T̶o̶o̶ ̶m̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶h̶a̶s̶s̶l̶e̶ ̶s̶w̶i̶t̶c̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶e̶t̶w̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶w̶e̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶p̶a̶i̶n̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶p̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶d̶e̶s̶

Right now, there is a lot of unnecessary and annoying bureaucracy in switching between weight-paint mode and pose mode in order to test the rig and continue adjusting the weights, which makes the whole process inefficient. Specifically:

Problem #1. Pose mode to weight-paint mode directly,not possible.
I have to switch to object mode, then select a bone, then shift-select the mesh, then select weight mode. 4 actions instead of one.

Solution: A bone is selected in pose mode (most likely), so there should be the option to switch directly to weight-paint mode for the mesh most recently used, incl. a shortcut, or if it’s the first time, the option to select a mesh first.

Problem #2. Weight-paint mode to pose mode directly, not possible.
I have to switch to object mode, then select a bone, then select pose mode. 3 actions instead of one.

Solution: All the info is there: the bone is selected in weight paint mode (most likely) and the user is working on a specific mesh, so there should be the option to directly switch to pose mode, incl. a shortcut.

So, to switch to the other mode and back, 7 actions are required. If you need to do this 100 times, there will be 700 actions instead of 200.

Alternative Solution:
How about providing pose-mode features to weight-paint mode, i.e the ability to change the pose in order to test the rig in weight-paint mode, without having to switch modes?
In that case, the equivalent of 100 switch modes and back would be 0 (zero) actions instead of 700 actions currently, or 200 with my previous suggestions. No comparison in usability at all, therefore, that would be ideal.

Your problem is just due to Lock of modes introduced to avoid problems when switching modes by jumping to another active Workspace.

But you can disable that lock. Edit menu > Lock Object Modes.
When lock is disabled, you can have an Armature in Pose mode and corresponding deformed mesh in Weight Paint mode.
Then, you can select bone with Shift Left click --> it automatically displays corresponding vertex group in Weight paint mode.

Thanks for the reply, but what you wrote can also be done with Lock Object Modes enabled: I can change the pose in pose mode, then if I switch to weight-paint mode the way I described above, the mesh is shown deformed and if I shift+left click a bone, or even better ctrl+left click -to simultaneously deselect the previous one(s), then the weights of the corresponding vertex group with the same name as the bone are also shown. I don’t see anything different here.

That’s not the problem, I’m doing this all the time, the problem is when I do elaborate work on many nearby vertex groups and I have to switch between pose and weight modes many times (tens, or hundreds) to precisely set the weights and test the rig. Currently that cannot be done directly as I wrote previously, which is highly inefficient -I don’t think that’s only “my problem”.

No, you don’t if you disable the lock.
When lock is enabled, you are forced to quit pose mode or weight paint to object mode to select the other object.
But when lock is disabled, you can set mesh as active object after setting Armature into pose mode.
And when you pass mesh into weight paint mode, armature is still in pose mode, at same time.
And you can Ctrl left to select bone and pass to another weight group without any mode switch.

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OK, once more I’m really surprised that a solution exists and indeed works, but what still frustrates me is that most of Blender’s interface (still) functions in a mystic way, with rituals and spells that only members enlightened by other members like we did here, are able to discover and learn to use, because most of its functionality is well-hidden like a puzzle that is not advertised as such.
Admittedly, there has been a lot of progress towards the right direction lately, but apparently there is still a long way until all functions become intuitive and user-friendly.

Thanks for the help, (although I didn’t ask for help as I didn’t expect there was a solution), most likely I wouldn’t discover it even after of a thousand man-hours and 1 million of unnecessary clicks…

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