MASH

Set up your Maya options for animation
Move the time slider over to frame 1 at the bottom of the screen.


Change 24 fps to 30 fps over to the right on the timeslider.




Add Mash to Preferences
Windows->Settings/Preferences->Plug-in Manager
     Select MASH.mll



Basic Tutorial
  
Use the Animation Module

Create a Polygon Primitive


Select MASH->Create MASH Network->
     Select Instancer

     In the Attribute Editor select the MASH_Distribute tab
          Change the Number of Points
          Change other Sliders
          Change Distribution Type to Radial  (default Linear)


Select the MASH tab  (first tab in the Attribute editor)
     Select Replicator->Add Replicator Node
          Increase the number of Replicants
          Change the Offset Position Z slider


Draw a curvey NURBs curve along the z depth


Select the MASH
     Select the MASH_Replicator tab
     Middle mouse Drag and drop the NURBs curve into the Curve box
     Set Animation Speed to 1


Preview the animation
Right mouse over the Time Slider
     Select Playback Speed->Play Every Frame, Max Real-Time

Hit the play arrow on the Time Slider.



Dynamics Tutorial
  
Use the Animation Module


Paint
Create at least 1 Polygon base shape to paint shapes onto

Create a few Polygon Primitives to use as paint
   Select the shapes


Select MASH->Create MASH Network->
     Select Instancer

     In the Attribute Editor select the MASH_Distribute tab
          Change the Number of Points to 0


Select the MASH tab
     Add Placer->Add Placer Node
          Select the Add brush button, start painting onto the base shapes
     Change Id Mode to Random
          Set the Random ID from 0 to the number of objects (minus 1)
          Select the Add brush button, start painting onto the base shapes



Dynamics
Select the MASH in the Outliner


Select the MASH tab
     Add Dynamics->Add Dynmaics Node

Hit the play arrow on the Time Slider.


Select the MASH_BulletSolver in the Outliner
     Select the MASH_BulletSolverShape tab in the Attribute editor
     Middle mouse Drag and drop a collision surface into Collider Objects


Hit the play arrow on the Time Slider.



Duplicate the MASH to use as a model or animation for Unity etc
Select the MASH_Instancer in the Outliner

Select MASH->Utilities->Bake Instancer to objects
     Select Bake Animation or Object

The new object has no connections to MASH

Keep the MASH_Instancer_objects, rename the group

You may delete all the other MASH objects,



MASH World Notes
Basic Setup

For proper placing/collision, create the original meshes/objects at unit cube scale (1,1,1) located at 0,0,0.

Make sure to freeze the transformations on the original objects (not quite sure if that step is needed, but i'd just do it for now).

Select the objects to mash run MASH->Create Mash Network.

Inside the Mash attribute editor, hit the Add Node->World button.

Inside the world tab, change Cluster Mode to Map Based. Drag the base mesh into the Input Mesh field.

Change Previous Points Mode to Kill.

Set Collision Iterations to 0 as that should not matter for grass/rocks.

Change the Radius to a scale that makes sense (i.e. to scale it down/up from the unit size in step 01.)

Adjust all the other settings in the Cluster section to your liking.


Distribution Map Setup
Under Map settings load or create a black and white map to change the object distribution.


Animation Considerations
If your Mash Network contains animations, you need to make sure to switch the geometry under MASH->Utilities->Change MASH Geometry Type.

Now you will be able to add a Time node on the Mash network to offset and randomize the animation cycles for all the objects.



Optimize Scene Size
If you need to use File->Optimize Scene Size-> do not select Remove empty: Sets this will remove the MASH instances.

© 1988-2022 34 years Jennifer Steinkamp