# zLineOfAction¶

This node automatically adds excitation to a zFiber so that the muscle will contract to (approximately) match the contraction of given input curves. The resulting excitation depends on the curve’s length (pos), the rate that the curve’s length is changing (vel), and the acceleration of the curve’s length (acc). Usually, these attributes can all be left at default values. The first parameters to try changing are posSensitivity and stretchBias.

Note

Prior to ZivaVFX v1.9, zLineOfAction did not take into account the zSolverTransform transform matrix during length computations. This could cause the wrong zFiber excitation in certain cases.
A new plug, iSolverParams, was introduced in ZivaVFX v1.9 to fix the problem. Disconnecting this plug causes the zLineOfAction node to report a warning message. To upgrade scenes made with older versions of ZivaVFX, please run following Python script in the Maya Script Editor:

from utility import fix_loa_connection; fix_loa_connection.run();


Attribute

Meaning

maxExcitation

Clamp the excitation at this value.

stretchBias

Set’s the imaginary rest length of the muscle to be (1+stretchBias) times the actual rest length. The line of action will not excite when the curve is this length. Setting stretchBias to a positive number will make the fiber excite even when the curve is not contracted.

posSensitivity

Multiplies the effect due to changes in curve length. Setting this to 2.0 will double the amount of excitation.

velSensitivity

Multiplies the effect due to velocity of the curve’s length. When this is large, the muscle will excite more when the curve is shrinking and less when the curve is elongating. Typically, this can be left at zero. Effective values for this attribute are difficult to determine. Values of 1000 or more may be required to see an effect. It depends significantly on the animation.

accSensitivity

Same concept as velSensitivity, but based on acceleration instead of velocity.

oLength

For reference, this is set to the length of the input curve(s).