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GG Dynamics - a Maya plugin
Tooling

GG Dynamics - a Maya plugin

GG Dynamics is a Maya plugin for fast pinch, jiggle, and impact deformations.

Arnout Meysman

Rigging Artist

3 min. read
02 Jul 2026
Quick summary

GG Dynamics is a Maya plugin for fast pinch, jiggle, and impact deformations.  Place a controller, pick a force kernel (Grab/Twist/Pinch) and a mode (Push/Pulse/Jiggle), then shape it with sliders for strength, bulge, timing, and falloff. It's built on Dynamic Kelvinlets and evaluates every frame directly, so you can layer effects over existing animation and keyframe the impact.

Introducing GG Dynamics: Kelvinlet Deformations for Maya

Different dynamic types showcase

A pinch, a jiggle, the punch of an impact, these are fiddly to build in Maya by hand. GG Dynamics makes them faster to set up.

Place a controller, choose an effect, and shape it with a handful of sliders.

The workflow is built around placing controllers. Drop one on your mesh, pick a deformation mode, and you get a result straight away. From there you finetune with sliders for strength, spread, bulge, timing, and falloff.

Each frame is calculated directly rather than simulated, so there's nothing to solve and nothing to cache. Scrub the timeline freely, layer the effects on top of the animation you already have, and keyframe the point of impact.
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Pinch ripple effect

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How it works

GG Dynamics is built on Dynamic Kelvinlets, a way to deform a surface around a point of force. Every frame is evaluated on its own, so playback stays fast and a given frame looks the same each time you scrub back to it. Keyframe the controller, its strength, or its direction to shape the effect over time.

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Features

  • Force kernels: Grab, Twist, Pinch
  • Dynamic modes: Push (static pose), Pulse (impact ripple), Jiggle (damped oscillation)
  • Mix any kernel with any mode: grab jiggle, twist pulse, static pinch, and so on
  • Direction control: manual vector, surface normal, or controller axis  all animatable
  • Oriented pinch: the squeeze axis follows the surface normal or controller orientation
  • Volume-preserving bulge on push for a rounded, fleshy result
  • Per-controller timing: start/end frames, time scale, and time offset on every controller
  • Cycle modes: Loop or Ping Pong with an adjustable duration
  • Spatial falloff: radial (straight-line) or geodesic (across the surface) attenuation
  • Readable controllers: arrows change shape by kernel and colour by mode, so the viewport reads at a glance
  • Frame-by-frame evaluation: no solve, no cache, full scrubbing

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Workflow

 1. Open GG Dynamics and pick your target mesh.

 2. Create a controller, or add a selected transform you choose.

 3. Choose a force type (Grab / Twist / Pinch) and a dynamics mode (Push / Pulse / Jiggle).

 4. Set strength, firmness, and bulge, then timing for pulse and jiggle.

 5. Scrub to see the effect, and keyframe the controller to move the impact.

 Every control has a tooltip, and you can copy and paste settings between controllers.

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Credits & reference

Based on "Dynamic kelvinlets: secondary motions based on fundamental solutionsof elastodynamics" by Fernando de Goes and Doug L. James (SIGGRAPH 2018).

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Stay updated

We build this kind of tooling for studios every day. see our character rigging services and Maya tool development.

https://gimbalgoats.com · linkedin

Author
Arnout Meysman

Rigging Artist

Hi, I'm Arnout Meysman, a rigging artist at Gimbal Goats. I like to make simple, effective setups that do exactly what animators request. My main focus is good communication, I like to have a clear view of what other teams need and expect. Very flexible in learning and using different rigging tools and flows. Currently working in Maya, but known to hang around in Blender and Unreal as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use my own custom controller instead of the default arrow in GG Dynamics for Maya?
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Yes. Select any transform (your own NURBS curve, locator, or existing rig control) and click Add Selected, GG Dynamics adds its controller attributes directly to that node instead of creating the default arrow. This makes it easy to parent the deformer into an existing Maya rig and drive it with controls your animators already use.

How do I loop or repeat a Pulse ripple in the GG Dynamics Maya deformer?
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To repeat a Pulse ripple, set a Duration (in frames) and choose a Cycle Mode: Loop or Ping Pong. Cycle Mode only works when Duration is greater than 0, so the ripple repeats for the length you set instead of firing once.

Can I have more than one effect on the same mesh?
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Yes. In GG Dynamics you can add as many controllers as you like on a single mesh. Each controller is an independent Kelvinlets force point with its own Force Type, Dynamics mode, and settings, and their effects combine (stack) additively, so you can layer multiple pushes, pulses, and jiggles on the same mesh at once.

How is this different from a simulation (nCloth, soft bodies)?
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Every frame is evaluated on its own - there's no solver and nothing to cache. That means you can scrub the timeline freely, a given frame always looks identical when you come back to it, and there's no bake step.

The trade-off is that it's a procedural deformation driven by your controllers and keyframes, not a physics solve.

What is the difference between Force Type and Dynamics mode in the GG Dynamics Maya deformer?
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Force Type sets the shape of the deformation: Grab (push/pull), Twist (rotate), or Pinch (squeeze). Dynamics mode sets its behaviour over time: Push (static pose), Pulse (impact ripple), or Jiggle (damped oscillation). You can combine any Force Type with any Dynamics mode in Maya. For example grab jiggle, twist pulse, or static pinch to control both the look and the timing of the effect.