Random distorion of object

[zhenka22]

Noob question here

I want to have an object chaotically distorting. I thought that i might connect the alpha from an animated fractal into something like the vertex scale or position of an object.

Is there any way to access a geometry's physical properties through the connection editor or the hypergraph so I can make these sort of interesting connections?

If not, what tools can I use? I have not had time to look into this as I am extremelly busy at the moment but maybe something like a deformer? Or do I have to delve into dynamics?

Any ideas would be appreciated

Cheers

[sunder]

Hi Zhenka. If you wanted to use an animated fractal, you'd plug it into the displacement and turn off feature displacement on the mesh (under the Displacement Map tab). Note that technique doesn't give you feedback in the viewport and you'll need to render it to see the noise deformations.
Other choices include soft body particles or some mel expressions (deform vertex along the normal).
Alternatively, you could use a plugin like this one
http://www.highend3d.com/maya/downloads/plugins/animation/4014.html
Let me know how it goes

[zhenka22]

Hey Sunder

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to give it a shot in the next few weeks as I am flat out at the moment. I was thinking of exploring this in relation to a 20-30 sec motion graphics spot that I am doing for my Multimedia Design course's identity that they plan to use in the future.

Meanwhile have to concentrate on keying over 80 shots of greenscreen footage, colour grading, compositing and visual fx, whilst trying to learn Maya to complete my 9 environments that I have created, and match lighting and camera moves.

Fun times ahead! (sorry about the rant, I am trully done now...)

Cheers mate