Ratracing METABALLS!

[og_reborn]

*bump*

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[og_reborn]

bumping again...

please does anybody have any possible idea? I don't know if I'll be able to finish this project if I can't get a cleaner result. (I already have the geometry set REALLY high and it's not even close to looking ok)
Worse case scenario I suppose I could render the specular highlights in a seperate pass and apply a median or something in post...but it (obviously) won't look as good and if there's any script, method, or other plugin that could save me I would be very greatful.
Also, I noticed it says you can upgrade if you make a donation...does anyone know if that problem might be fixed in the "pro" version?

I've attached another image that shows a little better what I'm talking about.

thanks again :D

[DiGiman]

Does this metaballs plugin create a polygon mesh?
If so turn down the tesselation, and add a poly smooth operation to the mesh. That should give you smooth results.

[og_reborn]

Thanks but I tried that and it doesn't make it any cleaner. I'm guessing it's due to the nature of the ever-changing mesh...but it's really weird.
It can also output SubDs but those can't be animated.
Every method I can think of to smooth the mesh just doesn't help...even with the divisions turned WAY up I still get these weird creases that don't even resemble what the mesh looks like.

One thing I just tried that seemed to help was applying "average normals" but that only helps the frame I do it on...Every other frame becomes totally messed up and the normals go all over the place.

Is there maybe any way to have an "average normals" that updates itself every frame or something like that?

Thanks for the reply:beer:

[DiGiman]

Can I ask what is wrong with the standard metaballs that come with maya?
I have used them several times, and they work really well. Even with raytracing. I think they would be perfect for what you are doing.

[og_reborn]

Are you talking about meta-particles/blobby particles or are they actual objects you can control individually?

Blobby particles would be fine except I didn't know if you could animate them individually...is there a way you could keyframe scale and position on a single one?

maybe if I have each emitter only have one particle that doesn't go anywhere...and then just animate the emitter or the particle object or something? can blobby particles from one emitter interact with another's particles?

also I would need to be able to render them in MR (maya 5) so as long as all that's possible then I could do it.

[DiGiman]

Yes it is possible

[og_reborn]

wonderful, that all looks perfect except I can't get the different particle objects to interact with eachother...is there a way to make it so blobby particles that are different objects fuse with eachother like they do when coming from the same emitter?
That part's important 'cause I'm animating each one independently. I don't think I could set up a simulation that looks close enough to what I want.

....unless I'm mistaken and you can animate different particles independently that are part of the same object.

getting much closer though...

[pixel mixer]

Can I ask what is wrong with the standard metaballs that come with maya?.Can I ask where are the metaballs that come with maya? i have not seen a metaball primitive around in the main package?

the blobby render type for particles is not quite the same as metaballs. + that you have to use expressions to drive each particle in the position you want and you have several limitations like nu xyz scaling, no threshold per particle etc.

[og_reborn]

well I was trying to get around that by creating a new particle object for each "ball," and that works great for being able to animate each one like any other object...

But the different particles won't blob together since they're not part of the same object. I tried connecting them all to the same emitter and that didn't work either...so...
All I really need to know is if there's any way, through mel or otherwise that will force these particles to blob together?

I've asked on the maya forum too and so far no response:shrug:

[pixel mixer]

you could use particleId to select each particle and position to move them around. you cannot do that interactively without expressions. you could create several attributes like tx1, ty1, ty1, r1 particle1 and so on then using expressions like:
if particleId == 1
position

[og_reborn]

Thanks,

I don't think that will work for me though...I don't know enough about expressions so that I could control the particles the way I want to. I'm trying to do some relatively complex animation with them and someone with a lot of knowlege of expressions would probably be able to do it but there's no way I can at this point. Plus, I need to animate individual x,y,z scales and I heard somewhere that's not possible on individual particles.

Finally someone wrote back on the maya forum that it is not possible to make the different particle objects interact...so it looks like blobby particles just aint gonna happen...

The distortion really only seems to be too bad on the specular highlights. I think I'll render them seperately and just median them in after effects.

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