20 years of skinning pain,
finally solved with layers.
Build a proxy with Init Dummy, paint the hard areas there first, then push it back onto the real mesh as new layers with Transfer Weights.
🎯 Early Access
💸 Early Access 1-month term: $17.5
💸 Early Access 12-month term: $168 (20% off)
⏰ Early Access period: Aug 15 – Sep 30, 2026
Pull Skin data from your DCC into Studio — one mesh or the whole character.
Init Dummy, layers, Bone Lock, Sync Map. No DCC round-trips while you work.
Push the result back to the DCC Skin modifier when you are ready.
SkinLayer Studio is a standalone app — it talks to 3ds Max and Blender, so heavy editing never blocks your DCC.
3ds Max Skin Modifier hasn't changed in 20 years.
Fix one shoulder, break an elbow. When 3+ bones overlap, weights redistribute like falling dominoes — completely out of your control.
You copy with a clear intent, and the weights still break or land on the wrong vertices. Rebuilding by hand is often faster than fixing the paste.
Hundreds of bones on one character, and no structural way to manage them. Layers, Init Dummy and Sync Map change the pipeline itself.
"Great for modeling. Absolute hell for skinning."
| Feature | 3ds Max Skin | SkinLayer Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Layer Editing | ❌ | ✅ |
| Influence Lock | ❌ | ✅ |
| Reliable Mirror | ❌ | ✅ |
| Real-time Heatmap | ⚠️ | ✅ |
| Multi-Mesh Editing | ❌ | ✅ |
| Non-destructive Workflow | ❌ | ✅ |
Stack weight layers like Photoshop. Add correction layers on top of base weights — fully non-destructive.
Lock a bone and only the unlocked ones redistribute. The domino effect is over. Weights go where you intend.
60fps live updates. Sub-0.001 weight differences visible by color. Catch hidden bugs instantly.
Works regardless of pose or topology. Asymmetric meshes handled by spatial matching. Paint one side, done.
Body, clothing, and gear — all in one view. No more switching between objects. Manage the full character at once.
When an area is too hard to paint directly on the base mesh, build a proxy for it with Init Dummy. Then use Transfer Weights — Method: Closest Point (IDW), Add as new layers — to stack the result onto the target.
Stack weight layers like Photoshop. Add correction layers on top of base weights — fully non-destructive.
Group correction layers by body part or pass so the stack stays readable — stack first, then group.
Lock a bone and only the unlocked ones redistribute. The domino effect is over. Weights go where you intend.
60fps live updates. Sub-0.001 weight differences visible by color. Catch hidden bugs instantly.
Works regardless of pose or topology. Asymmetric meshes handled by spatial matching. Paint one side, done.
Body, clothing, and gear — all in one view. No more switching between objects. Manage the full character at once.
| Feature | 3ds Max Skin | Maya Layer Skin Tool | Blender (Built-in) | SkinLayer Studio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Layer Editing | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Influence Lock | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Reliable Mirror | ❌ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ✅ |
| Real-time Heatmap | ⚠️ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Multi-Mesh Editing | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ | ✅ |
| Non-destructive Workflow | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| 3ds Max Support | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Init Dummy → Transfer Weights | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Sync Map (Multi-Mesh Relations) | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Standalone App (No DCC Lock) | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Price | Included | Other DCC only | Free | Prepaid term · EA from $17.5 |
* Other DCC layer skinning tools are Maya-only and cannot be used in 3ds Max.
⚠️ means the feature exists but is limited or unreliable in real production use.
From the official walkthrough to a real production pipeline.
Animator Rowa — BipedPlus × SkinLayer Studio
YouTuber — RoAnim
⚡ Prepaid term (1 or 12 months) · No auto-renewal · Auto updates · Commercial use