Morph Object creation

#1

I am real green to Max 9 sp2. I hope my description of the problem below is clear. Here is what I’m trying to do:

I have a 2D map of the U.S. What my boss wants to see is, from within the state of Oklahoma, this “blob” moving evenly outward to the edges of the map’s border in all directions.

  1. I created a spline Line surrounding the edges of the map, turning off Optimize.
  2. I extrude it to give it a surface.
  3. Then I create a clone.
  4. I scale the clone down to a small blob in the center of OK.
  5. I then select the large map object as my seed, go to Morph Object.
  6. The large map is selected
  7. I click on Pick Target and select the Move radio button.
  8. I click on on the Target (the small blob in Ok)

THIS IS WHERE THE PROBLEM OCCURS:
Instead of the seed (large map outline) taking on the shape of the target (blob) with the seed’s shape taking on the blob’s shape, the target disappears, and there’s no change in the seed’s shape.

I have tried the above using other geometry and the morphing as described above works fine. If I knew how to create an outline of the U.S. using some other kind of geometry I’d do it.

I really don’t care how I achieve the “expanding blob” effect but my deadline for my boss is drawing near and I don’t want to be pulling out my hair and miss giving Santa his cookies and burbon.

#2

You can directly animate geometry(sub-object selection) transforms from within the edit poly modifier.

#3

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