Load the tutorial file

1. Load your file from the previous lesson, or load the tut_dragonLeg_jiggle_START.ma.

   This rig has a complete right leg of bones and muscles with Sticky and Sliding weights applied.

Enable Jiggle deformation

Like other features, the Jiggle deformer can be turned on and off independently. When Jiggle occurs, Jiggle collisions can also be enabled to help make sure points do not move into bones and muscles that are sliding. Note that there is no self-collision, this is simply sliding collision if the Sliding deformer also enabled.

1. Select the skin mesh.
2. In the Attribute Editor, select the cMuscleSystem1 tab.
3. Turn on Enable Jiggle.

Paint Jiggle weights

1. Select the skin mesh.
2. Select Muscle > Paint Muscle Weights.

   The Muscle Paint tool opens.

3. In the Muscle Paint tool, select Jiggle from the Weights drop-down menu.
4. Paint Jiggle weights in the middle center of the leg, as shown. (You may paint weights on other areas of the skin mesh where you want to have per-point skin jiggle.)

   

5. Experiment with painting different areas of the mesh, and playblast your animation to see the results. Typically, jiggle-related weights benefit from a smoother falloff on the painting. Close the Muscle Paint tool when finished.
   NoteYou can review the other Jiggle attributes on the cMuscleSystem node in the Channel Box or Attribute Editor. See Jiggle attributes for further detail about each attribute.

The basic leg rigging is now complete. A final file with Jiggle weights painted can be found by loading the tut_dragonLeg_jiggle_END.ma.

Since the Jiggle calculations for per-point skin jiggle can use significant machine resources, you can use Muscle’s per-point cache feature to provide for faster animation playback or playback during operations like lighting or rendering. In the next steps you cache each frame of animation internally on the node in the Maya scene itself. This way you can cache playback, then playback within Maya for faster speed and interaction.

Create a cache

1. Select the skin mesh object.
2. From the main menu, select Muscle > Caching > Create Cache.

   The frame range is the current Time Slider range, and the cache data is stored within the Maya scene. Leave the default options in the Generate Cache dialog that appears.

   NoteIn this lesson you use node-based caching, however if you are planning on using external file-based caching, you can set the path and base filename using the Attribute Editor, or by selecting Muscle > Caching > Set Location of Cache File from the main menu.
3. Make sure your skin mesh is still selected and click Generate Cache for Selected Objects.

   A progress dialog box appears as the timeline scrubs and the cache is calculated.

   Once the dragon leg animation is cached, you can easily have faster playblasts, or change camera angles and playback to see how the animation looks from different angles. Since the data is cached, deformation is not really being calculated, making playback faster.

To playback the cached animation

1. Playback the animation.

   Depending on the speed of your computer, the animation plays back in near real-time. The cache attributes on the cMuscleSystem node (which can be seen in the Channel Box or Attribute Editor) shows that the cache is now set to read-node. This means it is now reading the point cache rather than doing full calculations.

   Attempting to change settings, such as turning Sliding deformation on or off, or attempting to paint weights have no effect on the mesh, while you are viewing the cached data.

To remove the cache

1. Select Muscle > Caching > Delete Node Cache and select which frames to clear, or simply switch the cache attribute of the cMuscleSystem node to disabled. This disables caching and returns to the normal calculation.

Beyond the Lesson

In this lesson you learned how to:

• Set up jiggle deformation
• Paint jiggle weights
• Set up a per-point cache to facilitate faster playback and animation

A completed file with node cache created can be found by loading the tut_dragonLeg_cache_END.ma file.