Yes, you can bind a mesh to new bones without losing the existing animation. When you bind new bones to a mesh, the auto weighting is performed initially, but you can manually adjust the weights to ensure the animation remains intact. To do this, follow these steps:
- Select the mesh you want to bind to new bones.
- Use the "Weights" tool and select "Bind" to choose the new bones you want to bind to the mesh.
- After binding, manually adjust the weights of the vertices to ensure the animation looks correct. You can do this by selecting individual vertices and adjusting their weights in the weights view.
Additionally, you can use the "Update bindings" function in the weights panel to set the current pose as the new setup pose for the mesh. This helps in maintaining the animation integrity when you adjust the weights.
For more detailed guidance, you can refer to the Spine Weights User Guide.