Skin Pose Options

Character menu > Set Skin Pose

Character menu > Assume Skin Pose

Character menu > Skin Pose Mode

When the Skin modifier is first applied to a mesh, the bone structure's current pose is used as the Skin pose. Subsequent animation of the bone structure on frame 0 can cause the Skin pose to be altered. The skin pose options allow you to change and set the Skin pose either before or after the Skin modifier is applied.

The skin pose stores a specific position, rotation and scale for an object. Its intended use is for storing a character assembly's pose for the Skin modifier. However, a skin pose can be used for any object to store its current transforms for later retrieval.

These menu options work on any object regardless of whether the structure is part of a character assembly, or whether the bones have been assigned to a mesh with the Skin modifier.

Set Skin Pose—Stores the selected objects' current position, rotation and scale as the skin pose. If the selected objects are assigned as bones for the Skin modifier, the envelopes and vertex weighting are automatically recalculated to work with the new pose.

Assume Skin Pose—Causes the selected objects to take on the stored skin pose. This feature can be useful during the animation phase. For example, if you have animated the character on various keyframes and want the character to animate back to its skin pose at frame 50, you can turn on Auto-Key at frame 50 and click Assume Skin Pose.

Skin Pose Mode—Poses the character in its skin pose and allows the skin pose to be refined. Changes to the objects when Skin Pose Mode is on will affect only the skin pose and not the animation. When Skin Pose Mode is turned off, the structure returns to its pose at the current frame.