I started using Maya Muscle this past week for a project I am doing at work. I’m enjoying it a lot so far. Muscle simulations have come a long way since I was last actively working with them.
I started out using the simple muscle system with the muscle spline deformer, but at the advice of the documentation I have started exploring the newer “Muscle Creator” system, successor to the “Muscle Builder”. I can see how this new system adds more flexibility and makes things even easier again for setting up and customizing muscles (as stated in the docs).
I am going to continue testing both methods for the time being though. I’d like to decide for myself which workflow I think works best rather than just following what the documentation tells me to do. There have been many “new and improved” features rolled out in software packages in the past few years which never really caught on. Some do succeed admirably, but it seems just as many end up failing. Best thing to do, usually, is listen to general consensus among peers. So far in my searching, however, I have yet to find a consensus out there. Going to have to figure it out on my own.
Thank you for posting this. I’m very curious to find out what you think of the Maya Muscle system & if you have used it with HumanIK in Maya 2012. I use both Max and Maya, -so far the Maya Muscle system seems to be the best I’ve found for a muscle system. CAT Muscle in Max is terrible (and I mean no insult to CAT), although when the Subscription Advantage pack comes out for Max, CAT is supposed to get a ‘big’ fix (from the blog/comments of Ken Pimpernel -sp?).