nParticle dimensions - is an asymmetric shape possible?

#1

Hi

I was wondering if there is a way to create nParticle with an asymmetric shape? I would like to take advantage of the self-attract properties, but have an elongated shape, such as a cylinder or an extended square rod.

if not nParticles, I wonder if self attract is an option for bullet dynamics?

Thanks in advance for your time.

Neil

#2

I’m not sure about using just self attract, but if you used self attract in conjunction with per particle goals, I think this would be pretty simple. You would probably need to use a few expressions, but that shouldn’t be too hard.

#3

Hey Varun, thanks for the speedy reply.

Do you mean that I should try to create chains of particles using goals? Maybe if I set the goal to be a straight line path and then set that as the goal of a group of, say 5, nParticles…

Would I then need to create a new instance of the nParticleShape to create numerous small rod like particles?

For more info, my aim here is to create a large number of rod like particles, which would collapse on themselves using the self-attract settings, and then I would create a final large goal for the rods to assemble into.

Thanks for you input.

Neil

#4

This may help,http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7531709&postcount=12
and
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7533766&postcount=22
the rest you can just goal to get the final shape…maybe :wink:

It wont be easy…

#5

Thanks for the pointers Howard. It looks like that method will get me where I need to be.

I have been looking through and playing with those setups but getting stuck when it comes to the subtleties of defining the Dynamic Constraint. I need to create the particles and then constrain instead of constrain through an emitter. Does that make a difference? I tried to create an nParticle object, which I then duplicated, and constrained them together. I right clicked and went into particle mode, and then selected a neighboring particle in each before constraining using a transform constraint, but this ultimately didn’t work.

Could you give any hints on how to best set this up? The little details of selection order, component vs. object etc. are things that I struggle with. For example I managed to constrain my system Object to Constraint, but the examples at those links show an Object to Object constraint. In both cases that drop down is greyed out, so I can’t change it. After much searching through the Maya help, forums and random documents, it’s still very hard to find the exact details of how these constraints work. If asking for your time to explain is too much, could point me in the right direction.

Thanks for feedback thus far, and thanks for any further time spent thinking about this points.

Neil

#6

Works fine here… using particle tool i made 2 particles, then selected them and used a component constraint.

What are you trying to do exactly? How many bits will you need as this will be very painstaking to model it this way… Duncans method works best using emitters. You CAN do it this way, but it will be mad, and in the end what are you trying to do? Because who knows if you can get there with this technique…

#7

Thanks Howard for your feedback; sorry for the reply delay.

In the end I did get the shell casing scene to do something in the direction of what I need. I couldn’t find a way to recreate the specific constraints between pair of particles in different particle groups. I just ran the files as is, then stopped everything and edited the scene to suit. I was trying to link neighboring pairs of particles (I created two particle objects, offset from each other, and attempted to constrain pairs, one from each object), but gave up as I don’t get the subtleties of how constraints work.

I’ll keep working with these as a starting point. Thanks for your time.

Neil

#8

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