Ian Waters takes a look at using more than one Instancer in MASH version 2.1, which was recently updated to accommodate the Flight simulation node for flocking, schooling and swarming in Maya.
If you are unfamiliar, MASH is a procedural animation toolkit for Maya, which extends Maya’s capabilities to create animations with characteristics most found in motion graphics, not unlike what comes so easily to Cinema 4D.
How to use multiple instancers to set up a crowd simulation
MASH recently updated with a bunch of refinements, bug fixes, plus the new Flight Node which prompted an update to the MASH Instancer which is central to this tutorial, creating a simple crowd simulation in Maya.
Here, Ian shows how to use the MASH Distribute Node, Instancer and MASH ID Node to create a great little crowd simulation, demonstrating the power and ease of MASH.
To learn more about MASH for Maya, check out the page at Mainframe North for a free demo and pricing info – certainly well worth the price tag.