CompuServe Thread

#IPAS Questions

4 messages in this thread
#32846From: Danny MercurioJan 20, 1993 7:28 PM
I've been playing with the IPAS particle systems quite a bit lately and I have a couple of questions to ask if you 're not too busy. <g> 1) Should I be able to assign multiple textures to an object and have all the textures appear in a "disintegrate" sequence? So far, I haven't been able to get the textures to stay. I'm using 3DS v2.01a and I'm not sure if this feature is available yet. 2) Is it at all possible to get the disintegration particle to "remain"? I know that the manual says that the particles will disappear, is there any way to change this? 3) I think I've found an "undocumented feature" when using "explode" and "disintegrate".<g> You tell me. If I create an object and explode it without performing any changes to the object in the keyframer other than simple translation, everything works as expected. However, if I perform a change such as scaling AND translation to the object while it's exploding, the particles become stretched and distorted. The effect gets worse as the frames advance, apparently linked to the absolute transformations of the vertices of the original object in relation the current vertex locations. (It's kind of hard to discribe, am I making sense to you?) I can provide a simple .3ds file that demonstrates this if you would like more clarification. I know you guys are extremely busy right now. Let me just say, once again, that I think these IPAS modules are phenominal and I can't wait to get back into 3DS to try something else! I'm discovering new uses for these routines all the time. Regards, Danny…
#32879From: Yost GroupJan 21, 1993 12:13 AM
Never too busy to answer an IPAS question! <g> 1) You should be able to use 2.01A to get multiple textures to disintegrate. I forget right now, but it's probably best if you use the most current version of disintegrate for 2.01A for this (version 1.02). If you (or anyone else) have a version of disintegrate currently and would like to upgrade it to me, let me know via email, and I'll check you against the master list of licensee's and will get you a new version. (Send me the name under which you ordered, the date of the order, and which packages you ordered on that date.) 2) It sure is possible to get the disintegration particles to remain! Just set the end frame to way after your true end frame, and the particles will be large throughout your animation. Works great. 3) If you start to scale objects during an explode operation, all hell will break loose because you'll be altering the scale of the hard-wired transformation matrix that's the "parent" of the particle system. You CAN translate the exploding object, and I think you can even rotate it (try it and let me know how that works). but scaling is verbotten. If you want the object to disappear, use an animated opacity map (vary.sxp works well for this). There ya go, – G
#32937From: Steven LeeJan 21, 1993 11:23 AM
Did you mention that there was an upgrade IPAS available for the disintegrate function? If so, yes, I'd like to receive that upgrade. (unless, it's coming automatically to me, in which case ignore this message). Thanks! — Steve
#32958From: Yost GroupJan 21, 1993 5:45 PM
There's a slightly newer version of disint.axp (version 1.02) tha (that) supports multiple materials per disintegrated object only with 3DS version 2.01A. If you'd like to get a copy of it, email your name, address, order date, and items you ordered on that date to me. – G