The Group Rollout is where you set parameters for the Particle Groups
that you have created and generate extra Data Channels for your Group
operators.
Be aware that as you name each of your Particle Groups, this topmost rollout's name will change to reflect the Group you're working with. In the example below, the root Particle Group ALL was chosen, so the topmost rollout name shows All. If the Particle Group BlueParts was selected in the Particle Group Tree View, then this top rollout would be named BlueParts instead.
Color - This color swatch sets the color of the Particle Group's
particles when displayed in the 3ds Max view ports.
Display Dropdown - This drop down list provides options for how
you want to view your particles within the 3ds Max view ports.
Besides the standard particle viewport display styles, thinkingParticles
offers a display option that shows the Particle ID for each particle.
This ID can be used in conjunction with the PSelection
Operator to delete specific particles for example.
A Particle ID is only valid as long as the particle exists. When it dies, this number can be recycled for other particles. Test for a specific particle ID should be performed within an appropriate time frame.
Show Mesh - Activate this checkbox
to display the particle mesh in addition to the particle display option,
for the selected Particle Group.
Renderable - when checked, the particles in this group will be
rendered. Note, this is not a value that is passed on
below the hierarchy.
Data Channels - This window contains a list of all extra Data
Channels that have been created for use with a particular group. thinkingParticles
offers many advanced concepts to control or handle particles. One new
concept is the option to attach any kind of data value
to a particle through what are called Data Channels.
Data Channels are a very flexible way of adding features to a particle
that are not known to the system beforehand. To learn more about how Data
Channels function, go HERE.
Name space - Just above the Channel Type drop down list is a blank
space. This text field allows you to type in a descriptive name that is
to be associated with a newly created Data Channel. While this may seem
like a common sense move, please be sure to type in a name in this field
BEFORE you hit the ADD button to create the new Data
Channel.
Channel Type - This drop down menu provides you with a list of
Data Channel value types that you can use to create new Data Channel output
data streams for your Particle Groups.
REM. - Click on the Remove button to remove a selected Data Channel
from the list window.
ADD - Click on the Add button to add a new Data Channel to the
list window. Be SURE you've entered a name in the Name Space prior to
clicking ADD so that you new Data Channel has a recognizable name.
Elasticity - Use this spinner to control the bounce strength between
inter-particle collisions. Higher values will cause the particles to lose
less energy per bounce. Be aware that this spinner can go above a value
of 100, and any values higher than this limit will cause particle collisions
to produce extra energy.
Dynamic Friction - This spinner sets the friction (power loss)
between particles when they collide with each other. Be aware that this
power loss happens only on impact.
Static Friction - This spinner defines the friction between particles
when they are in contact (sliding) with one another. Higher Static Friction
values will make the particles slide less.
Delay Frames - This spinner sets a delay value for the dynamic
calculation of a particle. A Delay Frames value of 10 means that 10 frames
after the particle is born, the physics engine kicks in and takes control
through the dynamic rules that are present.
Optimize - Activate this check box to enable the parameters found
in the Collision
Optimize rollout menu. When active, the face counts within the colliding
meshes will be automatically reduced. This face reduction is only done
"internally" for the collision objects and not for the rendering
mesh. This option may speed up the dynamic simulation enormously. However,
if overdone the results may be incorrect.
Active - Select this option to make the particles in the selected
group respond to all forces, including dynamic simulations.
Neutron - When this option is active, all particles in this group
will be treated as a passive dynamic object. By passive
dynamic, we are referring to how the particles will react to other particles
and objects within your scene. Collisions between this passive object
and other particles will occur, but it will remain uninfluenced by both
the particle collisions and forces in your scene.
Particles in this group will also not respond to any force fields or space warps.
Frozen - Activate this radio
button to get hybrid particle behavior. In this state, the particles in
the selected Group behaves somewhere between the Active and Unyielding
states. All particles in this group will be born as dynamically
sleeping. In other words, they will not respond to any forces
at all except impulses (such as collisions - only forces like Gravity
and Wind will have no effect when in sleep mode). In the event of an impulse
interacting with the particles in the group, the particles will become
dynamically awake and respond to standard dynamics like
other active objects.
Voxel Grid - This spinner defines the number of cubic subdivisions that are calculated to wrap the objects outer boundaries. Higher values will produce more accurate simulation characteristics, however the dynamics calculations will take longer.
Important when you set Voxel Grid to 0 (zero) a true box collision is assumed, when set to 1 (one) the mesh itself is used to test the collision to the nearest surface point. The latter mode is much more accurate but it also uses more CPU computing time so it is slower.
Edges Samples - This spinner is used to add extra collision points
along edges of an object. This value should be increased with objects
that have long stretched edges (e.g. a long box object) or sliver triangles.
If this value is too low, objects may penetrate each other along their
edges.
Velocity Friction - This spinner's value is based on the relative
speed difference between two particles. The slower particle will force
the faster one to slow down. Higher values will cause the particles to
slow down more rapidly. This can be used to simulate viscous materials
such as oil, sludge or molasses.
The following parameters are only valid for the first
activation of a Frozen object. After the object has changed state the
parameters are no longer valid or considered.
Velocity Thresh - sets a Velocity Threshold that should be used
to really wake a particle up.
Rotation Thresh - defines the rotational speed that needs to be
there to really wake the particle up.
Motion Inheri. - sets the motion inheritance multiplier at wake-up
time for a frozen particle
Max Depth - sets the maximum
penetration depth allowed, for a deforming particle.
Radius - defines the "compression" radius or area the
deformation might occur within a deforming particle.
Impulse Thresh. - sets the minimum impulse needed, to start a
deformation of a particle object.
The following parameters are for the NVIDIA PhysX engine valid, only.
Other dynamic solvers will not be affected by those settings.
Box - sets the particles to a BOX collision mode. All particles
will be treated as highly optimized procedural boxes. This speeds up shape
collisions a lot.
Sphere - when checked, the collisions will all be treated as Spherical
collisions regardless of the real shapes the particles might have.
Convex Mesh - check this option, to use the Convex hull of the
particle shapes to calculate shape collisions.
Triangle Mesh - when checked, the real triangle mesh of the particle
object will be used for collision detection between particles.
There is only ONE object allowed in a scene that has this Triangle Mesh flag turned on! PhysX does not support multiple triangle Mesh collisions in a scene.
The controls within this rollout adjust the degree of optimization of
objects involved in collision detection.
Off Under Faces - This spinner sets a numerical face threshold
for optimization. If an object has fewer faces than the specified value,
then it will be ignored for optimization purposes.
Face Thresh - This spinner sets the threshold angle used to determine
which faces are collapsed. Low values produce less optimization and better
approximations of the original shape. Higher values improve optimization,
but are more likely to result in sliver faces that render poorly (see
Bias for how to control this).
Edge Thresh - This spinner sets a different threshold angle for
open edges (those that bound only one face). A low value preserves open
edges. At the same time you can apply a high face threshold to get good
optimization.
Bias - This spinner helps eliminate skinny or degenerate triangles
that occur during optimization which can cause rendering artifacts. Higher
values keeps triangles from becoming degenerate. The default of 0.1 is
generally enough to eliminate the skinniest triangles. Range=0.0 to 1.0
A value of 0.0 turns Bias off.
Max Edge Len. - This spinner
specifies the maximum length beyond which an edge cannot be stretched
when optimized. When Max Edge Len is set to 0.0, it has no effect. Any
value greater than 0.0 specifies the maximum length of the edges. When
used in concert with the Bias spinner, this control helps you avoid creating
long skinny faces while optimizing.
Preserve Smooth Boundaries - When this check box is active, the
optimization routine only allows faces that share at least one smoothing
group to be collapsed.
In contrast to anything you might already know about thinkingParticles
and how it handles its physics properties, this latest release of thinkingParticles
behaves a lot different when using the Bullet Physics engine.
In the process of preventing overloading the internal particle structure
of thinkingParticles; a much better "only when needed" approach
to physics parameter settings is used from now on.
Important:
The Bullet physics parameter rollout will only be visible when a BulletPhysics
node exists in any of the DynamicSets.
Create Parameter - when clicked,
a set of Bullet Physics parameters for the selected particle group will
be created. Keep in mind, this is a new behavior and does not exists with
any of the other Physics Engines. Every time a particle group should
hold particles with Bullet physics properties; this button has to be pressed
to create the data set.
This button will also activate the Bullet Physics parameters of the rollout.
Set to Default - click this option to reset all values of this rollout to their defaults.
Using Delay - sets a delay value for the dynamic calculation of a particle. A Delay value of 10 means that 10 frames after the particle is born, the physics engine kicks in and takes control through the dynamic rules that are present.
Shape - offers a choice of possible collision shapes. Except "Mesh" all other options are highly optimized collision bodies.
State - sets the state of the collision object it can either be: Active, Sleeping or in a Kinematic State or Static.
Active
- the default state of a Bullet Physics particle
Sleeping - particle/object is not
active and will be woken by physics events
Kinematic - unlimited mass; can
be moved and will do proper collisions
Static - object/particle is unyielding
Restitution - Use this parameter
to control the bounce value between the particle collisions. Higher values
will make the particles lose less energy per bounce. Be aware that values
greater than 100 will create extra energy and the particles will gain
energy with each bounce.
Friction - This spinner defines the friction between particles
when they are in contact (sliding). Higher values will make the particles
slide less.
Velocity - sets the minimum
speed an object needs to fall below to become treated as frozen or sleeping.
Be aware that other objects interacting with a sleeping one may change
this status when the impact creates a velocity higher than this value.
Rotation - sets the minimum rotational speed and object needs
to fall below to become treated as frozen or sleeping. As is the case
with the Velocity Threshold, be aware that other objects interacting with
a sleeping one may change this status when the impact creates an angular
velocity higher than this value.
Linear Stiffness - sets how "springy" or bouncy the rope will be. Lower numbers will create an ultra soft rubber while higher numbers will create a stronger appearing rope. Keep in mind we are talking here soft bodies! The rope will never become as hard as a strip of steel!
Damping - adds a dampening force to the rope stretching. The higher this value the more clay like the rope stretching will appear.
Iteration - sets the amount of intermediate steps the solver will take to simulate the rope system. The higher this value the more accurate the result will be, however the longer it will take to calculate.
Anchor - defines how strong the anchor holds
Rigid - sets the "bounce off" strength for rigid bodies colliding with the rope spline
Fixed Start - when checked the start of the rope will be fixed
Fixed End -when checked it will set the
Threshold - sets the maximum force at which the rope breaks/tears apart
Position - defines the position along the rope were the breaking should occur. A value of 0.5 means the middle part of the rope will break, 0 means it will break at a position were the maximum force occurs.
Zoing - defines the "pre-load" factor for the rope, this controls the tear off effect. a value of 100% will create a maximum pre-loaded spring-back effect.
None, Radial - select none, to get a spline representation of the rope, only. Radial will create a "round" mesh out of the spline.
Constriction - sets the amount of constriction for the rope mesh. A value of 100% will show the maximum constriction.
Rate - sets the amount of constrictions. The higher this value the more constrictions will be visible. To see all of the mesh effects a proper amount of segmentation must be maintained!
Thickness - defines the radius of the rope. The higher this value the thicker the rope will be.
Rotation - rotates the rope around its center.
Sides - sets the amount of segments circumventing the rope.
Steps - defines the mesh resolution along the length of the rope.
Twist - sets how often the rope is twisted around
Autosmooth - check this option to turn on auto-smoothing of the rope mesh
Threshold - sets the angular threshold when to smooth the surface.
Generate Mapping - when checked, mapping coordinates for the rope mesh are created.