Lattice Options

 In the Modeling and Rigging menu sets: Deform > (Create) Lattice >
 In the Animation menu set: Anim Deform > Open full Deform menu > (Create) Lattice >
Basic tab
Divisions
Specifies the structure of the lattice in the lattice’s local STU space. STU space provides a special coordinate
system for specifying the structure of lattices.
You can specify the lattice’s structure in terms of S, T, and U divisions. When you specify the divisions, you
also indirectly specify the number of lattice points in the lattice, because the latticepoints are located where
the divisions meet on the lattice’s exterior. The greater the number of divisions, the greater the lattice point
resolution.
Though your control over the deformation increases with the number of lattice points, the performance may
be affected.
The default settings are: S has 2 divisions, T has 5 divisions, and U has 2 divisions, which provides
20 lattice points.
Local Mode
Specifies whether each lattice point can influence only the deformable object’s points that are nearby (local),
or can influence all the deformable object’s points. Check on or off (default is on). If on, you can specify Local
Divisions.
Local Divisions
Only available if Local Mode is on. Specifies the extent of each lattice point’s local influence in terms of
the lattice’s local STU space. The default settings are: S has 2 divisions, T has 2 divisions, and U has 2
divisions. With the default setting, each lattice point can only influence the deformable object’s points that are
at most two divisions away (in S, T, or U) from the lattice point.
Positioning
Specifies whether the lattice is centered around the selected deformable object(s), or positioned at the
workspace origin.
Typically you would want the lattice centered around the object(s) so that you can create deformation effects
right after you create the deformer. However, you might want the object to be initially free of the lattice’s
influence, deforming only when it moves into the base lattice’s space. For example, you might develop a
ghost (the deformable object) that could squeeze through a keyhole-shaped influence lattice and then pop
out on the other side, resuming its original shape.
Turn on Positioning to center the lattice and turn off Positioning to put the lattice at the workspace origin.
Default is on.
Grouping
Specifies whether to group the influence lattice and base lattice together. Grouping the influence lattice and
base lattice lets you transform (move, rotate, or scale) the two together. Default is off. The
influence lattice and base lattice are not grouped by default.
Parenting
Specifies whether to parent the lattice to the selected deformable object(s) upon deformer creation.
Parenting them lets you transform (move, rotate, or scale) them together. Default is off.
Freeze Mode
Specifies whether to freeze the lattice deformation mapping. If frozen (checked on), components of objects
being deformed that are inside the influence lattice remain fixed inside the lattice and affected only by the
influence lattice, even if you transform (move, rotate, or scale) the object or the base lattice. For more
information, see Freezing the lattice deformation mapping. Default is off.
Outside lattice
Specifies the range of influence that the lattice deformer will have on its target object’s points. Lets you transform all
an object’s points, even when parts of the object are outside of the lattice.
Transforming object points outside of the lattice is useful when you want to maintain a normal lattice deformation for
objects that randomly pop outside of the lattice. For example, maintaining lattice deformations when chaining lattices
together.
Transform Only If Inside Lattice
Only points within the base lattice are deformed. Transform Only If Inside Lattice is on by default.
 Transform All Points
All the target object’s points—inside and outside the lattice—are deformed by the lattice.
Transform If Within Falloff
Points within the base lattice and up to the specified falloff distance are deformed by the lattice. For
example, if you set the Falloff Distance to 2.0, then points within the base latticeand up to 2 widths of
the lattice are deformed.
Falloff Distance
Specifies the distance from the base lattice up to which points are affected by the lattice deformer. The units
of falloff distance are measured in lattice widths. For example, a Falloff Distance value of 3.0 sets the falloff
distance to 3 lattice widths.
The falloff degrades linearly from the edge of the base lattice to the specified falloff distance. This option is
available only when Transform If Within Falloff is on.
Advanced tab
See Advanced deformer options.
Deformation Order
Specifies the placement of the deformer node in the deformable object’s history. For more information about
deformer placement, see Deformation order.
Exclusive
Specifies whether the deformer set is in a partition. Sets in a partition can have no overlapping members. If
on, the Partition To Use and New Partition Name options become available. Default is off.
Partition To Use
Lists any existing partitions, and a default selection Create New Partition. If you select Create New Partition,
you can edit the New Partition Name field to specify the name of a new partition. Only available
if Exclusive is on.
New Partition Name
Specifies the name of a new partition that will include the deformer set. The suggested partition name
is deformPartition, which will be created if it does not already exist. Typically, you might put all your exclusive
deformer sets in the partition named deformPartition. However, you can create as many partitions as you
like, and name them whatever you want. Only available if Exclusive is on.

Edit lattice deformers

To move, rotate, or scale the influence lattice
1. Select the lattice deformer handle node (default name: ffdnLattice).

2. Move (translate), rotate, or scale the handle to change the effect of the deformation.

3. Move or rotate the handle pivot point by pressing Insert (or Home on Mac OS X), moving the pivot point, then
pressing Insert or Home again.
Remember that you can access the deformer handle’s local axes (Display Transform Display Local
Rotation Axes), its rotate and scale pivots (Display Transform Display Rotate Pivots orScale Pivots) and
its selection handle (Display Transform Display Selection Handles).
To edit by moving, rotating, or scaling lattice points
1. Select the lattice deformer handle node (default name: ffdnLattice).
2. Go into component mode by clicking the Select By Component Type button in the Maya toolbar.
3. Select lattice points.

4. Move (translate), rotate, or scale the points to change the effect of the deformation.
TIP:You can navigate along lattice deformer points using the pickwalk hotkeys:

 To navigate left and right, use the Left and Right Arrow keys

 To navigate up and down, use the Up and Down Arrow keys

 To navigate in and out press Ctrl + Page Up or Page Down

To edit lattice channels with the Channel Box
1. Select a lattice deformer node (default name: ffdn).
One quick way to select the lattice deformer node is to select the object being deformed, and then select
the lattice deformer node in its history from the Channel Box (under INPUTS).
Note that you can control which attributes are listed as keyable attributes (channels) in the Channel Box with
the Channel Control editor (select Windows General Editors Channel Control).
2. In the Channel Box, the following channels are listed by default:

3. Click the name of the channel you want to edit.

4. In your scene, middle-click and move the mouse to the left or right. By moving the mouse, you interactively
change the value of the selected channel. As you move the mouse, note that pressing the Ctrl key gives you
finer control, and pressing the Shift key gives you less control.
To edit lattice attributes with the Attribute Editor
1. Select the lattice deformer node (default name: ffdn).
2. Open the Attribute Editor.

3. Edit the attributes.

See ffdLatticeShape.
To reset the lattice
1. Select the lattice.
2. Select Deform (Edit) Lattice Reset Lattice.
To reset lattice points after tweaking
1. Select the lattice.
2. Select Deform (Edit) Lattice Remove Lattice Tweaks.
To prune lattice deformer set membership

1. Select deformable objects whose currently unaffected points you want to prune from the deformation.
2. Select Deform (Edit) Prune Membership Lattice.
Maya removes the deformable object’s points currently unaffected points from the lattice.
NOTE: Prune Membership only removes points from the deformation if they are currently not affected by the
deformer. Therefore, if you try to prune the membership of an object whose points are all controlled by the
deformer, you will receive the error message “No components could be pruned.”
To select the lattice shape display
1. Select the lattice deformer.
2. Select Display Animation Lattice Shape.
The lattice deformer selects between displaying its lattices and the “L” icon.
To turn lattice shape display on or off
1. Select the lattice deformer.
2. Select Display Animation Lattice Points.
To show all lattice deformers
1. SelectDisplay Show Show Deformers Lattices.
To hide all lattice deformers
1. Select Display Hide Hide Deformers Lattices.
Toggling lattice shape handle (L icon)
1. To help control screen clutter and display performance, you can select between displaying an “L” icon as
the lattice deformer handle and displaying the deformer’s lattices.
To group the deformed lattice and the base lattice
1. Select the deformed lattice and base lattice.
2. Select Edit Group.
If you have grouped the base lattice and the deformed lattice, a simple way to select the two lattices in the scene
(without opening the Outliner) is to select the deformed lattice and press the Up Arrow key to get the group node.
You can also parent the lattice to the geometry in two ways, depending on when you’re parenting.
To parent the lattice to the geometry

1. Do one of the following:

 After you create the lattice, open the Outliner and middle-drag and drop the lattice onto the geometry. An
alternate way is to select the lattice, then the geometry, and choose Edit Parent.
 Before you create the lattice, open the Lattice Optionswindow (Deform Create Lattice ) and turn
on the Parenting creation option.
To change lattice deformer performance settings
1. Select Windows Settings/Preferences Performance Settings.
2. In the Performance Settings window, note the Deformers section.
3. Click the performance of Lattices to On, Off, or Interactive. (For more information, see Latticedeformers
and lattice flexors.)
To change lattice resolution settings
1. Select Windows Settings/Preferences Performance Settings.
2. In the Deformers section, set the Lattice Resolution to Per Node, Global, or Interactive.
3. Click Close.
To delete a lattice deformer
1. Select the lattice you want to delete.
2. Select Edit Delete or use the default shortcut Backspace or Delete (Mac OS X) key.
All the lattice deformer’s nodes are deleted, and the deformed object is returned to non-latticedeformed state.
If you want to delete a lattice deformer and preserve its lattice deformations, you need to delete history as follows:
To delete a lattice deformer and preserve the deformation
1. In the scene view, select the deformed object and then select Edit Delete by Type History.
All the lattice deformer’s nodes are deleted and the lattice deformations are preserved.
IMPORTANT:Deleting history deletes all your deformed object’s history nodes, not just those associated with
the lattice deformation.

Lattice deformers and lattice flexors

Flexors are special objects you use to control the deformation effects of rigid skinning. Two types of flexors,
joint lattice flexors and bone lattice flexors, use lattice deformer nodes.
Resetting influence lattice shape and location
You can reset the deformed lattice to return it to the location and shape of the base lattice.
Reset the lattice to clear all adjustments you have made to the influence lattice. Do this when you want to:

 start over with the deformation

 rotate, scale, or translate the base lattice and the deformed lattice together, from their initial positions
 parent the base lattice at the center of the deformed lattice, before manipulating the lattice.
Resetting influence lattice points and removing tweaks
After lattice point tweaking or changing the STU divisions, you can reset the lattice points to their original positioning
in local space. This does not modify the lattice object’s transformation in world space. Use this when you want to
change the number of divisions on the lattice or start over with the deformation.
Pruning lattice deformer sets
By pruning lattice deformer sets, you can remove points from the set that are not presently being affected by the
deformer. You can prune the deformer set to avoid unnecessary calculations for points that are not part of the
deformation effect.
Changing influence lattice resolution
To deform the geometry by a finer or coarser resolution, you can change the number of lattice points. Using
the Divisions attribute, you can increase or decrease the divisions along S, T, and U (the X, Y, and Z axis,
respectively, if the lattice were in the default position at the origin).
Note that the greater the number of divisions, the more calculations Maya has to do to deform the geometry and the
slower the performance. To speed up the performance to counteract the effect of a high-resolution lattice,
see Deformers Options.
You gain no resolution in the deformation by having more lattice points in the lattice than points on the geometry.
The resolution is limited by the spacing of points across the geometry. Note that if you’ve moved the points, you
have to reset the points before changing the resolution.
You can reset the lattice by choosing Deform > (Edit) Lattice > Reset Lattice. However, you cannot change the
resolution of a lattice if the lattice points have been moved from their reset position or the lattice has history. If you
want to change the number of divisions on a lattice whose points have been moved,
choose Remove Lattice Tweaks from the Deform > (Edit) Lattice menu and then change the divisions of the lattice. If
you want to change the divisions on a lattice with history, find the input latticeshape and change its divisions. You
can find the input lattice by selecting the lattice and looking in the attribute editor tabs for the original lattice shape,
which will typically share the same base name as the output lattice appended by “Orig.”
Weighting lattice points to alter their influence
The influence of individual lattice points can vary if the lattice points have been assigned weights. You can have
weights assigned to lattice points in two ways:
 You can create a cluster deformer that acts on the lattice deformer. You can then control the weights assigned to
each lattice point by the cluster deformer. See also Cluster deformer.
 You can do skinning with lattice deformers. For more information, see Skinning with latticedeformers.
Sculpting the influence lattice
You can use a sculpt deformer to shape a lattice deformer’s influence lattice. Using a sculpt deformer in this way can
provide a great way to get smooth, rounded lattice deformations. Trying to achieve the same rounded effect by
tweaking (moving) lattice points could require some painstaking effort. See also Sculpt deformer.
Freezing the lattice deformation mapping
A lattice deformer’s deformation effects normally depend on whether the objects being deformed are inside the
base lattice (default name: ffdnBase). If the objects are completely outside of the base lattice, deformation effects
cease. The effects cease because the lattice deformer calculates the effects based on the spatial relationship
between the base lattice, the influence lattice, and the positions of the objects inside the base lattice. If the objects
are outside of the base lattice, Maya cannot calculate the effects. Similarly, if an object is only partially inside the
base lattice, only the components (for example, CVs) of the object inside the base lattice can be affected by the
influence lattice.

Freezing the lattice deformation mapping locks the influence lattice’s control over deformable object components
inside the influence lattice. If you want to have the components of deformable objects inside of the
influence lattice to remain inside and under the influence of the influence lattice even when you move the objects or
the base lattice, you can do so by freezing the lattice deformation mapping.

Freezing the lattice deformation mapping freezes an influence lattice’s relationship with all of the components inside
it. Object components (for example, CVs) inside the influence lattice at the time of freezing will stay fixed inside
the lattice, and will only be affected by changes to the influence lattice. Even if you move the base lattice so that
those components are no longer in it, the components themselves will remain under the influence of the
influence lattice. However, components outside the influence lattice will move when you move the object, causing
deformation effects on the object.
You can freeze the deformation mapping when you create a lattice deformer by turning the Freeze Mode creation
option on. See Deformers > Lattice. However, if the influence lattice surrounds the object, you won’t be able to move
any of its components outside of the influence lattice unless you change the Freeze Geometry attribute. After you’ve
created a lattice deformer, you can change whether it freezes the deformation mapping by editing the Freeze
Geometry attribute. See ffdLatticeShape.
Editing the base lattice
The base lattice is not visible unless you select it. You can move, rotate, or scale a base lattice. However, unlike the
influence lattice, the base lattice does not have lattice points.
Grouping base and influence lattices
To move the base lattice and the deformed lattice together, you can group them. Group the lattices when you are
moving the lattice to deform a stationary geometry. For example, suppose you wanted to slam a fish bowl on a
character’s head so that the head then conforms to the shape of the bowl. To do this, you could use
a lattice deformer to shape a geometry for the fishbowl and a geometry for the head. You could then group the
base lattice and deformed lattice, parent them to the fishbowl geometry, and move them all away from the head.
When you move them away, the head will return to its normal shape, but when you move them back the head will
take the shape of the fishbowl.
Parenting lattices to objects being deformed
You can parent the lattice and base lattice to the objects being deformed by them so that you can move and
continue the deformation. For example, if your character’s squashed hat is deformed with a lattice, parent
the lattice to the hat and the base lattice so the hat stays deformed as it moves.
Deforming a lattice with other deformers
You can deform any deformed lattice just as you can deform a geometry with other deformers. For example, you can
put a sculpt or cluster deformer on a lattice, and deform the lattice shape.
Assuring a smooth deformation through the base lattice
If you are setting up or animating the deformable object so that it passes through the base lattice, note that editing
the outermost parts of the influence lattice can cause a sudden deformation in the object’s shape. If you have edited
the outermost parts of the influence lattice, the deformable object will suddenly deform as it enters the base lattice.
Improving performance
The greater the number of lattice points, the greater your control over the deformation, but the slower the
performance. Note that a lattice should always have fewer lattice points than the deformable object has points. You
gain no increase in control over the deformation by having more lattice points than the object itself has points.
You can edit node behavior to improve performance. For more information, see To change latticedeformer
performance settings.
You can also change the lattice resolution performance. To change the lattice resolution performance, set the Partial
Resolution attribute. See To change lattice resolution settings.

Cluster Deformer Options

 In the Rigging menu set: Deform > (Create) Cluster >

Basic tab
Mode

Specifies whether the cluster deformation will occur only when the cluster deformer handle itself is
transformed (moved, rotated, or scaled). With Relative turned on, only transformations to
the clusterdeformer handle itself will cause deformation effects. With Relative turned off, transformations to
objects parented to the cluster deformer handle can cause deformation effects.
For example, suppose you are using a cluster deformer to smooth deformation effects around the wrist joint
of a character’s skinned arm. If you create a cluster deformer with Relative turned on, and then parent
the cluster deformer handle to a wrist joint, you can rotate the shoulder joint without
causing cluster deformation effects around the wrist. But when you move the cluster deformerhandle itself,
you cause cluster deformation effects around the wrist. Default is on.
Envelope

Specifies the deformation scale factor. A value of 0 provides no deformation, a value of 0.5 provides a
deformation effect scaled to half of its full effect, and a value of 1 provides the full deformation effect. Use the
slider to select values between 0 and 1. Default is 1.
Advanced tab
For information on these creation options, see Advanced deformer options.
Deformation Order

Specifies the placement of the deformer node in the deformable object’s history. For more information
about deformer placement, see Deformation order.
Exclusive

Specifies whether the deformer set is in a partition. Sets in a partition can have no overlapping members. If
on, the Partition To Use and New Partition Name options become available. Default is off.
Partition To Use

Lists any existing partitions, and a default selection Create New Partition. If you select Create New Partition,
you can edit the New Partition Name field to specify the name of a new partition. Only available
if Exclusive is on.
New Partition Name

Specifies the name of a new partition that will include the deformer set. The suggested partition name is
deformPartition, which will be created if it does not already exist. Typically, you might put all your
exclusive deformer sets in the partition named deformPartition. However, you can create as many partitions
as you like, and name them whatever you want. Only available if Exclusive is on.