Maya’s Motion Graphics Toolset is great to tinker with. Experimentation can lead to some interesting things. FX Artist Ruchit Bhatt has been tinkering with having python generate shapes in Maya’s MASH using superformula and supershape.
Superformula is a generalization of the superellipse, first proposed by Johan Gielis. He suggested that the foluvmal can be used to describe some of complex shapes and curves that are often found in nature. If you want to learn more about them, Paul Bourke covers both the superformula and supershape in depth. Maybe Maths isn’t your thing, still it is interesting to poke around and see what you can absorb.
There are other cool tools that use the same mathematical premise. A couple that come to mind are Super Formula and SuperFlow.
Have a look at Ruchit Bhatt’s two videos which shows how he created geometry with Maya MASH using the superFormula and superShape methods using python to generate them. Pretty cool stuff, indeed.
