I used to be able to delete non-skin history from a skinned mesh in Maya 7 with a script I gleaned from version 6.  This script worked realiably and in instances where I added vertices, would interpolate the weight values from neighboring verts.

I am now using 8.5 and the script does not work with this version.  I have tried to use the edit/delete history by type/non-deformer history function, but that messes up the weighting assignments on some verts.  (some verts have new joint influences added to them, and the values add up to less 100%) I also tried setting holds on the joints in the component editor window, but when I then deleted non-deformer history, the function detached the mesh from the skeleton, although the verts retain the weight color.

I looked up work arounds in Maya help, where it suggested I delete the connection between the deformed shape and the tweak node.  This did not help. 

My solution is to edit an intermediate object, reference a previous skinned mesh, sans edits, and copy weights between objects.  This way is cumbersome and a step backwards.

any thought appreciated.

I’m just guessing, but did you try normalizing the skin weights before deleting non-deformer history?

hey, thanks for the reply,

as far as I know the weights were normalized.  I believe that is my default.