Maya bend deformer (Paris folding scene- Inception)

[brokendoll]

Hi folks,

I am trying to create a similar thing to the Paris folding scene from Inception. I've run some test with the bend deformer in Maya but the results are not satysfying. I've created a basic plane (ground) and some (cubes) when I parent the cubes to the plane they do bend however they move away from the plane. When I combine the whole geometry together the cubes stretch very nasty.
Can anyone thinkof a solution to this? My approach (bend deformer) may not be the best as well. Just trying to work out a way of bending a plane with some geometry connected to it.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you! 

[joojaa]

image! Anyway its most likely that its becaue there is no vertex at that position to bend. The 3d meshes do not bend just points get moved around, no point no bend.

[brokendoll]

Thanks! Below there are links to the two render I have done

http://mhonoursprojectblog.tumblr.com/post/68359917743/bend-deformer-test-2-maya-ive-tested-the-bend

http://mhonoursprojectblog.tumblr.com/post/68359225247/bend-deformer-test-1-maya-i-am-trying-to

[crashcreative]

Here's one approach:

Constrain >> Point on Poly
or try follicles.

Either way, the key is to keep the deformation separate from the transforms of the rigid cubes. Good luck!

[brokendoll]

Awesome! Just watched a tutorial on follicles- it could be the answer to my question. I'll run some tests tomorrow. Thanks a lot.

[joojaa]

Ah you have a double transform.

[brokendoll]

Follicle worked perfect. I've used it on the bend deformer and it does the trick.Thanks for your help!