ngSkinTools is a skinning plugin for Autodesk Maya, introducing new concepts to character skinning such as layers, any-pose-mirroring, enhanced paint brushes, true smoothing, and more.
There’s no magic bullet for perfect skin weights. ngSkinTools enables a flexible and artistic workflow, while providing all the necessary tools for precision.
Layers - a proven technique in image editing software, this time - for painting skin weights. Forget influence locking and weights micro-managing techniques - go wild with layers, start dirty, experiment, refine later - it's meant to be a creative process!
Though just another feature in ngSkinTools, one of the most loved by it's new users, mainly because it's so simple, and one of the first to be noticed. No strange artifacts or undo/redo problems, operates on all joints in the layer, it just works. Don't over-do it:)
Mirror weights in any pose, or just enable mirror effect on a layer and symmetry will be updated automatically as you paint. You also have numerous options to control how vertexes and influences are matched between opposite sides of your rig.