In Constant Motion

In Constant Motion. A rather fitting title for a post about using dynamics...

Progress continues on my new source of learning - 'Maya Studio Projects: Dynamics'. In addition to using dynamics within a scene, I have introduced Maya's nDynamics, and made good use of the nCloth system. Although nCloth is intended (as the name suggests) for recreating fabric, it can also be used to create a variety of adaptable and tearable surfaces which rigid bodies can interact with.

I have also now started work on using Maya's Fluids feature, something which will be extremely useful moving forwards, particularly when experimenting with cell aesthetics.

Good progress has been made so far this week, and my understanding of using dynamics is really setting in. Although these seem like simple examples, I am aware I have started with the basics and intend on building strong foundations. Moving forwards, I plan to work on more complicated setups and develop my Maya skills even further.

The first example illustrates a simple 'sandbox' idea, and uses a half-cylinder as a 'bucket'. We can see the earth-like material (automatically generated nParticles) moving around without any key-framed animation - it is all dynamically generated, and moves, collides and flows as appropriate.

The second example takes this idea further and adds an nCloth plane, with the idea of dropping a heavy sphere onto the ground, which then smashes, sending shards flying. The nParticles are used to provide a more accurate simulation - if they were not present, the ball would simply drop through the plane... this would not happen in real life!

The third example shows a volcano erupting. Relying heavily on the use of a 3D container for Fluids,  attributes were manually configured to create the smoke, and an nCloth 'explosion' was used to create the initial blast.