In this quick video tip for Blender 2.5 we take a look at how to use the lattice modifier. This modifier is very useful for modifying the shape of an existing object while leaving the mesh intact.
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32 Responses to “Tip: Using the Lattice Modifier”Leave a Comment
Also, I like the banner image!
Also, I like the banner image!
Any chance of showing us how to apply an armiture to the lattice to modify a character? Great introduction!
Any chance of showing us how to apply an armiture to the lattice to modify a character? Great introduction!
That WOULD be very useful
Hey Jonathan its been a while nice tutorial your classes are really awesome.
Hey Jonathan its been a while nice tutorial your classes are really awesome.
Thanks for the tut. Am I right in thinking this is what you’d use for toon-style squash ‘n’ stretch in animation? Set up a rig to affect the lattice, and the lattice to affect the mesh…
Sorry, no Jonathan here, but fear not – I come bearing advice! Doing it the way you suggested is definitely a good one and should work without a problem. =) Another would be to use the ‘Stretch-To’ Bone Constraint. It’s a constraint that will make the tip of a bone always follow another bone or object. If you’ve used proper weight painting on the bone with the constraint on it, you should get a very similar squash and stretch effect.
-Patrick
I really enjoyed it! make a tutorial of how to create a Matrix bullet-time realistic, if not know what it is watch this quick video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhxbYTMNMxo
Thank you. The tip series is fantastic. My tip to anyone new to Blender, hit the “Tips” link in the categories section below to see all 65 tips. Collectively they are becoming THE Blender encyclopedia IMO.
another great tip !!
Hey Jonathan,
Didn’t we use a lattice on the Apple model?
Yes we did!
-Jonathan
Cool. Always nice to refresh a memory with a quick tip like this.
I downloaded version 2.56a and i followed the tutorial exactly and it doesn’t work, HELP!
Hi Oscar,
Can you tell me what exactly isn’t working?
-Jonathan
I never realized how useful the Lattice Modifier is until today. Thanks!
Hi, I posted the same message under another vid as well, but it doesnt appear (maybe these are moderated first?), so here I go: is it possible the select individual meshes within the same object? For example, theres a modeling program I know which has such a selection mode that if you select just one vertex of a mesh, the entire mesh is selected. This is very useful when you have individual meshes within the same object fitted into each other, for example if I want to pull a magazine out of the weapon.
In Object Mode select the object hit
Numpad + / on your keyboard this will isolate an object or a mesh all other meshes or objects will become hidden. You can now go into edit mode and edit that object you isolated when done go back to object mode and hit Numpad + / to UN-hide all other objects
or just watch the following video is long but it will show you how and many other tricks. http://www.blendtuts.com/cams_nav
Hello,
This site is great!
I am trying to go through each of the tutorials and learn blender as I go. I would love to be able to utilise the modifiers and tools to a decent level to be able to show others how to go about creating simple models.
However, I am stumbling at creating the cylinder that you have in the tutorial. I see that is has a subdivision modifier added to it. I have added the cylinder mesh but how do you get more edges and faces on the top and sides??
Hi there,
The extra edges are added in two ways: first along the sides I added several loop cuts with CTRL + R and then for the top I selected the whole cap and extruded it. Immediately after hitting E to extrude I hit S to scale it in slightly. Once this subsurf is added then I have a nice sharp model
-Jonathan
i find the tutorial totally distracting goes from point a to jupiter ( talks about modeling a house–) then come back to how to use it but now confused as cannot concentrate–is he talking about the house? now comes back to point b–i so far with 2 other people trying to follow this for over 1 hour have made no progress. suggest go from point a to b to to d etc–forget about what you can do with it, we want to use it–i know what it can do now i want to use it–will give it 3 more attempts then move on
Hi Peter,
I’m sorry for any confusion I may have caused in the tutorial. Here is a quick step-by-step on how to use the lattice modifier:
1. Select model you wish to deform and center 3D cursor on the object by pressing shift + S > Cursor to Selection
2. Add a lattice modifier to that object
3. Add a new lattice object to your scene by pressing shift + B from the viewport; adjust lattice if needed to fit original model.
4. Reselect the original model and choose the Lattice from the “Object” field in the lattice modifier panel.
5. Select the lattice, enter Edit mode with tab and move the vertices at will to deform original model.
I hope that helps!
-Jonathan
Johnathon, Nice tutorial, and I appreciate how much work you’ve put into all of these. But as a 2-day old newbie, I found this particular one (like so many) frustrating.
In edit mode, after adding the lattice, I see you click and drag your mouse to select vertices with a square dotted box. Wow, magic! No combination of Shift, Alt, Control, LMB, RMB, MMB gets that same action. (Yes, Ctrl+Click gets a dotted selector, but it ain’t square). So, yeah, I got the vertices selected.
Then I witness you clicking and dragging, and the lattice does neat things, like a smooth snake dance. Sorry, magic yet again – I can’t seem to duplicate it.
So, if there are prerequisites to setting-up options in my Blender to match your Blender, or there are super-secret handshakes I’m supposed to purchase first, it would be nice if you’d list them somewhere. Example: “Preq’s: Watch Video’s 1, 5-7 and read this post.”
Otherwise, I’m left lost, frustrated, and wanting. Again, I KNOW how much effort you’ve spent. Too bad it was waisted on me.
Hey Terry,
To box select some vertices, in edit mode hit the B key, hold down left mouse button and drag to select. To select all of the vertices with one click, just hit A key.
I think I wrote that correctly.
I also want to add something I discovered today(for anyone reading this far into comments) which is you can apply shape keys to the lattice! When I’m creating eyeballs for characters, I can lattice deform the eyeball and then shape key my way through a series of different expressions for the eye (sad, angry, surprised) like they do with Pixar characters. Pretty neat trick!
Anyway, thanks for the basics on this lattice modifier, Jonathan!
Hello,
I hope you’re still checking on tips and videos you’ve created in the past.
Even though I’ve gone through all the comments, including the replies to the FAQ, I’m still unable to succeed in making the Mesh responde to the Lattice.
I have a Lattice and a Tubed Mesh; The Mesh being smaller and inside the Lattice.
I’ve even typed “Lattice” in the “Object” after marking the Mesh.
Why are they not `one`? I’m doing the same as the video despite the different interface. Is having a slightly newer Blender version making this effect, or am I doing something wrong despite following everything that’s been mentioned so far?
Your help will be appreciated.
The Frustrated Omri.
Hi Omri,
I’m sorry to hear you’re frustrated. If you would like to email the .blend file to support@cgcookie.zendesk.com I’ll be happy to take a look at it to see what the problem is.
-Jonathan
This is very frustrating. I’m doing something wrong.
I’ve followed your tutorial, and the tutorial of others around the Internet, and for something this basic, they all say the same thing.
I create a cylinder.
I hit Ctrl+R in edit mode on the cylinder and give scroll up, to give it some more manipulation points.
I create a lattice. I give it some more U, V, and W.
I’ve tried changing my lattice name to other things, thinking that maybe Lattice as the default name is causing problems, but no matter what I name it, and then link my cylinder to, the cylinder simply will not follow the manipulation of the lattice, whether it’s basic-full object manipulation (of the lattice) or more specific control in edit mode.
I’ve reset my Blender 2.61 to factory settings, thinking that, in my nubbery, I have changed an important setting. The result is the same. I will keep at it, but I am very confused as to what the problem is.
If it means anything: If I set the cylinder’s parent to the lattice, the cylinder will follow the lattice’s basic full object manipulation, although not manipulation in Edit Mode.
In each attempt, I’ve also tried rendering to see if I’ve done something that is causing this not to appear in edit mode. No bueno.
Thanks to anyone who can provide some insight into what I’m doing wrong.
Thanks Jonathan, your tutorials are very good and easy to follow. Many other sites and tutorials have the host assuming so many things about what the user knows and using a lot of keyboard shortcuts without identifying how they got there.
Hmm.
I uninstalled the program (and configuration settings) and reinstalled (the same version, 2.61) and created a lattice and cube, from memory of the several videos I’ve watched and it worked.
It’s not likely that the installation, or a file, was corrupt but simply that I made a change to something in an errant keypress, I guess, that stopped lattices from working.
Oh well, I can’t be the only one to ever have this happen, maybe this comment will help someone else.
Thanks.
I wanted to know how I can add shirt geometry to the Norman rig. In Maya I would use a wrap deformer and that usually just works fine. Is there an equivalent in Blender ?