This section suggests ways to use soft bodies with other Maya features. For details on the features themselves, see the applicable
documentation.
Make a skin a soft body
A skin is geometry that deforms with the movement of a skeleton. You can make the skin a soft body to cause it to jiggle with
the movement of the skeleton.
To make a skin a soft body
- Select the skin.
- Select Soft/Rigid Bodies > Create Soft Body to display the options window.
- From the menu, select .
- Turn on t and .
- Set less than 1.
The lower the , the more the skin jiggles.
- Click the button.
- To increase jiggle in certain areas, add per particle goal weights to the soft body and decrease the goal weights in those
areas. See Set goal weights on a per-object basis for details.
Make a lattice a soft body
To add an overall jiggle to an object, you can add a lattice to it and make the lattice a soft body. When the lattice is a
soft body, it is affected by fields. The lattice deforms the object according to the field affecting it.
By making the lattice a soft body rather than the object itself, Maya calculates dynamics faster. Also, it is easier for you
to add springs to a lattice than to complex geometry.
Tip
If you are going to use the lattice as a collision object, match the size of the lattice closely to the size of the object’s
bounding box.
To make a lattice a soft body
- Select the lattice.
- Select Soft/Rigid Bodies > Create Soft Body to display the options window.
- From the menu, select .
- Click the button.
- Connect the soft body to the field you want to use to deform the object.
Make a wire a soft body
A wire is a curve that deforms an object. If you make a wire a soft body, you can connect it to fields to deform it.
To make a wire a soft body
- Select the wire.
- Select Soft/Rigid Bodies > Create Soft Body to display the options window.
- From the menu, select .
- Click the button.
- Connect the soft body to the field you want to use to deform the object.
Make an IK spline curve a soft body
An IK spline curve is a curve that controls a skeleton. If you make an IK spline curve a soft body, you can use fields to
affect its motion.
To make an IK spline curve a soft body
- Select the IK spline curve.
- Select Soft/Rigid Bodies > Create Soft Body to display the options window.
- From the menu, select .
- Click the button.
- Connect the soft body to the field you want to use to deform the motion.
Make a motion path a soft body
A motion path is a curve that controls the motion of an object. If you make a motion path a soft body, you can connect it
to fields to change the motion.
To make a motion path a soft body
- Select the motion path.
- Select Soft/Rigid Bodies > Create Soft Body to display the options window.
- From the menu, select .
- Click the button.
- Connect the soft body to the field you want to use to deform the motion.
Make a model from a soft body
If you make an object a soft body, you can use fields or expressions to deform the object, then duplicate the deformed object
at a frame to create a new object.
To make a model from a soft body:
- Select the object.
- Select Soft/Rigid Bodies > Create Soft Body to display the options window.
- From the menu, select .
- Use a field or expression to deform the soft body.
- Play the animation and stop it when the soft body is deformed as desired.
- Select the soft body.
- Select Edit > Duplicate to display the options window.
- In the options window, turn off and turn off , then click the button.
The copy is a snapshot of the soft body at the current frame.
- In the , delete the particle object indented under the copy.
You can continue to adjust the field or expression to make additional copies.