In this tutorial we are going to explain how to make a transformation animation (morphing) between 2 shapes created with Spiros 3dsMax plugin.

At Spiros‘ trailer video, there’s an animation in wich a spiral shape morphs into a spherical helix that becomes the Earth globe (see the image above). That animation was made in 3dsMax with a little used technique: using the Morpher modifier to morph between splines.

This modifier is very powerful and it’s capable to make transformations not only between 3D meshes, but also between splines (and FFD lattices). The only restriction is the same as for meshes: splines must have the same number of vertices/knots.

Since Spiros let you set a specific number of knots for the shapes you create or modify, you can make any transformation between any shapes created with this plugin. Just make sure they have the same number of knots. Also consider to change the order of the knots in the spline (reverse it) if necessary, for getting a better result.

The better way to make this kind of morphing is to work on a single channel in the Morpher modifier. Just add all the shapes that will participate in the transformation to a single channel, then arrange the order of appearance and adjust the tension parameter to zero.

Try ity! There’s a lot of cool animations and effects you can do by morphing splines. Imagine you have many objects whose position or rotation depends on a path (path constrained) or they are wrapped to a spline (path deformed). If you animate (or morph) the spline, they will act in consequence. It’s an incredible tool for Motion Graphics animations.

That’s all for this tutorial. I hope you liked it and make great animations.

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Cheers!