Is there any joint (e.g. shoulder, leg)... where the advantage of weightmaps over classical spheres is most evident? Or is it rather a workflow thing, when you start from scratch, that a weightmap is easier to make than a sphere based setup? I've been playing with weightmaps on M4's shoulder. I had removed all the JCMs from it and wondered how good it can get with a weightmap, but I noticed one cannot influence the bulging very well, the vertices rotate only after all, one cannot move them normal to the rotation with a weightmap, naturally. I did not conclude that WM makes JCMs obsolete.

So when weightmapping was new and we had V4WM, what exactly went so much better with WM?

If I had to choose between weightmaps and no JCMs, and no weightmaps but JCMs, I'd definitely choose the JCMs.

(And hence, your PML. Or GoZ.)  ;-)

V4WM uses several helper bones to compensate for her lack of JCMs.

Not always 100% suceessfully IMO.

The multiple "fixer" sets released for V4 demonstrate that you can get similar and often better results with conventional falloff zones and fix morphs.

Weightmaps can do a lot, but they have limits.

Attached is a render of V4 17k LOD which I recently weightmapped.

There are no JCMs in that render and I think she bends "fairly well",using just bulgemaps.

But the final version already got a few JCMs for better joints.

So, the best results are achieved if you combine both, but I still say that JCMs are more important than weightmaps for a realistic joint.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2871985

Read this tread, and look at the examples I include.

I used the worst possible rigged figure, and corrected the rigging by W-Mapping it.
Not a songle morph, not a single JCM.

Just the conventional original rig, converted to W-Mapping and painted.

1. V4 Default.

2. V4 17K LOD. Weightmaps. No JCMs.

3. V4 17K LOD.  Weightmaps, JCMs, Custom morph.

4. David-3WM Final. Weightmaps, JCMs, Custom morph.

5. David-3WM Distribution. Weightmaps. No JCMs except for buttock.

6. David 3 Default.

As you can see, weightmapped rigging can be greatly improved by JCMs.

Still, weightmaps can reduce the need for JCMs or allow "weaker JCMs", so if they are available, why not use them.

Ideally, rig as good as you can without JCMs, then use them only as much as needed.

my first script-generated bulge map on the right. left unbulged, middle un-mapped bulge, right script generated bulge based on reference JCM :)

unfortunately there seem to be bugs in WM injection, there are some spikes that i cannot yet explain, but one can manually finish the maps.