-fetch **transforms · matrices only** from DCC by registered bone names |
| Leaves alone | Mesh geometry · weights |
| Use | After moving bones in DCC, align Studio gizmo/pose only |

Tooltip gist: *Refresh DCC transforms · matrices by registered bone names (mesh/weights unchanged)*.

---

## Right-click menu

Right-click a bone for:

![Hierarchy context menu](hierarchy_context_menu.png)

| Menu | Action |
|------|--------|
| **Create Dummy (N bone)** | Create dummy from selected bones (**2+** bones) → [Details: Dummy · Transfer](/guide/skin-layer-studio/ui-dummy-transfer?lang=en) |
| **Show Connected Meshes** | List meshes connected to this bone |
| **Add to Active Mesh** | Add selected bone to **current active mesh** (zero-weight) |
| **Rename Bone...** | Rename single bone |
| **Rename Bones (Batch)...** | Batch rename multiple bones |

In Master Hier, pick a bone missing from the mesh then **Add to Active Mesh** to reflect it in Active Hier / Influences.

---

## Recommended flow

```
1) Open Hierarchy with the right drawer
2) Check current mesh bones in Active Hier
3) Missing bones → find in Master Hier → right-click Add to Active Mesh
   or type names with + Bone → Add to Mesh
4) Sync DCC pose/matrices with Pick-only Bones
5) Work weights in Influences / Paint
```

---

## Related docs

| Doc | Contents |
|-----|----------|
| [UI layout guide](/guide/skin-layer-studio/ui-layout-overview?lang=en) | Open Hierarchy with drawer |
| [Skin Archive details](/guide/skin-layer-studio/ui-skin-archive?lang=en) | Mesh archive |
| [Skin Desk · Sync Map](/guide/skin-layer-studio/ui-skin-desk?lang=en) | Sync / Transfer |
| [Create Dummy · Transfer Weights](/guide/skin-layer-studio/ui-dummy-transfer?lang=en) | Create dummy → Transfer practice |

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*Images: `hierarchy_active_hier.png` · `hierarchy_master_hier.png` · `hierarchy_add_bone_dialog.png` · `hierarchy_context_menu.png`*  
*Written: 2026-07-26*