Particle plugins: wich one?

[gundog]

digimation sells particle studio and cebas sells thinking particles. I like thinking particles, but it's user interface is lacking and unfortunately, my experience with cebas support was similar. Though from what I see now, is that their US support comes from Trinity 3D which is good news. No more e-mails that you have to run through bablefish. but if you want an really open system and don't mind paying a lot more, thinking particles is the way to go.
you might hold off on one of these until you take a look at the new max particle system coming out in the point release.

[CHRiTTeR]

Originally posted by gundog
digimation sells particle studio and cebas sells thinking particles. I like thinking particles, but it's user interface is lacking and unfortunately, my experience with cebas support was similar. Though from what I see now, is that their US support comes from Trinity 3D which is good news. No more e-mails that you have to run through bablefish. but if you want an really open system and don't mind paying a lot more, thinking particles is the way to go.
you might hold off on one of these until you take a look at the new max particle system coming out in the point release.

Thanks for the info?

Stil got a few more questions now...

- What's the difference between both particle plugins?
- What are the improvements in the point release of max u are talking about ?



Thanks and sorry to annoy (written correct) u :wip: ,
CHRiTTeR

[gundog]

damn. just lost a bunch stuff i wrote down cause the cgtalk server was busy. sorry not much in the mood to right it all down again. i suggest you visit the sites and get more info on the products.

[amckay]

check the products section of digimation, I wrote a comparison between particle studio and thinking particles for the thinking particles product. So read that and make up your own mind. They're both fairly different plugins in a way.

[Bobo]

Originally posted by CHRiTTeR
Thanks for the info?

Stil got a few more questions now...

- What's the difference between both particle plugins?
- What are the improvements in the point release of max u are talking about ?

Thanks and sorry to annoy (written correct) u :wip: ,
CHRiTTeR


PS is easier to use. It can do alot, but is not as flexible as TP.
TP is for professionals with a special mindset. If you were a Houdini user, you would love it. AFAIK, it will do whatever you want it to do, but you have to learn the interface and logic behind it first.

PS is event-driven. You create events to drive your particles. These events must happen in order to get a reaction from the particle system.

TP is rule-based. Rules and conditions are usually applicable to AI systems. This explains the name - the particle system actually "thinks" and reacts to its changing environment.
This is the main difference in the two concepts.

PS relies on certain events as triggers and is more or less time-based.
TP analyses rules and conditions and can adapt to any changes in a non-linear manner.

There is a good explanation on Cebas' site.


Just for the record, I haven't used neither one. :)

[CHRiTTeR]

Thanks Bobo, that is what I am looking for...

So they are basicly the same, but the way they work is very different?

They have both the same possibilities?

[BrandonD]

Yes, Bobo defines it quite well. Linear Event-driven vs. Non-Linear Rules-driven. TP is the most powerful commercial particle system for MAX right now, but unfortunately it has the steepest learning curve of any plugin I've used - moreso than ACT even. PStudio is much faster and easier to use, but doesn't have the same capabilities. It's also written by a nice, humble Russian programmer - Oleg Bayborodin, not the opposite.

[amckay]

Both have their ups and downs, TP's idea of node based particles opens up a lot of doors to some very intuitive and powerful systems but I think they didn't really pull it off right, especially with the interface being quite slow to navigate.

The way event driven particles work is you have event blocks, so you can say event A) particles spawn from this position with this much speed, and no space warps effect them. event B) particles change speed and begin to scale upward as they also move to a new location, event C) particles slow down and spacewarps activate making turbulence and wind ect. effect them, event D) particles die after they scale down and change direction. Or something like that.

Thinking particles, you have a bunch of kind of variable blocks which all link togeather, such as "birth" "velocity" and a billion other setups you make, and you plug them togeather based upon different situations as well as events that might happen. Houdini's particles are much like this but a lot more intuitive and powerful. Personally I'm beginning to like Maya's particles when it comes to expressions and other complex events, although max's particles and particle studios particles are very straight forward and get the job done which is great :)

Particle studios great in the way that A) It's a third of the price of TP and also very straight forward and fast. It also has some great features such as spin dependency ect. Which basically can make particles rotate based upon their velocity and so forth, basically a lot of nice features and a powerful approach to particles without making it a huge headache to work with. Oleg now works for discreet right? So it'll be interesting to see how much max's particles change over time with his influence.


Hope I didn't blab on for too long :)


Allan.

[CHRiTTeR]

Originally posted by amckay
Oleg now works for discreet right? So it'll be interesting to see how much max's particles change over time with his influence.

So, does any1 have some more info about this?
Like what is that new particle engine for the next max, mentioned earlier?


Originally posted by amckay
Hope I didn't blab on for too long :)

Sure not, u can blab as much as u can/like, aslong it provides me more info. Blab on :wip:


As u can see, I'm the one who's blabbing here. :p
Questions, questions, questions...:shrug:

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