Particle Challenge

[BrandonD]

Well, without plugins you could try this file: sandSwirl.zip

Yes, the MAX particles and space warps are old, obsolete and outdated. In fact, little has changed with them since 1997. However with a little experience and ingenuity you can do quite a lot with them, along with both commercial and freeware plugins.

Thinking Particles is very deep, complex but rather limitless - much like Houdini's POPs. If you can't achieve something with it chances are you're just not familiar with it enough. It's okay, not many are ;)

[gundog]

i found that thinking particles learning curve wasn't as steep as i initially believed it to be. it's definitely different than the standard max click and create method. but after you create a couple systems with TP, the workflow is pretty straight forward. unfortunately, my only problem is when handing a project over, the other artists aren't familiar with it. so if you decide to use it, you're usually often on your own.
cebas could clean up that interface. it doesn't seem like there's been any development on TP and final render is getting all the loving over at cebas.
as for a pile of particles. that sounds like something that would be achieved in volume with a program like realflow. i've been meaning to check out the demo for the new version 2.

[Reality3D]

Good example Brandon :thumbsup:

[Ryan-B]

I frequently use Blur's wind space warp.

The Blur wind spacewarp is very useful for creating fire effects. It increases the acceleration of the particles as they age, instead of starting their acceleration at the maximum value.

This makes the particles linger at their spawn point. As they age, they separate from the spawn faster. This helps simulate the "flicker" at the top of a torch or camp fire.

You can also control speed based on the size of the particle (if you are using some randomness with the particle size). This could be useful for something like soap bubbles floating through the air (faking wind resistance?).

I haven't really checked if Max 5 has new particle features, so I hope this information isn't too dated.

[BrandonD]

In my example, I was particularly showing how to do it with MAX out of the box. If you wanted to use some freeware plugins I'd suggest as Ryan mentioned Blur Wind as well as Random Walk. RW is really nice for turbulence, complete with viscocity and perParticle control driven by size.

[Ronski]

Nice example Brandon :thumbsup:

With Thinking Particles you could use Motion Inheritance nodes on rotating dummys to get a nice vortex look. Also having Spacewarps activate via ParticleAge condition you can get some nice effects similar to the Blur wind. Good luck anyway let us know how you get on?

Cheers,
Kieron

[Gpin]

Thanks everyone for your help.
I tested thinking particles but I really had a hard time getting into it without a manual (don't ask).

So, I tried realflow.....and though I was very pleased by the features....I couldn't really learn a new package that fast....I'm somewhat under pressure...

I therefore decided to go back to Maya (which I know already).
And start working with it's particle system.....and I ahve all the controls I need....
The advantage in Maya 4.5 is the fluid system (which is not for liquids, if your don't know about it yet). So for my pile of sand, I'm using the power of the Fields combing with the new Fluid system and so far it seems to work perfecly.

I'm using some expressions to control the particles which helps a lot.......it's obviously not that intuitive.....but after some practice it's pretty easy and very powerfull.


Basically, I was wishing 3DSMax to give me more power over partiscles......

Max 6 or whatever it will be called, hopefully will have a better particle system....


Thanks everyone..

Conclusion : Using Maya

[BrandonD]

hehe...okay.

[amckay]

Gspin, even with the manual and training videos, don't expect thinking particles to be easy to use :)

The manual is handy for reference to some of the nodes, but it's still confusing as hell :)

[Hec]

I hope this isn't terribly stupid of me to say, but you could get the eddies (vortexes) in the wind by using a path constraint. And using a helix.

If this is terribly stupid, I apologize. (I'm beginner)

[Ronski]

Just to let people know that Cebas have at last started support forums for Thinking Particles & other products on the finalRender support forum here...

http://www.finalrender.com/forums/fR_main/YaBB.pl

You must be a registered customer though!

Cheers,
Kieron

[Gpin]

Thanks for all the feebacks......Maya is the best solution for me so far.

Hec, your recommendation about path is valid, but very difficult to control.... not the Path follow itslef, ....but it becomes hard to get a realistic motionwhen I have to blend particles affected by spacewarps and particles following a path.
Simply using many spacewarps ("fields" in maya), I can somewhat achieve my effect, but it's cpu intense, specially with particle collisions.

Thanks again.

[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.