I have another question as another new guy to maya - is there an equivalent to max's path deform? I need to create a number of unique meshes which follow many unique splines. To make things easier, I would like to create variations on the mesh, unwrap them and apply a material, then deform them to curves in the scene, with the ability to edit the original mesh reference. The two closest solutions I have been able to find are:

1. Wire deformer. The curve needs to be created inside of the reference mesh, then the curve's cvs need to be edited to fit the scene apppropriately. I would prefer to lay out each curve within the scene prior to deforming meshes.

2. Extrude face with "Use selected curve for extrusion." This will be more trouble than the above method as I'd need to unrwap every single extruded mesh... and there are going to be many. It's an organic scene with lots of unique geometry.

Ideally I'd create the curves, then create the meshes, unwrap and apply materials, then deform to curves, with the ability to edit the referenced meshes.

Animate -> Motion Paths -> Attach to Motion Path

This makes the object move along the spline. Then:

Animate -> Motion Paths -> Flow Path Object

will create a lattice around the object to deform it to the shape of the path.

All editable & animatable, so you can scale, tweak and reshape as needed.

Awesome, thanks! Works great. One thing I am missing though is max's ability to reference a mesh, then the new mesh can be deformed without editing the original. Also, the original can be edited, making changes to every object that references it, even if deformed. Maya only seems to have duplicate type Instance under Duplicate Special.

edit: ok it looks like it's possible to Reference at a file level but not at object level within one scene..