10

Animating and Deforming Surfaces

In This Section:

• Creating Clusters 356
• Editing Cluster Attributes 360
• Adding Selection Handles 368
• Metamorphosing Same Topology Items 370
• Creating Clusters with Properties for Deformation 382

Creating Clusters

The Clusters option is available in AutoStudio and is a purchasable Advanced Animation option

Overview

A cluster is an entity that logically groups an arbitrary list of CVs and DAG nodes so that they can be transformed and manipulated as a single entity. A cluster can be viewed as a type of object that has no geometry of its own, but refers to other geometry.

Creating a Cluster

To create a cluster, pick all the objects and/or CVs that you want to put in the cluster and select Edit > New cluster. The CVs do not have to belong to the same piece of geometry. A cluster node is created with a DAG node above it. When this DAG node is transformed, each of the CVs in the cluster are transformed.

You can move the pivots of the cluster and then perform an Xform > Rotate or Xform > Scale transformation. The CVs of many objects can be transformed relative to a common pivot.

Example

1

To create a cluster, first create two primitive spheres (Objects > Primitives > Sphere).

2

Pick the spheres using Pick > Object, or pick some of the CVs of each of the spheres.

3

Select Edit > New cluster.

4

Open the SBD window (Windows > SBD) to verify that the cluster has been created. It is displayed as a node with a DAG node above it. The DAG node box is highlighted and the cluster (an icon of a cluster of grapes) is in a box directly under it.

The geometry node (blue node) from which the cluster was assembled has an additional blue box placed around the geometry box indicating that some of the geometry is in a cluster that is picked. If the cluster is unpicked, the blue box around the geometry box disappears.

The new cluster DAG node will be the only item on the pick list after the operation is complete.

Picking Clusters

You can select geometry in any modeling window to pick all the cluster DAG nodes whose corresponding cluster contains the geometry. Any cluster that contains a selected CV or DAG node will have its DAG node picked and highlighted. You can pick a cluster DAG node in one of four ways:

1

Select Pick > Point Types > Cluster, then click on any CV that belongs to the cluster and the entire cluster is highlighted.

2

Pick the cluster DAG node in the SBD window as you would for any other object. If you pick the cluster in the SBD window by selecting Pick > Point Types > CV, all CVs in the cluster will be selected.

3

Pick a cluster DAG node by name at the information line.

4

Pick a cluster DAG node from the Cluster Editor.

New Cluster Options

Select Edit > New cluster - to display the New Cluster Options window.

You can change the Members state once a cluster has been created in the Cluster Editor window. See the section on the Windows > Edit > Clusters on page 360 for details.

Members

Exclusive

Members of the new cluster are not allowed to be in any other cluster.

Multiple

The picked elements are allowed to be in other clusters.