Load the scene HOlaf_walk.max

The enclosed scene provides an elegant half-way solution to combining HyperMatter and Physique on the same object. Using this method, there are no scaling problems or re-initializing to deal with; although the bulging controls of Physique are lost, with a little work, they could be reasonably simulated using HyperMatter. The basic structure of the scene is that the HyperMatter solid is animated by means of the Spline Follow constraint. Under MAX2, simple splines can now animate their shape. The Spline Follow constraint binds a Hypermatter part to a Smooth or Bezier-type spline.

PLEASE NOTE: The splines used MUST be single, contiguous splines; compound splines created by attaching simple splines together will NOT work in this solution.

Unlike the simple Follow constraint, which only allows rigid or centre-of-mass rotation following of the part, the Spline Follow constraint allows the part to deform with the Spline, allowing far more sophisticated control, particularly in fields like facial animation, where fine control of adjacent parts may be required. The splines are animated to follow the bones of a Biped figure using Physique, which allows very accurate and smooth motion for the HyperMatter object to follow.

The scene consists of the Olaf figure from the CStudio CD. For speed, we just used the default demo walk cycle. Because HyperMatter need a contiguous object to solidify, we first made a snapshot of all the component objects in the scene at frame 0, and then attached all the meshes to form one single mesh object. You must make sure that the object does not move from its location; it is very important that the relationship between the Biped figure and the character is preserved. The parts we are going to make will function as the bones of the charcter, so they are largely subsets of the preset part 'Interior'. Initially, we created splines that approximately followed the bones of the Biped; one for the torso area, one for the legs and pelvis, one for the head, and one each for the arms. By applying Physique to each spline in turn, and flipping up and down the stack between the modifier and the sub-object vertex editing panel, the vertices of the spline can be positioned to exactly follow the Physique links.

After applying Physique, we attached the torso and leg splines to the pelvis of the Biped, the head spline to the neck, and each arm to the shoulder bones of the Biped. Once the splines are lined up correctly, Physique must be deleted from the stack until after the Hypermatter elements are dealt with.

We now create the parts of the HyperMatter object. Obviously, if we are solidifying a detailed, or slim character, we will have to solidify at a high enough resolution to allow the limbs to move freely without stretching or tearing the mesh. A resolution of 10 was found to be the minimum level of HyperMatter detail we could get away with on this particular model. Higher resolutions will give much more accurate results, but with an increase in processing time. The part 'Interior' was chosen, and then vertices deselected to create the 'bones' of the Hypermatter mesh. The aim is to get the closest possible fit to the position of the control splines.

Spline Follow constraints are then applied to each part, selcting the appropriate spline when prompted. The skull part just uses a standard Follow constraint, as it will not deform or move much throughout the animation. It's best to just run the animation a few frames after applying each Spline Follow constraint to check the part is aligned correctly; if it is inaccurate, or too far from the spline, it may pick up influences from other splines, which can be problematic. (Physique's influence envelopes in CS R2 will make this much easier to determine) If the part is too far from the spline, parts of the mesh may 'jump' at frame 1, denoting that the fit is not accurate enough. The splines will still be parented to their respective Biped bones from the previous Physique application; if you want to view the model static to check for alignment, unlink the splines first.

Once the HyperMatter solid is set up, you should check that the Substance parameters are adjusted to allow the mesh to support itself; vigorous movement further into the scene may result in unnaturally soft behaviur, or instability in the worst cases.
So, the HyperMatter solid is set up, and the Substance is satisfactory; NOW we apply Physique again to each of the splines in turn. If we apply it before we apply the Spline Follow constraint, Hypermatter will refuse to pick the spline at all.

Physique will now deform the splines accurately with the mesh, whilst still allowing Hypermatter to handle all the soft dynamics. Some extra constraining functions could be used, either using Fix Distance to prevent parts from being squashed together, or non-deforming splines to hold other parts in place.
We also found that with careful adjustment, this spline technique can also be used to control clothing. If you position the splines, and scale them so that they approximate the OUTSIDE of a body, ie where clothing would actually contact the skin, you can effectively hang blouses and skirts from a Biped with similar ease, adjusting their substance parameters to behave more like cloth.

This method does take away some of the functionality and control of Physique, but it DOES allow far more accurate control over a HyperMatter character than was previously possible, and opens up many new possibilites for non-Biped driven characters like snakes or fish, as
Physique can be applied just as easily to any bone linkage.