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Is there a way to animate one shape splitting into two separate ones? For example, in the scenario below I have one mesh which is just a cube, and another mesh which is two ellipsoids that are spatially separated. I would like to cube to morph into a double ellipsoid shape. (The number of vertices in each mesh are not equal).

enter image description here

I have seen some solutions for morphing by using shape keys (which requires the same number of vertices), or by using duplicating the shape and using shrinkwrap (which works when you don't need to split into two objects).

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  • $\begingroup$ what woul be the intermediate shapes between the cube and the 2 ellipsoids? $\endgroup$
    – moonboots
    Commented Aug 31, 2022 at 14:26
  • $\begingroup$ @moonboots. I don't have a specific intermediate shape in mind. Just something which makes the transition look smooth. For example, the cube should first become rounded, then split, then the remaining shapes should gradually become elongated. $\endgroup$
    – teeeeee
    Commented Aug 31, 2022 at 14:35

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You could begin with a cube that morphs into an ellipsoid with a shape key, then replace the cube with 2 metaballs (I just moved the cube away from the view and moved the metaballs into the view) that have the same shape and location. At last split the 2 metaballs and scale them down:

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ This looks great... thanks! Can you add more detail about how you did the animation of moving the cube out and the metaballs in? Is it an instantaneous change from one frame to the next? With no interpolation? $\endgroup$
    – teeeeee
    Commented Aug 31, 2022 at 15:05
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    $\begingroup$ You could keyframe its visibility (Object panel > Visibility) but I just moved it away from the camera view, so just 2 location keyframes, same for the metaballs $\endgroup$
    – moonboots
    Commented Aug 31, 2022 at 15:09

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