CURVE TO TWISTS
A tool to allow converting of curves to twists with layering management. Please visit this video for demonstration
  • Last updated:  V.13.07
Twist Layer UI

Twist Info: 
  • Displays the layer name of current selected twists.
S-M-L:
  • Size of the UI. Small, Medium, or Large.
Refresh Button:
  • Sometimes a layer is deleted or when a new Maya scene is opened, click on this button to refresh the layer list so it can pick up correct layers in current scene.
Create Twist Layer:
  • Select curve(s), and click on this button to create a new twist layer.
Separate Layers:
  • When this is turned on, a layer will be created for each selected curve.
Extract Selected Layers:
  • Makes a duplicate of proxy twists ​from selected twist layers.
Extract All Layers:
  • Makes a duplicate of proxy twist from all twist layers.
Remove All Layers:
  • Delete all layers and the setup.​
Layer Name Button - 
  • Left Click:
    • ​​​​​selects the twists in the layer
  • Right Click:
    • ​​shows menu for add/remove twists, copy/paste twists ​from one layer to another, or rename this layer.
  • Ctrl + Click or Shift + Click:
    • ​ select multiple layers
Color Swatches:
  • Change the color of twists by clicking on the color swatch.
Layer visibility (V):
  • Like Maya Display Layers, turn on/off twists in that layer. When multiple layers are selected, all will be toggled
Layer Lock (L):
  • Like Maya Display Layers, set template/lock on twists in that layer to keep them from being selected. When multiple layers are selected, all will be toggled
Editor (E):
  • Opens up the UI for twists ​controls.
Add Selected Curves (+):
  • Add selected curves into this layer. The tool will apply the global settings. When multiple layers are selected, curves will ONLY be added to the layer that was clicked on.
​Remove Selected Twists (-):
  • Select geometries in the viewport, and click on - to remove them from the layer.
Delete Layer (x):
  • ​Delete entire layer. 
​The tool comes with Visibility, Lock and Up/Down buttons:
​1. Toggle all layer Visibility ON
2. Toggle all layer Visibility OFF
3. Invert current layers Visibility states
4. Toggle all layer Lock ON
5. Toggle all layer Lock OFF
6. Invert current layers Lock States
7. Move selected Layer(s) Up
8. Move selected Layer(s) Down 
9. Move selected Layer(s) to the top
10. Move selected Layer(s) to the bottom
​Twist Control UI

Select Twists:
  • Users can now click on this bottom on the very top of the UI to quickly select all twists in this layer.
​Template On Curve Toggle:
  • When this is turn on, curve toggling will also set template to the geometry. Sometimes this allows easier viewing of the geometry while moving CV's of curves.
Global Curve:
  • Toggles the main curve(s) in component mode. Moving the CVs on these curve(s) will move all together your twist strands.
Strand Curve:
  • Toggles the all individual curve(s) in component mode.
Re-Cal Curve:
  • After manipulating curve CVs, if the length of the curve has changed, click on this button to re-length geometries to the length of curves.
Smoothing:
  • Click to smooth out strands as some settings changes the normal and orientation of the strand faces.
Preset:
  • User can choose a 'style' for twisting strands. Switching preset will overwrite all existing settings. 
Count: 
  • Reading from the preset option, populates the amount of sub strands for the twist.

Global Tab
Length SubD:
  • Controls the length subdivision of all twists in the current layer.
Width SubD: 
  • Controls the width subdivision of all twists in the current layer.
Distance: 
  • Controls the distance, to the main central axis (global curves) of all twist(s) in the current layer. Increasing this will push the sub strands further away from center.
Rotation:
  • ​Rotates all strand(s) around the central axis (global curve) in degrees.
Twist:
  • Twists all strand(s) around the central axis (global curve). This setting needs to be coupled with the twist ramp.
Source Spans:
  • When a twist is created on more complicated curves ( such as coiling curves), sometimes the twist does not follow the shape of curves. On more complicated curves, you can increase the source spans to allow the twist strands to follow the curve shape more. There is no correct amount to set to. Most of the time a value of 30 is enough for most standard curves. 
Note: When your initial Maya curve are more complex, (for example, if it has a lot of curls), creating a twist strand may causes some issues. Twist strands will likely not follow your initial Maya curve, or, contain flipping faces along the strand. Here's how we can fix it.
  • Depending on your complexity of the initial Maya curves, increase Source Spans value. The more complex your curves are, the higher this value needs to be. (It will also be slower)
  • Increase the SubD Length slider
  • Click on the Smoothing button to smooth out the twisting faces.
Please see the demo image below.
Sub Tab
Scale, Scale X & Scale Z:
  • Controls the scale of all sub strands in the current layer.
Length: 
  • Controls the length of all sub strands in the current layer.
Strand Rotation:
  • Rotates all strand(s) around its own axis (strand curve) in degrees.
Strand twist:
  • Twists all strand(s) around its own axis (strand curve) . This setting needs to be coupled with the twist ramp.
Misc Tab
Scale Rand %: 
  • Randomize the scale for all sub strands in the current layer. A setting of 100.00 will randomly scale between 0~100%. A setting of 20.00 randomly scale the strands between 80%~100%.
Length Rand %:
  • Randomize the length for all sub strands in the current layer. A setting of 100.00 randomly sets length between 0~100%. A setting of 20.00 randomly set length between 80%~100%.
Scale + - :
  • Multiplier to increase or reduce the scale of each sub strand.
Length + - :
  • Multiplier to increase or reduce the length of each sub strand. The maximum length of sub strand will not exceed the length of it's counterpart strand curve.
Target Tab
  • This tab displays the settings for individual selected twists. If you change any settings in this tab, the corresponding setting in the global tap will be locked.
  • You can unlock the global settings by 'middle mouse clicking' on the greyed out text. Just be careful that by unlocking global settings, it will apply the value for that setting to all the twists in this layer.
Check out how this tool can be used to create this hair style