particle work flow

[svenip]

many questions, many answers

1) there are these two types of particles. software and hardware render type. software ones can be rendered within the software renderer the other ones only within the hardware render buffer. the hardware renderbuffer not just only captures the image from the screen like playblast. he can do motionblur and mulitpass rendering to improove the quality. so it's not like playblast.
2) what you're searching for here are the sprite particles. these represent little imgageplanes which will always face to the camera. very handy thing. you can do alot of effects just by this technique. they are hardware ones. so need to be rendered within the hardware render buffer. the HWRB is very fast because it uses your graphic cards features.
3) uhh i just answered this above :)

[stunndman]

take a look at http://www.gnomononline.com/effects.html for particles in action

if you were talking about sprites and you want to spend some bucks you can check out "Falling Snow via Sprites" on the same site - a great workshop on sprites

[boomji]

1) ok so when i want to map my particles with a sprite map or create any shader for it i have to render it with the HWRB...only.

2)in your experience what are the advantages/limitations of both.

thanks a ton again dude.
b

[bigfatMELon]

now in maya there is something called a hardware render...why ???.
Speed, baby! Many particle effects don't need software render capability and can rendered at the full speed of your current display hardware. It's a good thing.

-jl

[svenip]

1) if you wanna apply an image ! yes then it's something for sprite particles. shaders can be applied to any particle type (technically). but it makes just for the software rendered sense.

2) i think the limitation lies more on the software rendered ones. you have the same amount of control over all kind of types but it's a rendering issue. the software ones are very very special and i don't use them a lot. hardware ones are very fast rendered and can make any effect you're searching for. so for me the hardware render buffer isn't a limitation. no it's good to have :)

ok it envolves compositing, but in my opinion if you wanna learn 3D then it is not just the 3D Software which is important. it's also compositing which is absolutely important to learn. only both together can make a good image (especcially in animations)

[boomji]

ok dudes,
did any any one mention cg talk is the best book to buy :))))))))
really!!! in a matter of 5 minuites i've learnt more than what a certain FAT book on maya couldn't do...am i dreaming or what !!!.
oh by the way !!!... if you guys missed going to church do god a favour and help a trillion lost souls on the alias forums...that place is a graveyard of unanswered questions.
tsk tsk i think i'm going to ask them to look here instead...i missed church to...ahahahhah
b

[svenip]

nice :)

"cg talk book" 10.000 authors, uptdated every 10 minutes and it's for free.

[bigfatMELon]

do god a favour and help a trillion lost souls on the alias forums...that place is a graveyard of unanswered questions.

To be honest, the Maya listserv provided by highend3d has been the real hub for the professional Maya base thus far. Most of those people avoid the boards like the plague. CG Talk is the first one that I find that is fast and even fun to use.

And the people don't suck either. :surprised There's a lot of good energy happening here so it's worth the effort.

-jl

[boomji]

dunno if i have a crappy card but come what may the hardware render wont render an alfa channel...wont respect luminance or any color channel :(
when i bring it in after effects the whole image shows white on the alfa channel.
and the default particles(hardware render) were rendering in a brown color...can i change that.
thanx
b

[-wT-]

I had some problems with the hardware render buffer too a couple days ago. So I rendered a GI image of one of my WIP models, and wanted to try out some tricks in Photoshop, well I was about to render the wireframe + alpha of the mesh in HWRB and depth image. Well I did get alpha after trying out tons of different settings and fileformats, but no matter what I did, no z buffer image was rendered... it clearly says in the manuals that it renders a separate file for it if I enable the setting, but never did an image like that appear...

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.