8

Particle Flow FAQ 117
CanIusemorethanoneobjectasinstanced
geometry?
Ye s . Wi t h t h e
Shape Instance operator (page
2–174)
, you can use groups, hierarchies, and
objects consisting of multiple elements, with each
members of the combined object constituting a
separate particle. These objects can be emitted in a
specific order, or in a random order. For example,
you can use a text object, with the letters emitted
in the order in which they appear in the text.
How can I exclude particles from certain light
sources?
To prevent particles from being affected by a light
source, use the light’s E xclude function, found on
the General Parameters rollout (Modify panel),
to specify any events containing particles to b e
excluded. Specifying the PF Source XX object
(default name) has no effect; you must specify a ll
objects listed as PF Source XX->Even t XX.
Par ticle V iew
How d o I o p en Particle View without clicking
Par ticle View button on th e comm a nd panel?
Press the 6 key. It mi ght be necessary to first
turn on the Keyboard Shortcut Override Toggle.
Do I need multiple Particle Views to manage
more than one particle system?
No: All part icle systems appear in Particle View.
You can scroll and zoom the event display to see
the different systems.
Can I selectively disable or " turn off" p ortions of
aparticlesystem?
Ye s . Pa r t i c l e V i e w g i v e s y o u a n u m b e r o f d i f f e r e n t
ways of doing this. You can click an action’s icon or
an event’s light-bulb icon to turn it off, or use t he
right-click menu, or use Edit menu’s Turn On and
TurnOffcommands.Also,ifyoupressESCwhile
Particle Flow is calculating, the software gives you
the oppor tunity of turning off the entire par ticle
system, thus immediately returning control of the
software to you. You can then analyze the system
to determine the area of slowdow n, optimize or
simplifytheparticleflow,andthenrecalculatethe
animation.
I sometimes see events named “Action
Recovery”inParticleView. Wheredidthey
come from?
When you merge a scene containing Particle Flow
data, you can import entire events and isolated
actions. If you merge an action without its events,
the software places it in an event named “Act ion
Recovery.”
Animation
How do I animate action parameters?
Use the same
Auto Key (page 2–274) method as
w ith animating any other parameter in 3ds Max.
Note: Avo i d animating Particle Flow parameters
w ith Set Key mode or with SHIFT+r ight-click.
Also, to see animation keys for actions in the tr ack
bar,makesuretheParticleFlowsourceiconis
selected.
How can I synchro nize an animated bitmap
texture to particle age?
Use the
Material Dynamic operator (page 2–187)
in conjunction with the Bitmap 2D map (page
2–1441)
. You’ll find a procedure that describes the
method in detail
here (page 2–187) .
Do I still need to bind my Par ticle Flow particles
to space warps?
No; you use the
Collision test (page 2–208) ,
Collision Spaw n test (page 2–211) ,or Force
operator (page 2–200)
to affect particle motion
with 3ds Max space warps. The ability to do this
on a global and local (p er-event) basis gives you