stolen from cgtalk, as always..
1. Create a soft body:
A. for creation methodselect "duplicate,make orig soft"
B. Hide non soft Object
C. Make non soft a goal with a goal weight of like .75
2. in the outliner select the particleShape node, which should now be the child of your soft body object.
3. in the particle's attribute editor take note of the "Count" found in the "General Control Attrinutes" tab, and replace the "-1" in the "Max Count" attribute (emission attributes tab of the particle) with the noted "Count" value.
4. under the softbody tab of the particle's attributes, uncheck enforce Count From History
5. set the particle's lifespan to "constant" '0', play a few frames; and go to solver/set initial state
6. set the lifespan back to "live forever"
7. create a new omni emitter, and delete the particle that comes with it.
8. With the particleShape selected, dive in to the dynamic relationship editor (Window/Relationship editors/ Dynamic relationships). Choose "emitters" in the upper right side, and highlight your newly created omni emitter.
9. Just adjust the emission rate in the emitter to be high enough to smoothly form your shape, and make sure there is a large enough frame range as well.
