Kickstand has supported StretchMesh as a commercial product up to Maya 2011 and is now interested in releasing the code as open source. We would like to get a sense from the community of the level of interest in a fund raising campaign to support the release of the source code. Individual donations would be collected ($20 or so) and a target amount would be specified. If you’ve used StretchMesh and found it to be a valuable tool, speak up and share your experience! If you’ve never used it, feel free to download an evaluation copy here:
http://kickstand.tv/tools/stretchmesh/evaluations/
StretchMesh is a plug-in for Maya which gives geometry an inherently stretchy characteristic. As geometry is deformed using native Maya deformers or other plug-ins, StretchMesh gives the geometry an inherently stretchy quality similar to skin by preserving the initial relationship between the vertices. Collision objects can be added to simulate the underlying anatomy over which the skin slides. A “stiffness” map can be painted to accomodate areas where stretchiness is not desired. More information can be found here: