Is it possible to add a driver to a vertex position?

Question

I want to add a driver to a vertex' z position. Is this possible? If it is, how?

When I try to add a driver, all I get is the option to edit source and edit translation.

Answer 1

In edit mode, select the vertex you want to animate. Then CtrlH > H (Hook to new object). This will create an empty, whose position you can animate, and the selected vertex will follow it.

Answer 2

You could also add Shape Keys and animate the influence, either by adding keyframes directly or by a driver.

Answer 3

To answer the question specifically: Yes. It is possible.

Go to Outliner, switch Display Mode to Datablocks, then you'll see a list of all datablocks for the .blend file.

Expand the list: Blendfile Data > Objects > your_obj_name > Data > mashdata_name > Vertices > Mesh Vertex > Location, then you can right click on X Y Z, and choose Add Drivers or Add Single Driver from the menu.

However, when there are too many vertices, it will be very hard to target the one you want. I would rather use hooks.