This is a locator node that implements the drawing
and calculation of a basic Hermite-curve with support for any number
of control points, and outputs any number of points along the curve.
Since the cMuscleSpline node is the basis of the cMuscleSpline deformer,
many of these settings control the deformer itself as well as the
spline.
Below are descriptions
of the attributes in the cMuscleSpline node. To see these attributes,
select a cMuscleSpline object and open the Attribute
Editor. For descriptions of the spline control object
attributes, see
cMuscleSplineDeformer node.
Draw
Sets what is displayed
for the spline curve itself.
- Off
-
Causes the spline to
disappear.
- spline
-
- spline and points
-
Draws the spline and
dots for each control point.
- spline, points and tangents
-
Draws the tangents as
well.
- Color
-
Sets the display color
of the spline curve.
NoteIn the Attribute
Editor, you can also use a regular Maya color swatch
to set the color.
- Tolerance
-
Sets the level of quality
used when calculating the spline length and when drawing the curve. Lower
values are rougher and more inaccurate, higher values are more accurate.
24 is a good default value, and does not have to be changed.
Tangent Mode
Sets the tangent mode.
In order to understand how this works, you can change the tangentMode and
move the controls around interactively to compare how they work
in both cases.
- relative
-
Tangents automatically
grow/shrink based on the distance from one control point to another. This
can help result in a smoother curve.
- absolute
-
The tangent length at
each point is exactly as it is set and does not change.
- Up Axis
-
Sets which axis for each
control point is used as the "up" axis. This is what controls the
spin of the driven joints/nodes along the curve. If you find you
get flipping, you can switch the up axis from X to Z or the reverse.
NoteThat twist is only
handled up to 180 degrees, after which you see a flip.
- Reset Frame
-
For jiggle calculation,
this sets which frame the jiggle resets on. Any jiggle on or before
this frame is off. You can key this value with a stepped key to
get resetting of jiggle on different frames as needed, for example
if there are different shots to be animated in one scene.
Dampen On Squash
Controls how the curve
behaves with jiggle as its length changes.
- 0
-
Jiggle values are applied
as they are set.
- 1
-
The jiggle amount dampens
down and the cycle gets faster as the curve gets squashed.
Dampen On Stretch
Controls how the curve
behaves with jiggle as its length changes.
- 0
-
Jiggle values are applied
as they are set.
- 1
-
The jiggle amount dampens
down and the cycle gets faster as the curve is stretched.
- Len Default/Squash/Stretch
-
Set the default/min/max
length of the spline. As the length goes from default to squash,
the dampenOnSquash is affected,
and as it goes from default to stretch, the dampenOnStretch is affected.
If this spline is tied to a cMuscleSplineDeformer node, these settings also
set the driving of the muscle squash and stretch as the spline length
goes between these values.
NoteThese values do not
clamp the actual length of the spline, but set the min/max range
for when the squash and stretch can occur.
- Cur Len
-
An output of the spline
that shows the current length of the spline curve. This can be useful
for custom rigging.
- Pct Squash/Stretch
-
An output value that
shows the amount of squash or stretch the spline is undergoing.
The values range from 0 to 1. As the curLen goes from
the lenDefault to lenSquash,
the pctSquash goes from 0 to 1.
As the curLen goes from the lenDefault to lenStretch,
the pctStretch goes from 0 to 1.
These values can be useful for custom rigging.
