Morph plus bones

Yeah, I guess this is sort of an animation question, but since there is no animation technique forum, here you go. I am referring to 3ds max, but I think this is a cross platform question. I was wondering how you guys go about preparing a model for animation when it involves both bones and morph targets. For instance, when you just have morph targets for the head, do you keep that mesh separate from the body, or do the targets include the entire body as well to avoid a seam? Is it possible to apply a morph modifier to a subselection and just use that portion of the mesh in the targets? In all the rigging tutorials I have never seen a reference to this. Maybe I am just missing something.

Is this question confusing or something?

lol, not confusing, I just suspect the forum is as active as you'd like.  ;)

In Max, I almost always use a unibody mesh for the character.  The important thing is applying the Morpher modifier BEFORE the Physique/Skin modifier so that the morphs don't force the character back to the entire original body pose (which is what happens if the Morpher modifier is _above_ the Physique/Skin modifier).

Anyway, hope that answers it for you.  Let me know if you have questions.

Good luck!
-Joe