AbstractExisting physically based deformation techniques, such as the finite element method (FEM) and the mass‐spring systems (MSS), require the deformed object to be properly meshed. This is arguably the most expensive manual intervention process. In this paper, we propose a mesh‐free deformation technique where only unconnected points are involved. The idea is to develop an approximate analytical solution using the Kelvin solution. Due to the fact that no mesh is involved, deforming a complex shape is as straightforward as deforming a simple one. Furthermore, the trade‐off between efficiency and accuracy is easy to achieve by redistributing the points concerned. Experiments show that this method is fast and offers similar accuracy to the FEM. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.