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104 Chapter 11: Space Warps and Particle Systems
Inter face
Gizmo Parameters rollout
Gizmo Size group
Length/Width/Height—Let you adjust the warp
object’s dimensions.
Deformation group
Decay—When is set to 0, there is no decay, and the
space warp affects its bound object regardless of
its distance from t he object. When you increase
the decay, the effect on the bound object falls off
exponentially. See the topics on the individual
modifiers for more information.
Parameter rollout
The parameters for a m odifier-based space warp
are identical to those of the modifier on which the
space warp is based:
Bend Modifier (page 1–541)
Taper Modifier (page 1–853)
Noise Modifier (page 1–735)
Twist Modifier (page 1–865)
Skew Modifier (page 1–780)
Stretch Modifier (page 1–826)
Pa rti cl e Sy s tems
Particle systems are useful for a variet y of
animation tasks. Primarily, they’re employed
when animating a large number of small objects
using procedural methods; for instance, creating
a snowstorm, a stream of water, or an explosion.
3dsMaxprovidestwodifferenttypesofparticle
systems: event-driven and non-event-dr iven.
The event-driven particle system, also known
as
Particle Flow (page 2–105) ,testsparticle
properties, and, based on the test results, sends
them to different events. Each event assigns
variousattributesandbehaviorstotheparticles
whilethey’reintheevent.Inthe
non-event-driven
systems (p age 2–233)
,particlestypicallyexhibit
similar properties throughout the animation.
Impor tant: Particle systems can involve a great many
entities, each of which is potentially subjec t to any
number of complex calculations. For this reason, when
using them for advanced simulations, you should have
a very fast computer and as much memory as possible.
Also, a powerful graphi cs card helps speed the display
of particle geometry in the viewports. Even so, it’s still
easy to overburden the system; if you encounter loss of
responsiveness, wait for the particle system to finish its
calculations, and then reduce the number of parti cles in
the system, implement a cache, or use other methods
to optimize performance.
Which Par ticle Sy stem to Use?
Having access to a wealth of particle systems in
3dsMaxleadstotheneedtodecidewhichsystem
to use for a particular application. In general,
for a simple animation, such as falling snow or
a water fountain, setup is faster and easier with
a non-event-driven p article system. With more
complex animations, such as an explosion that
generates different types of particles over time (for
example: fragments, fire, and smoke), use Particle
Flow for greatest flexibility and control.