Create an Occupation Surface effect

In this process, you make an object paintable, and then use a brush stroke to paint tubes on the surface. The Occupation Surface settings let you control how the tubes spread over the surface and whether they penetrate into the surface.

To create an Occupation Surface effect

  1. Complete the steps in the topic Paint on objects.
    Tip: Choose a Paint Effects brush that creates tubes on a surface, such as Grass Clump, Vine Grey Bud, or Down.
  2. Select the Paint Effects stroke and click the brush node tab in the Attribute Editor.
  3. Expand the sections Tubes > Behavior > Occupation Surface.
  4. Increase the Occupy Attraction value.

    Maya creates attraction points on the surface of the painted object, and the tubes curl down toward the surface. At higher values, they can penetrate through the surface. If you want the tubes to spread over the surface without going through, expand the attribute sections Tubes > Behavior > Forces, and select Surface Collide.

  5. Experiment with the Occupation Surface attributes to create the desired effect.
    Tip: When you are satisfied with the stroke's behavior, consider adding these settings to the brush template so that you can quickly apply the effect on other strokes. See Define template brush settings.

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