Make Branches follow Surface Normals in Maya

Evohc · Jun 2014

Eh all,

I'm working in Maya 2014, and I'm trying to get some tree branches to follow the surface normals of the main trunk. I've currently had no luck between using the trunk as a live object, paint effects, or particle object instancer... Any ideas or tips anyone can give? Maybe I'm not using the setting right on one of the above methods??

Thanks for any help guys/gals!

CheeseOnToast · Jun 2014

Try using this mel script. To use it select the branch followed by the trunk, then run the script. You'll want to have the pivot point of the branch set at its base.

geometryConstraint -weight 1;
normalConstraint -weight 1 -aimVector 0 1 0 -upVector 0 1 0 -worldUpType "vector" -worldUpVector 0 1 0;

Evohc · Jun 2014

Wow! Great script, Thanks!

Make Branches follow Surface Normals in Maya

Replies