Newbie help on non linear deformers!
 

Hi, Im pretty new to Maya (ie just started today) but have tons of Sketchup and Revit experience.
Im blown away by Maya it knocks to socks off the above and 3DS in my oppinion.
Id love to learn how to do things like the following but dont know where to start??? Sugestions or help towards a solution would be hugely grateful.
I understand these images were produced in Maya using non linear deformers usig lattices but thats about as much info as i have.
Hope someone can help me on the right direction, thanks

looks like a simple duplication of a cone-like object that's been turned into a group (or combined) and then yea... latticed all to hell (which is just creating what looks like a multi-divisioned box and pulling and shaping the vertices).

or actually a lattice performed on the group and then deformers applied to the lattice.

looks cool though.