Hi ! my first post here. i started working in CG in 1988 using engineering tools (solid modelling) & finite element modelling software. then started working with Max in 2005 & Maya in about March of 2008.

i am trying to create the behavior in Maya, illustrated in the Auto Trader commercial, as described in Joe Gunn's tutorial at
https://www.joegunn3d.com/Tuts/Crig_Surfacelock.htm

the tutorial focuses on the crabs & crab rigs he created for an Auto Trader commercial. it's an underwater scene with a bunch of animals created from car parts.

in order to rig the crabs, he used the conform function in Max. this ties one plane to another plane, so that if the master plane has a deformation, the child plane tied to it travels along the surface of the master plane, and conforms to the deformed area, then flattening out when the path flattens out.

i can partially obtain this behavior in Maya using Constrain Geometry. when i do it with 2 planes, they are free to move within a limited area. it looks like the 'limited area' is about the size of the smaller of the 2 planes. regardless of which one i choose first when i select parts before implementing the Constrain Geometry feature.

another way to describe the behavior is "surface following". for example, a golf ball rolling slowly on a green with some convex & concave areas. it follows the surface, but does not leave the surface - no matter where the golf ball goes, its center stays 1 golf ball radius away from the surface its following.

i know there's got to be a way to get this sliding behavior in Maya. is there a way to get Constrain Geometry to allow more motion within the coupled plane, or another feature that does similar behavior ?

Thanks a lot for any help !