This example shows you how to use the
Sweep Mesh tool with other tools in
Maya to create unique effects. Try this workflow to create a growing vine effect based on an animated curve.
- Create a curve to be your base for the animation. (Select
to draw out a curve.)
- Select your curve and go to
>
to open the
Offset Curve Options.
- Set
Offset Distance to
0.00.
- Set
Curve Range to
Partial and click
Offset. A new curve is created on top of the original.
- With the new curve selected, open the
Attribute Editor (Ctrl +
A)
- Locate the
offsetCurve1 tab, and click
>
(Upstream Connection).
- With the
Time Slider at frame 1, change the
Max Value of the
Subcurve History to
0.00.
- Right-click the
Max Value field and choose
Set Key.
- Move the Time Slider to frame
120 and change the
Max Value of the
Subcurve History to
1.00. Right-click
Max Value and set another key. Scrub the Time Slider to ensure the offset curve length changes from 0 to 1.
- Select the animated offset curve, and select
Sweep Mesh
from the Poly Modeling shelf or
in the
main Maya Menu.
- Play back the animation. The mesh grows like a tube but the curve has angles.
- In the
Sweep Mesh
Interpolation section, set the
Mode to
Precision, the
Precision value to
1.00, and click
Optimize. The mesh curve smooths out.
- Next, in the
Taper Curve section, adjust the ramp so that the tip of the mesh thins to a point.
- Experiment with other
Sweep Mesh options like
Profile and
Distribution.
See other workflows using
Sweep Mesh with
Sweep Mesh example workflow: Corkscrew and
Sweep Mesh example workflow: Frame.