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3. If you are painting in a scene, note the following:
Currently, you can only paint effects on the view plane (the plane that is ortho- normal to the camera view), the grid plane of the perspective view, or on NURBS surfaces.
Although you cannot paint 3D effects on polygonal surfaces, you can paint 2D effects on them using the 3D Paint Tool, or you can create textures using Paint Effects and apply them to the surfaces. You can also try the following workflows:
· Use the Particle Instancer with Random turned off to emit particles from your poly mesh, then replace the particles with Paint Effects Strokes. For details, see Using Maya: Dynamics. (Motion blur will not blur Paint Effects strokes with this method.)
· Place rough, invisible NURBS geometry inside the poly mesh and bind it to the same skeleton. Paint on the NURBS surface and the Paint Effects strokes will grow out the the NURBS surface and through the poly mesh.
· Bind the CVs of some NURBS curves to vertices on the poly mesh then convert the curves to strokes.
4. Refer to the lessons in Instant Maya for an introduction to Paint Effects.