#Dust, using Vapor.axp
16 messages in this thread
Gary –
I am trying to use your Vapor.axp to achieve a dust cloud that might
result with the collapse of a structure. In this case, a Chinese
character denoting "Cancer." As my object reaches maximum collapse,
I would like to see a cloud of particles (dust) rise, curl out, then
begin to descend. I don't seem to have gravity slider values in the
vapor.axp.
Do you have other plug-in's that will help to simulate the effect
I've described? Or, can you point me to a tip or two?
Bob,
>> I would like to see a cloud of particles (dust) rise, curl out, then begin
to descend. I don't seem to have gravity slider values in the vapor.axp. <<
in case you can't get vapor to do what you want Schreiber has a nice IPAS which
I'm now using for a similar effect. It's called pcloud (plasma cloud) and you'd
create a few of them and animate them traditionally (position and scaling
wise). It's the nicest routine I've seen for dust effects.
Martin –
Thanks for the tip. I'll call Schrieiber. In the mean time, Gary's V_GFOG.3ds
file has a nice vertex grid which I've used for a suitable base. High Chaos
value allows the even spread of particles. By scaling the top of the axp box
and then moving it -Y over a period of frames help the illusion of dissipating
dust. Sort of. <g>
I will also try Kyle's suggestion of a concentric circle of vertes within the
axp box.
Oh, by the way, (late as it may be) good talk and demo March 4th at the 3D
ArtForum. These sort of events are valuable to our industry. It had a very
"hands on" feel about it, what with the encouragement of the audience to shout
out any old question they may have at any given moment!
Cheers,
BB
Bob,
I've found a combination of particle systems can work well for these
complicated effects. A mushroom cloud type effect might use spurt for the base
then multiple pclouds coming up the center and expanding/roiling.
The 3d art forum's March meeting was pretty good. I enjoyed the Bablyon 5 guys
talk immensely.
Martin –
I'm not convinced that spurt.axp can be used in this instance. I need a dense
dust cloud to hide my change-over point. As one Chinese character
disintegrates, another reconstructs in its place. So I'm hoping to use the
dust as my cover. <g> If I were more familiar with spurt….. Anyway, Kurt
McKeever pointed me to Gary's V_gfog.3ds file which I'd never investigated. It
produces a nice think dense layer which I have modified and animated to suit my
needs. This will get me past my client on Monday. Then I'll look closer at
Spurt and Pcloud.
Thanks again for your help!
BB
Check out MartinF's response re the Schreiber plasma particle system.
It sounds like that would be perfect for you.
Thanks, Gary. I'm using your V_GFOG.3ds file for it's AXP Box. By changing
some parameters, mainly high chaos values, I've got an even spread of particles
over the grid. Animating, scalling, completes the illusion. I'm also taking
your and Martin's suggestion to call Schreiber about PCLOUD.AXP.
Have fun at NAB!
BB
Bob,
I might have a solution here for ya – using Vapor
Try this out for size:
Create an Axp Box and delete the emitter verticies. Then go into the
shaper and create two concentric circles. In the editor do
Create/Object/Get to grab the shape from the shaper. Position your
'ring' inside the emitter box and attach it to the box. Now you've
got an emitter box – but with the emitters in a ring (not in a
cluster) so when you apply Vapor to it – you'll get smoke (dust)
emitting in a form more suited to what you're trying to accomplish.
I think 🙂
you can animate the emitter box moving and scaling, and it'll leave a
proper trail of stuff.
The only problem I can see right now would be that Vapor tends to look
more like vapor than dust, but you might try using several emitter
boxes with varying particle sizes to acheive a more grainy look.
-Kyle
BTW, I haven't tried this yet in practice so it may be a total flop, but it
should work 🙂
Kyle –
Ok, I'm gonna give your idea a try over the weekend. It may be more robust
than what I'm trying now. However, neither method gives us independent contol
of the particles, top to bottom. ie. to curl those top particles out and down
while the bottom particles continue to rise. Thanks for the tip, Kyle!
BB
<< neither method gives us independent contol of the particles>>
true. but do you want to hand animate 4K objects? 🙂
I think I'll try a version myself. if it looks like anything I think you can
use, I'll drop you a flic.
-Kyle
Kyle –
Sorry about my poor wording. I wasn't thinking about the independent control
of EACH particle! Yes, that would be excessive, time consuming and impossible.
Looking forward to seeing your results.
Cheers,
BB
Bob,
I've created the same effect before using a combination of Vapor, Magic, and
Lenz F/X. Unfortunately, there isn't a gravity force available in Vapor. But,
you can composite several dissolving layers, with the flow direction
orientation varying. With Magic, you can set a wide range of particle sizes,
and you can have a gravitational force as well as a gravity influence
percentage, giving the effect of projected, lingering and settling debris/dust.
Try some layers with antialiasing OFF, along with some ON. Use several
instances with the maximum particle count to get a very dense cloud. Lenz F/X
Aura can be used to create nebulousity between the particles, and fuzz-up the
un-antialiased Magic layers. Animated opacity maps can be used to further
control the life and blending of the various particle clouds. It's a lot of
work setting up all the layers, and tweaking them, but it looked pretty good.
BILL
Bill –
The whole idea of using a dust cloud in the scene was to cover the data
change-over point. I thought a nice billowy dust cloud puff at the end would
act as this mask. And it would, if I could get it to look realist.
Unfortunately, the combination of effects I've come up with look rather weak.
The other problem is rendering time. Keeping the seed values in mind, it still
takes about 13 min/frame on a Pentium-90 with lots of memory.
I've chosen to use Elastic Reality to morph the data swap point. One batch of
objects disintegrate while I have another group waiting to reform a new Chinese
character. Since we can't physically see the disintegrated objects until after
they're rendered, image morphing is the option I've chosen to use.
Your combination of effects sounds intriguing. Some of them I know, others I
don't but time for experimenting on this job has run out.
Thanks for your response!
Cheers,
BB
You bet, and good luck!
BILL
>> As my object reaches maximum collapse, I would like to see a cloud
>> of particles (dust) rise, curl out, then begin to descend. I don't seem to
>> have gravity slider values in the vapor.axp
Bob,
I believe that Martin and Kyle have the right idea. Multiple Spurts with
circles of target vertices at the top could be used with gravity on and very
little initial velocity. The illusion could be pulled off with the right
animated smokyish (smoke.axp) dusty material.
Let us know what you come up with. Ralph
Ralph,
Sorry, I've been off the Asoft forum awhile. I'll try the spurt.axp to see
what could have been done here. The project is finished. I used the vapro.axp
and had moderate success. At least my client is happy.
Thanks for your response.
BB