Overview
MD_Plug is the displacement-map plug-in that applies the motion data created by MD (the .mdd file) to the object in Layout.
Select the object you wish to add .mdd motions to and open up the Object properties panel. Click on the deformations tab and select MD_Plug from the Add Displacement pull-down menu. Set the parameters(see below) as desired.
Selects the .mdd file previously made in MD.
Specifies the start time for the .mdd file.
Specifies the behavior at the end of the motion effect.
Stop : Maintain the last state.
Repeat : Repeats the motion.
Composite : Play back the MDD file successively by using multi-MD_Plug.
Key-Move (ON/OFF)
Controls whether or not the already-keyframed motions in Layout (those motions aside from the ones created with Motion Designer) will be used. Motion data created with MD_Scan and MD_Capture contains displacement of shapes using the keyframe data. Setting Key-Move to ON with the keyframe specified, therefore, causes displacement of shapes twice. To prevent this, set Key-Move to OFF. However, note that setting Key-Move to OFF will disable any motion data in Layout.
Match-By (Coordinates/Nodes)
This option chooses the method of relating MDD data to the object points in Layout.
Coordinates
Relates the .mdd data with the object's Layout data using the coordinates of each point contained in the object prior to reshaping. In this case, the number of points in the object to which the MD_Plug is going to be applied does not need to be the same as that in the MDD data.
When slicing a portion out of a large object to add motions using MDD, motions can be applied directly to the original object. To those points that are not contained in the MDD, displacement using the keyframe is applied regardless of Key-Move.Nodes
Relate using the sequence in which points are contained in the object. In this case, the number of points in the object, to which the MD_Plug will be applied, must be the same as that of the MDD data. Furthermore, the points (nodes) must also be in the same sequence. Relating using coordinates will fail if duplicated points exist, since these points cannot be distinguished. In this case, switching to Match By Nodes is necessary. Since the load to be processed is light, this switching is worthwhile when heavy processing is specified in Match By Coordinates.
Disable
Makes MD_Plug disabled temporarily.
When using with other displacement plug-ins, be sure to switch Key-Move to ON. This allows MDD motions to continue to be reshaped. And the transformation that depends on displacement-map and bone is valid. Note that a plug-in loaded above the MD_Plug is disabled.
MD_MetaPlug is a displacement-map plug-in for extending MD_Plug and applying a MDD file to the object in Layout without restrictions on the shape and the number of points. This allows you to create the animation while completely separating the object for animation from that which ultimately will be rendered; for example, after making a dress billow with MD you can add buttons to it later.
This is basically the same as MD_Plug. However, you have to relate the MDD and the actual object by specifying Cage Object. The Cage Object should consist of triangular and square polygons. The smooth reshaping is executed based on the lattice by polygons. However, this is not very smooth with the current version. Use Metamation for areas where the smoothness should be determined precisely.
There is the case that the relating results in a failure if Cage Object is too rough because the relating is performed on the points of a target object close to that of Cage Object. In this case, subdivide Cage Object.
MDD Filename
Loads the desired .mdd file.
Cage Object Filename
Loads the object that will be the Cage Object used in the calculation.
ActionStart
Specifies the time at which motions based on the .mdd file should start in seconds.
EndBehavior (End State)
Specifies the state at the end of the motion based on the MDD.
Stop : Maintain the last state.
Repeat : Repeat the motion.
Composite : Play back the MDD file successively by using multi-MD_Plug.
Key-Move(ON/OFF)
Controls whether or not the already-keyframed motions in Layout (those motions aside from the ones created with Motion Designer) will be used. Motion data created with MD_Scan and MD_Capture contains displacement of shapes using the keyframe data. Setting Key-Move to ON with the keyframe specified, therefore, causes displacement of shapes twice. To prevent this, set Key-Move to OFF. However, note that setting Key-Move to OFF will disable any motion data in Layout.
Smoothing
It makes the reshaping smooth. If you uncheck the box of Smoothing, the reshaping will be passing through the vertex of Cage Object.
Disable
Temporarily disables MD_MetaPlug.
MD_MetaPlug_Morph is the supplementary displacement plug-in to enhance the functions of MD_MetaPlug. MD_MetaPlug alone cannot utilize the morphing information because it ignores the information from the bone, the morph, and the displacement map. MD can, with MD_MetaPlug_Morph and MD_MetaPlug, make displacements based on the morphing information.
Attn: The morphing process demands a huge amount of CPU resources; you should select an appropriate Morph Mode.
Use this plug-in with MD_MetaPlug. The order of these two plug-ins is up to you. KEY-MOVE of MD_MetaPlug must be OFF; otherwise, MD cannot work accurately because the displacement is executed before morphing.
Morph Mode
This specifies the morphing method:
MD_Scan is a displacement-map plug-in used to incorporate motion data from Layout into MD. The difference from MD_Capture is that MD_Scan can handle motions, such as of bones induced by displacement-map plug-ins. The created data becomes an MDD file and will be read and used with the main body.
How to use the Plug-in
Select the object into which you wish to incorporate the motion. Using the Object properties panel in Layout, select MD_Scan from the displacement-map plug-ins, and then specify the settings.
Specify the filename and the parameters, and click OK. The following dialog appears.
Preview the required frames.
When previewing is complete, click on the MD_Scan option button again. If fetching of data is successful for all specified frames, the dialog asking whether or not to save data is displayed. Check the message and click OK.
MDD Filename
Selects the MDD file to be saved.
Scan Points
Displays the number of points in the object to be saved.
First Frame
Specifies the recording start frame.
Last Frame
Specifies the last frame recorded.
Frame Rate
Chooses the number of frames to be saved in the MDD file. Frames which are not saved are made available by interpolating preceding and succeeding frames. Increasing this number can reduce the data size when saving motions that are long but not so fast in speed.
Scanned Frame
Displays the fetched frame.
Using with other plug-ins
When using with other displacement-map plug-ins, be sure to load MD_Scan at the end.
