Any surface object can have the Maya Muscle skin deformer applied to it, however the best results are achieved using polygon mesh objects. Using NURBS or subdivision surfaces results in slower feedback with painting, as well as other performance issues and limitations.

If you use subdivision surfaces, your workflow might be to rig a polygon mesh, then connect the mesh into the subdivision surface using a blendshape or direct connection. If your subdivision surface cannot be left in polygon proxy mode, you can create a duplicate that is in polygon proxy mode, and use that as a go-between object for the connections. While this may seem slower, in many cases using a polygon object for a rigging mesh results in faster animation feedback and playback.

The Muscle deformer when applied can be connected to Muscle Object bones, capsules, or muscles to provide for the skinning deformation. Weights can be applied for typical Sticky skinning, or only for Sliding, Jiggle, or other features which allow it to also work on top of Maya skin.

To apply the Muscle deformer onto an object

1. Select the object you want to apply the Muscle skin deformer on.
2. Select Muscle > Skin Setup > Apply Muscle System Skin Deformer from the main menu bar.

   After the calculation is complete, the Muscle deformer is applied and ready for use on the object. The more points the mesh has, the longer this process takes.

   You can immediately use several options such as per-point skin Jiggle, Relax, Smooth, Self-collision, or cache. In order to use Sticky or Sliding options you must first connect muscles or bones to the deformer.

   Refer to the following steps if you are applying the deformer to an object with skinClusters.

To apply the Muscle deformer onto an object with skinClusters

1. Select the object with skinClusters to which you want to apply the Muscle skin deformer.
2. Select Muscle > Skin Setup > Apply Muscle System Skin Deformer from the main menu bar.

   When the Muscle skin deformer is applied to a mesh that has a skinCluster on it, a window appears asking if you want to use the deformer with Relative Sticky weights as opposed to normal Sticky. Relative Sticky mode lets you apply muscles and bones into the Muscle deformer without getting a double-transform from the skinCluster. See Relative Sticky deformation for more information.

   

3. Click Yes if you want to apply the deformer and turn Relative Sticky mode on.
   NoteYou can also apply this option later if you choose. See Set up Relative Sticky deformation.

   A new cMuscleRelative node is created and the cMuscleSystem node Relative Sticky attribute is set to relative.