Attaching items to a PaintFX Tree...
 

Hello all,

I am currently working on a project that requires me to animate a tree with fruit on it. I made a tree with PaintFX and animated it, but do not know how to attach anything else or constrain another object to the tree that it moves with tree as it swings around in the wind. Is there any way to do this, or possibly, some MEL method to place spheres (fruit) on the tree instead of flowers or buds? Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

-=Ralph=-

First question:

What version of Maya are you using?

This will make, or break my answer:) hehe..

Hello,

I am using Maya 5 Unlimited.

Thanks for helping! :)

-=Ralph=-

NO PROBLEM THEN BUDDY! hehe..

This also segway's nicely to Kurt's response to your animation question in another thread as well:

Simply convert your PFX tree to polygons:)

That simple:)

Then, using Kurts PERFECT idea of putting a lattice around the tree parts (or the whole tree, whichever) and animating the lattice by one of three ways:

1. Converting your lattice into a softbody, and effecting it with fields like turbulence and air/wind.

2. Keyframe your lattice over time by hand.

3. Keyframe the lattice animation using blend-shapes:)

Sounds like you are going to have a LOT of fun with this one, so good luck!

PS, converting the PFX tree to polys will allow you to attach your fruit etc. to it as well.

Tips for that:
-try placing particles by hand to exact spots where you want fruit to be, and instance fruit geometry to them:)

I guess putting a skeleton in the tree, and then attaching all the softbodies to it would help as well.

Those ideas are great, I'll start some tests! :)

But is there a way to replace the 'flower' or 'bud', in PaintFX into a different object via some sort of MEL technique? If I could do that, than I could save the time on going the soft body poly route, as the animation is inherent.

-=Ralph=-

Might wanna ask Danny that question in the Mel section, as I personally suck at that:) hehe...

Ok...don't leave us hanging. Now what if you're using 4 or 4.5? :)

Hanging... that's funny...YOU TRYIN TO BE A FUNNY MAN?? HUH??
hehe... j.k bud:)

Whoooo... THATS a tough one:)

By nature, we all know that PFX is a post-process.
By that, I mean that the Maya sw renderer renders the strokes AFTER everything else, AND over-top the image.

AND THAT SUCKS! ...on so many levels! hehe...

...but in the case of users with Maya 4.5 or earlier, I "thought" you could create a PFX tree, and get it to look, and act the way you like it, then, SOMEHOW, either parent a soft-body curve with "objects" attached/constraigned to specific particles that are close enough to where you want them, but that didn't work at all for me... :(


So, all I can think of is to create the tree from scratch in polys, and do the lattice trick:(

Sorry Nitro.

Hello,

Good News! :D I found a Q&A session with Duncan, the main A|W Brain behind PaintFX answering some questions, and thank god he answered this one. :) It is possible to attach a mesh to a PaintFX, BUT it would require massive scripting and alot of headaches. Luckily, someone asked how to make fruit on a tree, and he said that the only way is to use the texture channel on the flower node. I went straight to Alias's site and into their download's section and found GumBall Roses, a flower with sphere's at the top! Woo hoo! I attached the MEL file here for you to check out. Now of course the sphere's are actually 2d and within an IFF image (make sure you tell Maya the proper path as it wont find the image without your help, or at least I had to), but this method will work, I think (crossing fingers)!

But I've hit a wall again... :banghead:

I can't get this method to work within my tree model, although I've tried to copy the settings for the flower. I know I'm doing something wrong, so if you can tell me how to get a tree to display that image, that would be Grrrrrrreat. :)

I think the solution is around the bend.... :p

Thanks again for all your help,

-=Ralph=-

Cool!

But, too late at night 4 me, will try tommorrow night! Cool?

Of course! Thanks for all your help!

-=Ralph=-