INSIDE 3DS MAX® 7 [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

1.

Create a new Standard Flow in Particle View, renaming the global event Lightning Strike and the birth event Sparks.

2.

The birth event will be separated from the rest of the flow with a Script test, so drag the Speed, Shape, and Display operators into a new event, named Sparks Fly.

3.

Set the Position operator to emit from its surface, and turn on Lock On Emitter.

4.

The Rotation operator is not needed, so delete it.

5.

Clone the Script test from Lightning Birth03 to the end of Sparks, using Instance as the method.

6.

Wire the Script test output to Sparks Fly.

7.

Like the big lightning strike, the explosion of sparks will be triggered when StrikeFrame is reached.

8.

Set the Birth operator to generate 100 particles, beginning and ending with frame 0.

9.

Set the Speed operator to 2500 units, with a Variation of 35. For a wide dispersal of sparks, set Divergence to its maximum value of 180 degrees.

10.

The default Tetra shape is fine, but increase its Size to 100 units. When viewed at short distances, the tetra particles may not appear very realistic, but at the camera's viewing range, they will stand out nicely.

11.

Append a Material Dynamic operator to the Sparks Fly event. Assign Fire Sparks to the material slot, and turn on Reset Particle Age.

12.

Finally, define a life span to be used in the material by appending a Delete operator, set to remove particles by age, with a Life Span of 40 and a Variation of 10 (Figure 18.31).

If you scrub the Time Slider at this point, the sparks will appear near the top center of the Camera viewport because the source icon is still in its default location.

13.

Select the Lightning Strike PF Source icon, and use the Align tool to align its World X, Y, and Z Center Positions, as well as X-, Y-, and Z-Axis Orientations, to "plane target."

The biplane target object is a nonrendering dummy used to specify the center of the lightning strike and ensuing fiery effects.

14.

Set the source icon's Icon Type to Circle, with a diameter of 400 units.

15.

Use the Select and Link tool to link the source icon to "plane target" (Figure 18.32).

1.

Clone the Sparks birth event, using Copy as the method; name the new event Scorch; and wire it to the Lightning Strike global event.

2.

Set the Birth Amount to 1.

3.

Reclone the Script test from Sparks to Scorch, using Instance as the method this time, so that your flexibility in updating the script is retained. Note that you are overwriting the existing Script test in the Scorch event.

4.

Create a new Shape Mark operator event below Scorch, naming the new event Scorch Mark. Wire it to the Script test's output.

5.

Set the Size, in World Units, to a width and length of 1000 units.

6.

Set the Surface Offset to 2 units.

7.

Before the upper wing of the biplane can be chosen as the contact object, the Plane group must be opened. Select the Plane group and choose Group > Open.

8.

In the Shape Mark operator, assign Wings as the Contact Object.

9.

Close the Plane Group (Group > Close).

10.

Add a Material Static operator to Scorch Mark, and choose the Fire Scorch material (Figure 18.34).

1.

Clone the Scorch birth event, using Copy as the method; name the new event Flames; and wire it to the Lightning Strike global event.

2.

Set the Birth Amount to 4.

3.

Reclone the Script test from Scorch to Flames, again using Instance as the method.

4.

Create a new Material Frequency operator event below Flames, naming the new event Spawn Flames. Wire it to the Script test's output.

5.

Assign Fire Sprites as the material to be used. Fire Sprites uses 27 bitmap fire textures, arranged in four different orders with IFLs.

6.

The Fire Sprites material is a Multi/Sub-Object material containing four materials, so set the first four Material ID#s (Material ID #1 through Material ID #4) slots to 10. This value is not a percentage but a relative value. Using the same number for each slot will cause each submaterial to have an equal chance of being chosen. The particles will continue to be emitted from the updated location of the source icon.

7.

Change the Display type to Geometry.

8.

Define the shape of this particle by adding a Shape Facing operator somewhere after the Material Frequency operator, assigning Camera01 as the LookAt Object.

9.

Set the particle size to 1500 units, in In World Space.

10.

Set Pivot At to Bottom, so that the bottoms of the flames will be positioned on the source icon (Figure 18.36).

If you scrub the Time Slider, the fire shows up as large Shape Facing particles, with their bottom edges aligned with the source icon (Figure 18.37).

In addition to the flames placed on the emitter, a series of diminishing flames will trail from the biplane as it moves.

11.

Append a Spawn test to Spawn Flames. Set it to spawn Per Second, at a rate of 15 particles per second.

12.

Make a copy of the Shape Facing operator below Spawn Flames, naming the new event Trailing Flames, and wire it to the Spawn test's output.

13.

To shrink the flames as they fall behind the biplane, add a Scale operator.

14.

Set the type to Relative Successive, with all three Scale Factors set to 98%.

15.

Copy the Material Frequency operator from Spawn Flames to Trailing Flames.

16.

To move the trailing flames away from the emitter, add a Speed operator (Figure 18.38).