Clusters that Follow
One problem I have had with using Clusters in Maya is that if you parent them into the rig then you get a double transform on the vertices in the Cluster. But here is a solution I learned today.
1. select your verts, create your cluster
2. Assuming it’s named cluster1(default name), type in the following:
connectAttr -f cluster1Handle.pim cluster1.pm;
This will connect cluster1Handle.parentInverseMatrix to cluster1.bindPreMatrix.
3. Group the Cluster and then parent it into the rig.
The cluster will now follow the rig, without double transforming.
I found this useful. It always amazes me how much maya hides very functional aspects of the program. If you’re interested, I am putting together a script that will extract the orientation of the joint to which you are parenting the cluster. That way the translations and orientations are not only relative to the skeleton, but actually follow it as well.
Thanks for the info.
S