6.12 MORPHING

Actually, we have already created some morphing examples. However, it is time to acquaint you with two methods which are designed especially for morphing. They allow you to morph objects as well as materials.

Morphing methods are based on key framing. This means that you can determine the shape of an object by defining two or more key-frames for it. When the animation is played, the shape of the object is modified from the first key frame towards the last. REAL 3D automatically interpolates intermediate frames for you, using extremely "smooth" B-Spline interpolation. This means that the objects and points do not move along a straight line between corresponding key frame positions but along a B-Spline curve. This feature is very valuable, especially when morphing camera positions.

Morphing methods can also be applied to texture maps and materials.