The Combination Preview

The Combination Preview is intended to help modelers create combination nodes by showing possible combination nodes and existing combination nodes in the network from selected nodes in the Shape View.

It is critical when creating combination nodes that the deltas from upstream nodes (which might be other combination nodes) are "captured" as drivers to the new combination node. The Combination Preview helps show you what you can create and what is already created. To use the view select a number of network nodes in the shape view then in the Combination Preview click the "Generate Preview" button. The Combination Preview evaluates the selected nodes and traverses the shape network to see if any existing combinations are available and generates permutations of combinations based on the selection and orders them by combination level. 

Previewing Combinations

In the image below we isolate select "lipCornerPuller", "jawOpen" and "platysma" in the Shape View. Then in the Combination Preview we have clicked "Generate Preview". Notice in the image below that existing combinations are listed in grey whereas possible combinations are listed in red.

Notice that there are two possible combinations from the three nodes:
"platysma_lipCornerPuller"

"jawOpen_platysma_lipCornerPuller"

In building proper shape networks where deltas are stacked hierarchically like a pancake system you if you are trying to create a new combination from those three nodes you could make a combination directly from those three primaries and Aria supports that. However, in our example given that there is already two combination nodes in the network ("jawOpen_platysma", "jawOpen_lipCornerPuller") we want to capture those combinations are driver nodes into our new combination node. Thus building out the "platysma_lipCornerPuller" level 2 combination as well helps solidify that our new combination node can be made from upstream combinations ("jawOpen_platysma", "jawOpen_lipCornerPuller", "platysma_lipCornerPuller") and all our upstream deltas will be captured properly.

Generating Combinations

To generate combinations from the previous list select one or more combinations colored in red then click on the "Created Combinations From Selected" button.

In our example above we want to create both the "platysma_lipCornerPuller" combination and also the "jawOpen_platysma_lipCornerPuller" combination. Once the create button is clicked you will see the Shape View update with the newly generated combination nodes.

Once the new combination nodes have been created their text turns normal in the Combination Preview list denoting they are not in the shape network. The Combination Preview is an excellent way for modelers to know which combinations exist in a network and quickly get a grasp of what combinations can/should be created based on the selection in the Shape View.