Create animated instances

You can instance a single object to a particle shape or a sequence of objects to a particle shape.

Before creating the instance, you create the source geometry and apply shading groups to it. You can animate the source geometry and the particles either before or after instancing, and you can place the source geometry anywhere in the workspace. You can optionally hide it as described in the procedure. You cannot control the color of the instanced geometry on a per particle basis.

To instance a single object to particles

1. Select source geometry.
2. Shift-select the particle shape.
3. Select Particles > Instancer (Replacement).
4. To hide the source geometry, select the geometry and select Display > Hide > Hide Selection.

To instance a sequence of objects to particles

1. Select the source geometry.
2. Select Particles > Instancer (Replacement) > .

   The Particle Instancer Options window appears. The selected source geometry is listed in the Instanced Objects list.

3. To instance different objects at different particles, include them all on the list.

   To instance a sequence of objects, list the objects in the order you want them to appear in the sequence.

   Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to change the order of the objects. Use Add Selection if you want to add selected objects to the list. Use Remove Items to remove objects from the list.

   For example, suppose you create four birds in different flapping positions:

   • birdWingsHigh shows the wings over the bird’s head.
   • birdWingsMid shows the wings at mid position.
   • birdWingsLow shows the wings below its body.
   • birdWingsMidCopy, is a copy of birdWingsMid. This object is necessary so the wings cycle from low to high and high to low positions.

   An appropriate ordering for the objects in the Instanced Objects list is:

   0: birdWingsHigh 1: birdWingsMid 2: birdWingsLow 3: birdWingsMidCopy

   The number to the left of the object indicates the sequence position. The 0 indicates the first object in the sequence.

4. From the Particle Object To Instance menu in the Particle Instancer Options window, select the animated particle object that the instances will follow.

   Note that you can use emitted particles as the animated particles. When the particles emit, the instanced geometry appears with the particles.

5. Set the options as described in Particles > Instancer (Replacement), then click Create.

   Maya creates an instancer node that controls the instanced objects. This node is where you can alter the attribute settings you made in the Particle Instancer Options window.

6. To hide the source geometry, select the geometry and select Display > Hide > Hide Selection.

   You might also choose to hide the particle object being instanced. The instancer doesn’t make the particles invisible. Note, however, that you don’t need to hide the particles if you will software render the animation. Particles don’t appear in software rendered images.

   Tip

   If you want to move the rotation pivot point of the source object, select the object and enter createInstancerPivot in the Command Line. Thereafter, when you manipulate the rotation pivot in the source geometry, the instanced geometry rotates the same. Maya reorients any animation you previously applied to the translate, rotate, scale, and shear attributes of the source object.

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