I'm creating an animation to teach people how to stand up from lying on the floor (the vast majority of people do it wrong!) - this is mainly to help people with back problems.

I'm using M3 for the show, including various aspects - skeleton, muscle maps and plain skin (all separate animations - I'll composite them later after rendering)

As the figure turns on the floor, there are obviously different parts of the body touching the ground, which would of course be deformed due to gravity.
Is there an easy way to apply a squashing effect to these parts?  I know I can use the deformation tools, but that would mean each frame being individually tweaked.

I can accept a non-deformed body if I have to, but like most of us here I'm a bit of a perfectionist (I just discarded about 3 days work because it wasn't quite right) - any suggestions appreciated.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/tutorial/search.php?query=soft+bodies&sort=relevancy&use_age=no&older_age=&older_units=day&newer_age=&newer_units=day&username=

Thanks for that - never thought to use a clothify!
This could be just what the doctor (or physio!) ordered.

I'd better own up and say that I've not got round to trying that one myself yet. I'd be interested to hear how it works for you, if you don't mind being a guinea pig. ;)