CompuServe Messages

Actually, I think you could do this by "simply" making a lofted object the size and shape of your creature, and then having an animated opacity AND texture map. You loft with mapping coordinates, and then your animated texture map becomes the creature skin, moving along in place with the opacity map (similar to the spool.zip example I posted here). I think it would work for the creature you have in mind because the shape is the same at all stages of the path — it wouldn't work for a creature with a thorax, for example. But you ought to be able to have bump mapping, etc. as long as it's animated in the same way. Just a thought (for me, I'd use Bones Pro — one of the most useful IPAS I own).