Geometry Caching

You can save your Polygon mesh, NURBS (including curves) surface, and Subdivision Surface deformations (skin and non-skin) to a server or local hard drive by caching your object’s deformations to a geometry cache. 

Geometry caches are special Maya files that store vertex transformation data. They are useful when you want to reduce the number of calculations Maya performs when playing back or rendering scenes that contain many deforming objects, and they allow you to easily mix and edit your object’s deformations in an intuitive, nonlinear manner. With geometry caches, you can also exchange point data through the Autodesk® FBX® plug-in with other supported software packages. Cache Blend Shapes so that you can further modify their deformations by replacing or deleting geometry cache frames. Cache a character’s high resolution skin with many deformations to speed up the playback or rendering of its scene. You can create geometry caches for your objects from the Geometry Caching.