PathPosition 

The Path Position helper is the ideal tool to acquire a position on any kind of path. It allows you to easily place any particle onto a path or around a path. This path can either be defined by a spline or an edge selection within a mesh.

It is important to understand that this helper node sets a position for any particle by a brutal and merciless X,Y,Z change of the current particle's position. This method works for many situations, however it is unusable for motion blur effects as the positions jump from frame to frame without any change in velocity.

To animate the particle's position along the path, the position value needs to be animated. This can be done either by keyframe animating the value or by connecting the position input of this node to any other node that "spits" out position numbers in the intended way.

Operator Inputs 

ON - (Bool) This input data stream determines whether the node is considered 'on' or 'off.' You can connect other nodes to this input channel such as a Bool Helper to activate/deactivate the whole node.

Time - (Time) This input data stream is used to define the local time for the node when the user wants to override the default system time.

Path ID - (Integer) selects the path to use for the position calculations. You may pick multiple paths with this helper to create complex particle effects.

Position - (Scalar) this value is either measured in a relative way (0-1) or in an absolute world units way. The interpretation of the connected value depends on the value of "Position Type".

Position Type - (Integer) sets the Input Values to be interpreted as absolute world unit positions (distance from path start) or relative units (0 being start of the path and 1 being end of path).

Vertical Axis - (Integer) selects the vertical particle alignment axis in relation to the path (0=X, 1=Y,2=Z)

Invert Vertical Axis - (Bool) inverts or flips the vertical axis of the particle in relation to the path.

Path Axis - (Integer) selects the path-axis orientation in relation to the particle (0=X, 1=Y,2=Z)

Invert Path Axis - (Bool) inverts or flips the path-axis in relation to the particle.

Rotation - (Scalar) rotates the particle around the specified path axis

Operator Outputs 

Position - (Position) outputs the position information that can be fed into any node using positions as input

Alignment - (Alignment) outputs the alignment information that can be used with any connected node that can handle alignment information

Rollout Menu 

The path position rollout menu gives "manual" access to the aforementioned Input parameters of this node. Many paths can be easily added or picked. There are global settings and path specific settings that can be adjusted when the relevant path is selected from the list control.

Multiple paths can be selected and added to the list of paths. To control the settings of a specific path object, select it and adjust its parameters. To select a specific path with node inputs, use the Path ID input.



Up - when clicked, the selected path is moved up in the list

Down - when clicked, the selected path is moved down in the list

Remove - click the button to remove the select path

Pick Object - Click this button, to enable the object Pick mode to select a path within the 3ds Max modeling viewport.

Hide - will hide the selected path object in the viewport

Position Group of Controls 

Units - when checked, the Position value will be treated as real world units

Relative - check this option to treat the Position value as relative values were 0 means the start of the path and 1 will indicate the end of the path.

Position - selects the position on the path; this can either be a relative value or an absolute value.

Alignment Group of Controls 

Vertical Axis - selects the vertical particle alignment axis in relation to the path

Invert Vertical Axis - inverts or flips the vertical axis of the particle in relation to the path.

Path Axis - selects the path-axis orientation in relation to the particle

Invert Path Axis - inverts or flips the path-axis in relation to the particle.

Rotation - rotates the particle around the specified path axis

TP Path Rollout Menu 

This context sensitive rollout menu displays the parameters based on the selected path. Each path can hold its own set of parameters, which makes it very efficient.

Type and Globals Group of Controls 

Path - when selected, the picked object is directly used as a path (e.g. a Spline Object)

Selected Edges - check this option, when the selected object is not a Spline and when the mesh holds selected edges. A selected edge loop for example can be easily used to create particles that follow along an irregular surface

Invert - flips the start and end position of the path

Rotation - rotates the particles around the path axis

Path Group of Controls 

Basis Axis - sets the basis of the path axis to either X, Y or Z. This axis should always be perpendicular to the path, with curved paths you should use the imagined plane created from the start position towards the end point of the path. This spanned imagined plane should have an axis perpendicular to this face.

Selected Edges 

Ticks per Unit - used to set the "sampling rate" of selected Edges in a mesh. The higher this value is the more accurate the "following" or position information will be.