Edit Trajectory


Result of an Edit Trajectory layout node in trajectory (middle) and mesh (right) modes

The Edit Trajectory node allows to edit the trajectory of the affected Entities.

Add node


Edit Trajectory node in the Layout Graph Edition panel

Node parameters

Parameters are accessible by double-clicking on the node in the Layout Graph Edition panel:


Edit Trajectory node parameters

Name Name of the node
Active Whether the node is active or not
Trajectory Mode

True to consider the Src as a single line trajectory.

False to consider the Src as a surface mesh.
Keep Speed On Trajectory

This parameters is only used when in trajectory mode

When On, the entity's speed is used to move along the trajectory. So if the destination trajectory's length is different than the source trajectory, the entity will take more or less time to reach its end.
When Off, the entity will take the current ratio position on the source trajectory and use it to compute the position on the destination trajectory. The number of frames it takes to travel along the destination trajectory will be exactly the same than it is on the source trajectory.
Reference Frame Index

This parameters is only used when in trajectory mode

The frame at which the entity's offset to the source trajectory will be computed to build the final entity's trajectory

  
Src Trajectory Degree

Degree of the NURBS curve to use for the source trajectory.

Should match the Degree option from the Maya nurbsCurve object for better results (it will automatically matched when importing the curve from a rigth click -> import selection as source).
Dst Trajectory Degree

Degree of the NURBS curve to use for the destination trajectory.

Should match the Degree option from the Maya nurbsCurve object for better results (it will automatically matched when importing the curve from a rigth click -> import selection as destination).
Trajectory Smoothing Distance

This parameters is only used when in trajectory mode

The entity position and orientation on the curve is estimated by using a segment which extremities are projected on the curve, while the entity's position is set in the middle of the segment. This helps smoothing hard angles on the trajectory.
This parameter gives the distances ahead and behind that forms this segment.
Src Mesh/Curve The vertices that forms the source mesh or trajectory. This is usually not filled by hand, but rather by a right click on the node and Import selection as src mesh/trajectory
Dst Mesh/Curve The vertices that forms the destination mesh or trajectory. This is usually not filled by hand, but rather by a right click on the node and Import selection as dst mesh/trajectory

Using the Edit Trajectory

The edit trajectory node works by deforming the trajectory of entities in the same way than the user's input is deformed between the source mesh and destination mesh. Source mesh and destination mesh can be given to the layout by:

  • selecting the maya geometry
  • right clicking on the node and clicking on "Import selection as src mesh/trajectory" or "Import selection as dst mesh/trajectory"

There are a few other option available when right clicking on the edit trajectory node:


Available options on a right click on the node

Export trajectories as source/destination mesh Will export the entities' trajectories as a mesh that can be used as base for user deformation
Export source mesh Will export the current src mesh attribute as a maya mesh
Export destination mesh Will export the current dst mesh attribute as a maya mesh
Import selection as source mesh/curve Will import the current maya selected object as the src mesh attribute
Import selection as destination mesh/curve Will import the current maya selected object as the dst mesh attribute