Animation of an arrow that deforms along the path

[schumacher77]

I'm pretty new to Maya and want to do an animation of a line following a path (like an arrow that DEFORMS!! along the paht and goes very fast). But Im having a lot of problems doing it. Someone could give me an idea how to do it. I have already searched in the internet for a tutorial but i couldnt find it. There is something like the extrude that i can set to grow?!?!? Thanx in advance for any answer.

[gmask]

You have the tip > animate along a path and then animate the stem - as an extrusion to follow it and there for grow

[mcgergs]

You could always create a skeleton for the arrow with about 4 joints and then use the select -hi mel command to bend it just like you would a finger in a hand. Then bind the arrow skin to it. You can also use the root joint to move it to desired psotions for your animation. I used this technique when I created a bow and arrow and animated the bow flexing to shoot the arrow and the arow flexing upon being shot and then straightiening out as it moved forward.

Mess around with it. There may be a better way. Like you I could not find a good method so I made up my own.