Suppose we wanted to shove a sphere through a very small hole in a wall. We could set up morph targets, and spend awhile getting the keyframe timing just right, or.... we could use a Lattice instead. Lattices are extremely powerful, and can deform single objects, or entire hierarchies.

This tutorial requires:

Pixels3D | studio | v3.x
Basic Understanding of the Pixels | 3D | Studio Interface

Choose Shape>Lattice.

Create a 6x6 Lattice.

What is this?

Think of a Lattice as a section of space that can be warped, twisted, bent, stretched, maligned, etc...

Any object linked to the Lattice will adhere to the deformation of that space.

When we created the Lattice, the sphere became a child of it. Any movement of the Lattice, would also move the sphere. For a little more freedom, do the following:

Select the Sphere.

Open the Sphere's Link Options ( CMD-L ).

Uncheck Scale, Rotation, and Position; leaving only the Lattice link checked.

Now, moving the lattice doesn't move the sphere.

Select the Lattice, and enable Tag Mode. Enable the X&Y constraints, and disable Z.

Select the center two columns of CVs.

Select the next two colums, and scale down untiil it looks something like this.

Disable Tag Mode, and deselect the Lattice.

Select the Sphere, and enable only the Z Axis constraint.

Choose Control>Move, and drag the sphere in the Top or Right Views. The sphere is always a sphere. Technically, it doesn't change shape at all. The space it enters has changed shape, and it conforms to that space.

With only a few simple steps, we were able to pull off the animation.

Now...you go try it!