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reference materialMorph Practices

What is a Morph? Morph is short for metamorphosis which means generally a change in form, structure or substance. In the case of animation, it means a change in form. The structure of the form actually stays exactly the same - that's a requirement of the procedure. But the "substance," which could be equated to surface appearance, can also be affected by the change. What is also implied by a metamorphosis is that the change takes place through time, over a series of frames. The following reference material covers the following: Setting up \| Considerations \| MTSE \| Surface Morphs How does Morphing work? Morphing works quite simply within animation software. Every point within the structure of an object has a physical record in 3-D space and an identity of its own. Its identity is established by the order in which each point was created. In the morph process, each point is simply moved to the new location of its equivalently identified point within the form of the "transformed" object, using the most direct route (a straight line). So, for example Point #1from Object A is moved to the location of Point #1 of Object B, etc. The attached polygons simply follow the route of the points.

Setting up an object to Morph Create an object that will be the "original". Adapt that object to form the "morph target". In the modeler, begin with the original object and edit the points and polygons to form the new object. DO NOT delete any points or polygons in the editing process. Load both objects into a scene. Within the Item Properties for the original object, under the Deformations tab, set the "Morph Target" object to be that of the adapted object. illustration A "Hide" the morph target, by either moving it out of camera view - or making it 100% dissolved. illustration B Set the "morph" envelope of the "original" to reflect the timing and the extent of the morph operation. Within this envelope, set keyframes and percent of morph at the intended zenith. illustration C Animate the original as you wish, leaving the target alone - or animating it as well. But the position and rotation information that control the morphed couple is derived from the original ONLY.	illustration A	illustration B Notice, Under the Rendering Tab the Dissolve setting defines the Target Morph Object is completely invisible.

Note: the morph object usually stays invisible through the entire animation. It's geometry is simply used by the "orginal" as a referent to move its points, changing form. Considerations to be made when Morphing The object to be morphed and the target morph object MUST have the same number of points and polygons - or the operation simply will not work. To insure an object has the same number of point and polygons, it is general practice to manipulate the points and polygons from the original object, performing a "save as" to the create the morph target object. Make sure in the manipulating of the original object, that techniques that create new points and polygons as part of their function be avoided as that will cause the two objects to be incompatible for morphing. (ie. Beveling, Boolean, Solid Drill, Template Drill, Smooth Shift, etc.) Because the points of objects are moving through space according to the "rules" established by the morph target, non-planar polygons are a likely result unless triangular-shaped polygons are used.	illustration C

When making your objects, consideration should be given to the relationship of the point structure of the original and the morph target's. Remember, points move using the most direct route. illustration D Therefore when making your objects, move point structures in small increments considering the direction polygons will follow en route - so that faces do not cross in the process. If a "less direct" point route is desired, consider making multiple target objects that create intermediary stops which control the pattern of the point migration. illustration E top of page	illustrations D & E

Multiple Target Objects using a Single Envelope Multiple Target Single Envelope (MTSE) is a setting that can be selected within the Objects Panel/Deformations Tab. Selecting this allows a chain of objects to be controlled using only one envelope. To use this feature: Object A would have B as its target; B would have C as its target; C would have D as its, etc. Set these targets as you would any using the Current Object bar and the Morph Target bar within the Object Panel. The morph envelope of the first object (Object A) should specify morphing between Object A and B from 0% - 100%; morphing between B and C is controlled between 101% - 200%; C and D between 201%-300%; and so on. illustration F Using MTSE only allows the morphing of surface characteristics between the first and second objects. The Morph Surfaces selection should be made if this is desired. top of page	illustration F

Morphing Surface Textures With this designation turned on, only the Surface Texture and Color will morph, not diffusion, specularity, etc. illustration G It is possible to only morph surface characteristics. Simply create a morph target object that is the geometrical duplicate of the original with different polygon surface names and different surface characteristics defined. Set up the Morph Object and Target as you would ordinarily and select Morph Surfaces. Establish an envelope that defines the keyframes of the morph as usual.	illustration G
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