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Note: This panel appears when FlexMotion is selected in the Item List.
Match Tool (pulldown) - This setting tells messiah how to treat the curves.
Relative Length - The object will retain its length, so if you pull the curve points to be longer than the object, the object won't stretch.
Absolute Length - The object will stretch to whatever length the curve is.
Uniform Curve Segments - Matches the object to the points of the curve, so if you pull one point toward another, the object will squish in between, but stretch on the other side.
Elasticity (pulldown): (This is available only when Absolute Length or Uniform Curve Segments are selected from the Match Tool pulldown list.) This lets you select if, and how, the objects or bones being affected by the Curve will deform. The choices are:
Off - No deformation. The items will just clump up if the Curve angle gets too sharp.
Stretch - The items will stretch along their Z axis. They will get longer or shorter, depending on the length and shape of the Curve.
Squash & Stretch - The items will stretch along all axis. They will retain their volume-- when they are stretched, they'll be long and thin; when they're squashed they'll be short and fat.
Affect Before IK: (This is available only when Relative Length is selected from the Match Tool pulldown list.) Turning this on will cause the effects of the Curve to be calculated before the IK of the bones.
Filter Hierarchy Motion: Turning this on will override any additional animation applied to the affected objects. For example: if you have a chain of objects modified by the curve, Filter Hierarchy Motion will not allow you to modify the objects' motion by any other means.
Filter Point Rotation: When this is on, it will prevent the point rotation values from further rotating the affected objects. This is useful when you have the points in a parent chain; when you rotate the points in the chain you may not want the rotation values to be passed to the affected objects.
Twist Chain: Turning this on will allow the curve/point bank values to bank the affected objects along the curve; effectively giving the appearance of twisting the chain of affected objects. (Things will be less twisted the farther away from the point being rotated.)
Bank Children: With this on, it will allow the curve/point bank values to be passed to the affected objects' children. (All objects will bank equally down the length of the curve.)
Scale Children XForm: With this on, the curve/point X,Y scale values will scale the X,Y local positions of the affected objects' children.
Align To Tangents: By default, each object will target (align to) its child along the curve. This can give the appearance of, say, a chain. Align to Tangent will align each object to the Curve direction (tangents). This is very useful when the objects on the curve need to be independent.
Bank To Start Tangent: The objects will bank based on the start tangent object.
Bank To End Tangent: The objects will bank based on the end tangent object.
Note: If Bank to Start Tangent and Bank to End Tangent are both active, the chain will appear to twist. If the twist is too extreme, the chain will appear to snap on Bank, so, use this feature only when a limited amount of twisting is necessary.