MEL Scripting for Maya Animators, 2nd Edition

Chapter 20. Examples Using MEL with Solid Body Dynamics

Unlike particles, solid bodies do not have a class of expressions all their own to aid in creating complex animation. However, MEL and expressions are still quite useful in setting up and controlling solid-body dynamics systems.

In the following examples, we’ll explore how to use MEL to construct scenes that use solid body dynamics and how to use collision events to trigger behaviors both in scenes that only consist of solid bodies and in scenes that combine solid bodies with particles.

Example 1: Particle Collisions

In this example, we will look at particles and how they interact with surfaces. We can tell a particle, or particles in a system, to collide and react with a surface or groups of ...