3D animation tutorials

Using soft body dynamics to age a Moai statue

Today, we look at using soft body dynamics to age a Moai statue.
The polygon Moai.
Here is the Moai statue that we have used in videos on  3DbyBuzz.com.  It was made out of stone a long time ago.  It has sat in the open on a wind-swept, treeless island for many hundreds of years.        moaisoft-2013-02-5-18-10.jpg
Turning the Moai into a soft body.
We set the Main Menu selector in the top left corner of the Maya Main Window to Dynamics.
Then we select the Moai, go to Soft/Rigid Bodies and choose Create Soft Body.
Now, our Moai will be influenced by dynamic forces.

softobjectdropdown-2013-02-5-18-10.jpg

Introducing a field.
Now, with the Moai selected, we go to Fields and Select Turbulence.  It is not shown here, but the Magnitude of the field is about 40 – not too strong.  We don’t want to blast our Moai away.  Also, the Phase x and Phase y settings of the Turbulance tool are set to -1.

turbulance-2013-02-5-18-10.jpg

Before and after.
This is the Moai before running the scene:

beforeworn-2013-02-5-18-10.jpg

Here is the Moai after running about 100 frames.
The turbulence has gently eroded the nose and the mouth and the jaw.
afterworn2-2013-02-5-18-10.jpg
If we want, we can move the turbulence field around and age more of the Moai’s face.