Lattice Deformer 

What is Lattice deformer?
This plug-in is an effect plugin that deforms a mesh object (the 'target') with the help of another mesh object (the 'lattice') using a regular lattice deformation algorithm. 

Usage
Select a mesh object and add the 'LatticeDeformer' effect in the Setup Tab. The 'LatticeDeformer' effect has two tabs which allow you to control the settings of the effect. The tab 'LatticeDeformer Setup' tab is only accessible in setup mode, while the 'LatticeDeformer Animate' tab is accessible both in setup and in animate mode.

What order should I put the Lattice Deformer in?
1. Any effect that you want to use to control the lattice animation with, for instance Point Animation.
2. The lattice deformer.

What happens in the 'LatticeDeformer Setup' tab?
In the 'LatticeDeformer Setup' mode you can define the number of control points along the X/Y/Z axis. There must be a minimum of two control points for every axis. Once you have defined the number of points, press the 'Create LWO ...' button. Specify a file name and press OK, this will create the lattice mesh object, a cube of dimensions 1 m x 1 m x 1 m. You may parent the lattice object to any other object you wish it to follow, such as a 'head' bone to use it as a local displacement, or leave it unparented to use it as a world displacement.

Aha, I see, but what about the 'LatticeDeformer Animate' tab?
In animate mode you can now deform the vertices of the lattice with the help of an effect, e.g a bone deform effect or a point-level animation effect. The target mesh (the mesh that you applied the 'LatticeDeformer' effect to) will be deformed by the lattice. Only those parts of the target mesh that are inside the lattice are deformed. Note that you can uses translating/rotation/scaling of the lattice to define the region which is affected by the lattice. With the TRS values at its default values, the lattice only affects the region of 1 m x 1 m x 1 m around the origin. If you scale up the lattice along the X axis by 5, you will affect the region of 5 m x 1 m x 1 m around the origin. Similarily, you can translate or rotate the lattice to affect other regions in space.

In the 'LatticeDeformer Animate' tab you can control the effect during animate mode. 'Strength' controls the overall strength. A strength of 1.0 deforms the target according to the calculated cage weights. Lower/higher values lead to a smaller/bigger effect of the 'LatticeDeformer' effect.
'Weight' lets you choose one of messiah's weights (e.g. metaeffectors or procedurals) for masking the effect. The weight can be static, dynamic or combined.

History of Changes
1.0: Public release

Code is © Christopher Lutz 2008-2009 for useful slug licenced to pmG Worldwide LLC for distribution with messiah
www.animationsnippets.com www.usefulslug.com www.projectmessiah.com

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