Position of particles from one flow used to control particles from another?

#1

Hi all,

I have a pickle of a problem here that i KNOW can be done, but my knowledge of data operators is not nearly god enough to figure out. I created a very simple scene to illustrate the issue.

Basically, there are two particle flows, each one independent from the other, the top one is the VIDEO flow and the “packets” in that one take priority over the VOICE flow at the point where the two flows meet.

Which means that when there is a video particle near the junction (marked in yellow circle), at the same time as as a voice particle, i would like the voice flow to slow down, to allow the video particle through then restart again when the are is clear of video particles

Obviously, the “sphere of influence” of the video particles would be larger than the size of the actual renderable particle which is show in my image.

The reason im doing it this way is that its a fairly complex animation showing data priorities (there will be three data lines, i just showed two) and to hand animate would be a pain if the client makes any changes which is very very likely to happen a lot. So, an automated system would be amazing.

And just to make things a bit harder, ideally, the pflows would be travelling along paths…which doesnt see, to work with Orbaz tools or Mp particles…they just seem to ignore the speed by icon which is travelling along a path as soon as a Mp World is added

Any help would be HUGELY appreciated. Thanks so much for reading

P.S: the collision entry in the VIDEO stream is a deflector (hidden) with position noise on it, to randomly delete particles at the entry point, otherwise i get a non stop stream. The same will be done to the other 2 flows.

Link to bigger image: http://i.imgur.com/Lqa28vY.jpg

#2

That’s what’s supposed to happen because you are entering a physical simulation from there on and the velocity and position channels are going to be controlled by the simulator, in this case the mP World operator, but you can use the ‘mP Switch’ operator(should be placed above the mp world) to explicitly tell the simulator to exclude some channel from the simulation, for instance the position or speed, which would then be calculated normally through the non-mP ops.

Btw, I’m curious why you’d need a physical simulation here…

While that’s a clever way of doing it, you can actually achieve this through the pflow operators by using the ‘Group’ operators, basically you need a ‘Group Selection’ op to select a subset of particles and then a ‘Group Split’ test to send out the selected particles, in your case you can use the ‘Randomly Selected’ option in the group selection to randomly delete particles.

About the main problem itself I’ll give it a try as soon as I can, though I won’t be surprised if others beat me to it, I’ll get back to you if I came up with something.

#3

Thanks for your reply mate.

I didn’t know about the group operator thing. I shall look into that now. And thanks for the offer to try it out when you can :thumbsup:

#4

Hey Marc, just did some test here.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zuiae8bzhmxtkht/Reduce%20Speed%20by%20Distance.max

It’s checking the sphere distance and, if its less then 25, it decreases the cube speed from 75 to 10.

Have a look on it and if you don’t understand something, don’t mind asking.

I think the only confusing thing can be the “Pipe 2”. I had to do that cos, depending on the particle speed, the cube ones can be right in front of the spheres inside of the “influence area” and this way the cube would decrease its speed and collide with the sphere.

#5

Just improved it a bit. Now if the cubes got in front of the spheres, it accelerates to 120.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nptuyn55ezh783c/Reduce%20Speed%20by%20Distance%20(2).max

#6

I’m SO sorry guys for going AWOL…something came up and i was away…thank you all so much for your help, im going to try the solutions now and will get back to you with feedback…again, im sorry and THANK YOU

Marc

#7

Alvaro…you are the MAN. That is exactly what i was after…i knew it could be done by someone with better Pflow knowledge than me…now im going to look through it and try to understand it…

Thank you again, i might have a few question if you dont mind…

:thumbsup:

#8

One question that comes to mind is that the cubes also need to be travelling along a path…is that possible with this setup?

I will try now.

#9

Yeah sure, you just have to input the earlier speed inside the data operator.
check it out:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pnojhiyw2ne8hzr/Reduce%20Speed%20by%20Distance%202.max?dl=0

then i’m multiplying this speed by 2 (using the Function|post factor) to make the particles faster and by 0.1 to make it slower.

#10

Gonna try it now…

Thanks again mate…

#11

No worries. dont mind to ask if you have any doubts.

#12

Hi Alvaro…

Ok…i tried to figure this out but im a bit lost…to be honest, its my own fault for not saying exactly what i needed doing when i posted this topic. But i thought i would be able to adapt any posted solutions…i thought wrong.

So, here is the problem.

  • I have THREE pflow sources in the scene. Red, Orange and Yellow.

  • See the image. They are all moving to the intersection A and at that junction, Red takes top priority (so, orange and yellow need to slow down for red) and orange takes priority over yellow (yellow has to slow down for red and orange)

  • After reaching A, the path isn’t straight either (not shown on image), but that’s fine, as i can put a deflector there and tell all particles at that point to follow an icon along the path…i tried it and it seemed to work OK.

My problem now is that i cannot amend your flows to include the 3 sources and the priority list as i said…

Now, you have helped me a LOT so far and i completely understand if you have no more time. I feel bad asking as it is…

Maybe the first question should be…is this even possible?

Thank you so much my man, and i’m happy to pay you for a few hours of your time. Seriously.

image link:

http://i.imgur.com/XKldaXP.jpg

Thank you again

#13

Hey Marc, sorry about never answering you back. I’ve seen it last week and though that i would make a try when i got some time, but i’m a bit busy at the moment.
Not sure how long you could go with that but i’m afraid it might be to late now. Did you tried some diferent aproach?

#14

Hi Alvaro…

No worries, you are busy and have helped a lot already.

Fortunately, the job has been on hold for a bit, so i have a bit more time to figure this problem out. I feel very very bad asking, but if there is anything you can help me with with the issue i explained earlier, by monday or tuesday, i would be very very grateful and happy to pay for a few hours of your time. Let me know if that will be possible and we can sort out something.

Thanks again for all your wonderful help so far.

Regards

Marc…if email is the best solution to carry on chatting, mine is pixellobster ((A-T)) g mail

#15

Hey, don’t feel bad about it. That’s what this forum is made for :slight_smile:

I’ll have a look on it right now.

Also, don’t worry about paying for it. I can’t really dedicate myself on it right now so i wouldn’t feel fine about it. Maybe in the future we can make some deal on other work. :slight_smile:

#16

Hey Marc, i had to use a diferent approach. Test it to see if it works fine.

Instead of using a speed by icon i put the particles on a “track”. it’s a very thin mesh with a lock/bond to avoid the particles to get out of it.

Have a look and if you have any doubts, let me know. I’ll answer you as fast as i can.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hihis677yqqhd2i/Priority%20Particles%205.max?dl=0

//youtu.be/4hTMIt9rkb8

#17

Alvaro,

I’m so sorry again for the delay in getting back to you…family emergency took me away for a few days since i first downloaded your file…all i can say is THANKS. Its exactly what i needed. You are the man, and if i can help you with anything ever, please ask.

I will be studying your Pflow setup to learn how you did it. Seriously, thank you very very much mate.

:bowdown: :thumbsup:

Marc

www.pixellobster.com

#18

I’m glad you like it! Just let me know if have any doubts :wink: