Hi I am new to Autodesk Maya and trying to figure out how to take the main character’s 3pp skeletal mesh from shooter game sample and split the upper part of the skeletal mesh in maya without removing the bones. Anyone can show me how? I tried the face tool but I keep selecting the bones. I just need to take away the upper skin/model/body from the entire model.
Not tried but you could use the Separate tool ( Mesh > Separate ) in order to, well, separate the parts of the meshes, since basically the proxy geometry from the shooter game is done by joining different geometry which actually is already separated, but Maya consider it as a single mesh.
If you use that tool you’ll end up with different parts, so then you can simply removed the upper part of the body…
Not tested in Maya but it should work…
PS: If you’re not able to select the meshe itself check if its on a separate layer or if its in reference mode 
Select all bones in the Outliner. Hide them. Then you should be able to delete whatever parts of the mesh you want. -You may need to unbind the skin and rebind after modifications to the mesh.
Thanks for the replies will try it and hopefully will work!
It works! But now I am confused how I create a modular pawn. How do I go about this in the sense do I have to seperate the bones like arm head and legs then use master pose component or keep sa,e skeleton but each with different mesh like say one with head then one with arms and set master pose component? How would the riggin work?
Here is a pretty good set of videos on creating a modular pawn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAxIDxLk3aw&list=PLs4rXSTuQagy9_L8KIa4N_pcPY9ae9Og0&index=4
If this particular set is not pertinent to your specific issue, he has others where he swaps out legs, arms, etc.
So he uses one skeleton for each the body part? You don’t need master pose component.