Add Blend Shape Target Options

Choose Create > Add Target > or Create > Add Selection as Target > in the Shape Editor to add a target shape to the base object's selected Blend Shape Deformer based on the options you set here.

Target Type

Automatic
Creates a new target shape for a blend shape deformer using the type that Maya determines is best based on the selected blend shape deformer node's position in the base object's history - see the Deformation Order options on the Advanced tab in Blend Shape Options:
  • Object Space target shapes are added to blend shape deformers whose deformation order was set to Pre-deformation on creation.
  • Tangent Space target shapes are added to blend shape deformers whose deformation order was set to Post-deformation on creation.
Object Space
Creates a new target shape using the base object's local space. This is the standard type of target shape.

An orange target icon appears beside the target shape's name in the tree to indicate that it is object-space based.

Tangent Space

Creates a new target shape based on the space relative to the base object's surface. When the base object (such as a skin mesh) deforms, the target shape will still look "correct" because it is calculated relative to the movement of vertices on the skin's surface.

Note: The local vertex frame is used to calculate the tangent space, not the object's UVs.

A green target icon appears beside the target shape's name in the Shape Editor to indicate that it uses Tangent Space.

Either this target type or Transform Space are used when doing corrective shapes for skinned characters with Post-deformation as the deformation order in the Blend Shape Options). See Create corrective shapes for workflow information.

Tangent Space is easier to set up than Transform Space, but may be more computationally costly. However, there are times when there is no suitable joint to use, as is required for a Transform Space target shape. For example, with a geometry-cached skin mesh, there are no joint transforms influencing the skin vertices where corrective shapes are needed. In this case, only Tangent Space will work.

Transform Space

Creates a new target shape for the blend shape based on the space relative to the transform values of a selected skeleton joint. For example, select the joint that is relative to the skin area that you want to fix. Then select this option to create a target shape based on the selected joint's current transform values. When you edit the skin's vertices to correct it, the target shape remains in the same space as the joint and is used relative to the skin's deformation.

A blue target icon appears beside the target shape's name in the Shape Editor to indicate that it uses Transform Space.

Either this target type or Tangent Space are used when doing corrective shapes for skinned characters with Post-deformation as the deformation order in the Blend Shape Options). See Create corrective shapes for workflow information.

Transform Space target shapes are generally faster to compute than Tangent Space targets, and any corrections you make to the shape are within the envelope area of the selected joint. You should use this option if there is a logical joint whose transform you can use in the scene.

Transform Name

Available only when you select Transform Space as the Target Type. Select a joint whose transform node you want to use for the target shape and click Use Selected, or enter an joint's name.

Check topology

(Only available when using Add Selection as Target) Select this option to check if that the base object and the target object(s) have the same topology (vertices for polygon objects or CVs for NURBS objects) before you add a target shape - see Create blend shapes using multiple target objects). Default is on.

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