Thanks Paloth, RHaseltine, and millighost.

I'm not sure anybody really should care if WM costs more RAM - but I'm very curious about it, even though I have 8 GB of it now! LOL

The Maya news I was looking at is here:

http://www.3dworldmag.com/2010/12/07/28683/

The part that caught my attention (emphasis added by me):

Quote - Skinning has received a lot of attention in this release. There are now three options for the actual skinning solver itself; the original linear smooth skinning remains, but there is now also a dual quaternion solver.

Dual Quaternion skinning helps to eliminate collapsing geometry around areas like the inside of elbows and the back of knees, and also what is referred to as the ‘candy wrapper’ twisting effect that the conventional linear method leads to.

There is also a mode which allows the two to be blended, and the influence of each painted (as a weightmap) into the areas that best suit one over the other. Weight painting has also been enhanced.

Firstly an Interactive smooth binding mode circumnavigates the initial stage of weighting by visually representing the influence of each joint as capsules.

These capsules can then be adjusted interactively to change the falloff for each joint which will get you a good way along the road before having to delve into the dirty business of actually painting weights. However, when you do start painting, fear not, as there are several nifty additions in 2011 to make the experience less arduous.

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)