Blurp Operator 

The Blurp Operator is designed to let you create particle morph animations quickly and effectively. The main idea behind Blurp is the creation of complex disintegration / re-integration effects. An often-used description for this kind of effect is the idea of taking a character like Dracula, having him disintegrate into a flock of flying bats, then having those particles re-assemble into the shape of a snarling dog.

While these kinds of effects could be accomplished using other operator and rule combinations inside of thinkingParticles, this Operator takes the headaches out of creating them and should help speed your workflow.

Operator Inputs 

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

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

Animation Phase - This input sets the particles' morph progress. You must animate this parameter when you want to morph between multiple objects. A value of 0.0 means Frame 0 within the animation and a value of 1.0 means the last frame within the animation.

Operator Outputs 

No Operator Outputs.

Rollout Menu 

Group - Use this dropdown menu to select the particle group that is to be used as the container for the picked objects' particles.

Animation Phase - This parameter sets the particles' morph progress. You must animate this parameter when you want to morph between multiple objects. A value of 0.0 means Frame 0 within the animation and a value of 1.0 means the last frame within the animation.

Objects Listbox 

The Blurp Operator is able to do multiple particle morphs within a single operator. Because of this flexibility, you can morph one object into another while using many other objects as intermediate steps in the transition. In the Object listbox you'll find all of the objects that are to be used to morph between. All objects are handled by a top-down order.

TIP: Be aware that you can also pick any Helper object in addition to standard geometry. Helper objects are used as a position indicator for the particle flow direction and are not as a target shape for the Blurp Operator. The particle stream will pass through the helper object's position when included in the Object Listbox.

REM. - Press the REM. button to remove any selected object from the listbox window.

Hide/Unhide - This button lets you hide or unhide the original objects selected (as they will be instanced for the Blurp effect).

PICK - Use this button to select any 3ds Max objects in the scene that you want to use within the Blurp effect. When selected, the object will be added to the bottom of the list.

Up / Down - These two controls move a selected entry up or down the list. Remember that the top to bottom order of the objects in this list defines the order of the morph effect.

Use SubTree Also - Activate this checkbox to make sure that linked children objects are also included within the morph transitions between objects.

From To - This dropdown list lets you choose how the fragmentation process should start/evolve. The reference for up/down or left/right is the local object z-axis.

In Tangent - A particle morph looks best when the transition between two objects is smooth. When you add two objects to the Object Listbox, a spline path is drawn between the morphing objects to show you how the transition is to occur. Using this spinner, you can flatten out the trajectory and create sharp edges in the path leading into the object.

Out Tangent - Using this spinner, you can alter the trajectory along the path leading away from the object.

Stay Time [%] - This spinner value reflects the percentage of time a selected Blurp object stays together before it gets fragmented again as it morphs into another object. This spinner is only useful when there are at least three mesh objects in the morph list.

Let's take a hypothetical example of a Blurp effect that has three objects in it and is animated to be exactly 100 frames long. As you transition from Object #1 to Object #2 to Object #3, the timing will be equal by default. This means that the first object will be visible at frame 0, the second object will be visible at frame 50 and the third object will be visible at frame 100.

A 3 object Blurp example 

As you can see, at frame 0, the sphere labeled 1 is visible and whole. At frame 50, the sphere labeled 2 is visible and whole, and at frame 100, sphere 3 is visible and whole. In between those frames, the object's fragment and move from position to position.

Now to transition from frame 0 to frame 50 (morphing from Object #1 to Object #2), the original object is fragmented (turned into chunks) and moved along a path and then re-assembled into the new object. Likewise, going from frame 50 to frame 100 (morphing from Object #2 to Object #3) must also go through the disassembly and re-assembly processes. And time here is also split equally so that the fragmentation and rebuilding processes are the same in terms of evenly divided timing.

So if you change the Stay Time [%] value for all three of the Blurp objects to 25%, it means that 25% of the time that is devoted to fragmenting the objects is "stolen" from the overall timing so that the complete object is visible for that amount of time.

Frag Time [%] - This spinner sets the time the object needs to become fully fragmented. Like the Set Time [%] spinner, this value represents a percentage of the total animation time. If you set this value to 300% for example, the fragmentation process of the selected object will take three times longer than it would usually take.

Next Time [%] - This spinner defines the time it takes for the fragments to move from one position (source) to another (target). Like the Set Time [%] spinner, this value represents a percentage of the total animation time. If you set this value to 300% for example, the motion of the selected object will take three times longer than it would usually take.

Helper Scale [%] - This value defines how much of the scaling information of a selected helper object should be taken to “squeeze” the fragments along their path to the new object position. You may use this feature to send a stream of particles through a little hole or underneath a door. In these cases, the scale transformation of the helper object is taken to define the squeeze.

Scale Particle - This checkbox is used to tell the particle fragments to scale down as well as they pass through the selected helper node. When unchecked, the fragments will retain their size as they pass through the helper object.

Material Mixmode - Activate this checkbox to get proper material morphs between the various objects.

Mixmode Frames - This Parameter defines the time it takes to blend the materials between the various Blurp stages.

Fragmentation Rollout

Fragment 

The Blurp operator uses the exact same settings to control the object fragmentation as you find within the Fragment Operator. The only difference you might see is that the Blurp operator does not use any maps or materials to control the Fragmentation order.

Group - Use this dropdown menu to select the particle group that is to be used as the container for the picked objects' fragments.

No Fragments - Activate this checkbox to enter non-fragment mode. Fragments aren't actually created, however this option can be a lifesaver when you want to see the order in which your object activates its fragments. This can also be a tremendous time saver for compositing tasks.

Single - Choose this option to use all triangles as independent object fragments. This option is useful when you want to simulate dust or very small debris. The other two options - Smooth and Distance and Count allows you to control the amount and size of the object fragments.

Smooth and Distance - When Smooth and Distance is chosen, two additional parameters are also enabled (Smoothing Angle and Radius [%]). All fragments with the same surface smoothing angle (set in the Smoothing spinner) will Use the size (radius) as set in the Radius [%] parameter.

Smoothing Angle - This spinner controls the size of the fragments when Smooth and Distance is checked. All fragments with the same surface smoothing angle will then use the size (radius) as set in the Radius [%] parameter to create fragments.

Radius [%] - This spinner sets the radius to be used for controlling fragments when Smooth and Distance is checked. Radius [%] is measured as a percentage of the object’s bounding box size, so a larger percentage will result in bigger fragment chunks.

Count - When this option is selected, the Count spinner becomes active. As a result, you can set a specific number of fragments to be created.

Count - This spinner's value controls the minimum number of fragments that should be created. However, you should be aware that this parameter also performs additional object tessellation in cases where the mesh isn't detailed enough to create the number of chunks. In these cases, the mesh will be adaptively subdivided to accommodate the Count value.

Thickness [%] - This spinner sets the thickness of the fragmented geometry. At a value of 0.0, the fragments are single-sided with no thickness. When greater than zero, the fragments are extruded inward at fragmentation-time by the amount specified to produce a solid appearance. When using thickness in your fragments, the inner and outer surfaces of the fragments use identical smoothing; and this smoothing is picked up from the object-based emitter. Worth noting is that the edges of the fragments are not smoothed.

Outside ID - This spinner lets you assign a Material ID that should be used on the outside faces of the fragments. In order to do this, be sure to assign a Multi/Sub-Object material to the selected emitter.

Edge ID - This spinner lets you assign a Material ID that should be used on the newly created edge faces of the fragments. In order to do this, be sure to assign a Multi/Sub-Object material to the selected emitter.

Backside ID - This spinner lets you assign a Material ID that should be used on the newly created inner faces of the fragments. In order to do this, be sure to assign a Multi/Sub-Object material to the selected emitter.

Remaining Mesh 

The Blurp Operator is unique when it gets into creating particle fragments. In contrast to other standard 3ds Max particle systems, Blurp can also handle the remaining mesh of the fragmented object. The remaining mesh refers to the geometry that still appears as the fragments break off. The options are None, Hollow and Solid.

None: When this option is selected, the Fragment Operator will not have a remaining mesh. As such, the entire object will disappear, and only as the emitter's vertices exceed the Threshold spinner value, they appear as chunks. This might look odd, but in combination with the No Fragments option you may use this for perfect compositing.

Hollow: When this option is selected, you will be left with a hollow remaining mesh. At the beginning of the fragmentation, the object appears solid, and then pieces begin to break off. The result is that this effect looks like the object is exploding into little pieces over time .

Solid: When this option is selected, the remaining mesh will continue to be a complete solid object. This option is useful when you want to get an effect that looks like the fragments are peeled off or blown off. With clever use of different Material IDs you can also create an effect of breaking a hull or battle damage to a surface where debris flies off and yet you still have another raw surface beneath.

Thickness [%] - This spinner sets the thickness of the remaining mesh. Values greater than 0.0 produce a remaining mesh surface that is incrementally smaller than the original emitter surface (to enhance the peeling effect when Solid is chosen for the Remaining Mesh).

Outside ID - This spinner lets you assign a Material ID that should be used on the outside faces of the remaining mesh. In order to do this, be sure to assign a Multi/Sub-Object material to the selected emitter.

Edge ID - This spinner lets you assign a Material ID that should be used on the newly created edge faces of the remaining mesh. Understand that the only way to see this material is when you choose Hollow as the remaining mesh algorithm. In order to do this, be sure to assign a Multi/Sub-Object material to the selected emitter.

Inside ID - This spinner lets you assign a Material ID that should be used on the newly created inner faces of the remaining mesh. Understand that the only way to see this material is when you choose Hollow as the remaining mesh algorithm. In order to do this, be sure to assign a Multi/Sub-Object material to the selected emitter.