9

Morph Compound Object 315
The original object is known as the seed or base
object. The object into w h ich the seed object
morphs is know n as the target object.
You can morph one seed into multiple targets; the
seed object’s form changes successively to match
the forms of the target objects as the animation
plays.
Before you can create a morph, the seed and target
objects must meet these conditions:
• Both objects must be mesh, patch, or poly
objects.
• Both objects must have an equal number of
vertices.
If these conditions don’t apply, the Morph button
is unavailable.
You can use any k ind of object as a morph target,
including an animated object or another morph
object,aslongasthetargetisameshthathasthe
same number of vertices as the seed object.
Creating a mor ph involves the following steps:
• Modelthebaseobjectandtargetobjects.
•Selectthebaseobject.
• Click Create panel > Geometry > Compound
Objects > Morph.
• Add the target objects.
•Animate.
Setting Up the M orph G eometr y
Make sure that the objects you want to u se as the
seed and targets have the same number of vert ices.
Tip: When you create Loft objects that you want
to use as morph seeds and targets, make sure that
Morph Capping is on and Adaptive Path Steps and
Optimize are turned off. All shap es in the Loft
object must have the same number of vertices.
You should also t urn off Adaptive and Optimize
for other shape-based objects that you want to use
with Morph, such as thos e with E xtrude or Lathe
modifiers.
Wa rn in g : The selected object is permanently converted
to a morph object as soon as you click Morph, whether or
not you proceed to selec t a target object. The only way
to restore the original object is to undo the Morph click.
Morph Object and Morpher Modifier
Therearetwowaystosetupmorphinganimations:
the Morph compound object and the Morpher
modifier.
The Morpher modifier (page 1–729) is more
flexible because you can add it multiple times at
any place in an object’s modifier stack display.
This flexibility lets you animate the base object or
the morph targets before reaching the Morpher
modifier, for example with a noise modif ier. The
Morpher modifier works hand in hand with the
Morpher material. The Morpher modifier is the
ideal way to morph characters.
The Barycentric Morph cont roller can b e simpler
to use in Tr ack View. The Track View display for
Compound Morph has only one animation track
regardless of the number of targets. Each key on
the track represents a mor ph result based on a
percentage of all the targets. For basic morphing
needs, Compound Morph may be preferable to
the Morpher modifier.
Lastly, you can add the Morpher modifier to the
stack of a Compound Morph object.
Procedures
Ex ample: To create a ba si c morph:
1.
On the Create panel > Geometry > Patch Grids
>ObjectTyperollout,clickQuadPatch.
2. In the Top viewport, click and drag to create a
patch on the left side of the viewport.