Object disappears with using Path Deform if path is too short

[TurboChiken]

The new path deform modifier that was added a few releases ago has some nice features, but it's unusable in situations where the path is less than an inch long (the object just disappears!), which is problematic since as a medical animator I work with scales much smaller than that. Any workarounds?

[10DSpace]

@TurboChiken 

I was able to replicate your issue in Max 2022 if I created objects like a hose and the path deform line line at a size of less than 1 inch.  But if I created the objects at a higher scale (say 10x or 100x times greater) and then scaled them down the path deform works fine.   For this workflow, you should Reset Xform when you are done modeling via Utilities>Reset XForm to bring your object back to 100% uniform scaling. 

Screenshot shows a hose object path deformed to a line of dimensions less than 1 ".    I created the line and hose at a larger scale first and then scaled both down so that dimensions were all less than 1 inch.  I then applied the path deform to the hose and it worked fine.  Then I reset Xform and Collapse selected via Utilities Panel to bring everything to uniform 100% scaling.   FYI my display Units are set to decimal inches and system units = 1 inch.

Similarly, you could do the path deform when the object and line are still at the higher scale and then scale down the resulting object followed by ResetXform & Collapse selected. 

So the above would be my recommended workaround.