8

Shape Instance Operator 177
Selectinganopengroupwilladdonlythegroup
member you click, not the entire group.
Separate Particles For group
3ds Max prov ides a number of methods for
combining disparate objects into single entities,
including grouping, building hierarchies with
linking, and attaching. By default, when using
such a
multi-shape object as particle geometry,
each particle comprises all member objects.
Alternatively, you can instruct Particle Flow to
treat each member object as a separate particle
with these options. When on, the software
uses each member object as a single par ticle, in
left-to-right order according to its X-axis position,
by default. So, for example, if you create text i n the
Front viewport, assign it as reference geometry,
andturnonObjectElements,theletterscomeout
in the proper order.
You can var y the order randomly by turning on
Multi-Shape Random Order .
You can turn on any combination of Separate
Par ticles items. All are off by default.
Group M embers—When on, group members are
treated as separate part icles.
Object and Children—When on, linked objects are
treated as separate part icles.
Object E lement s—When on, element sub-objects
of a single mesh object are treated as separate
particles.
Ver t ices/Faces—Show the number of vertices and
triangles per particle. If the reference geometry is
multi-shapeandtheappropriatecheckboxesin
theSeparateParticlesareon,thenthesedisplays
show an average vertex/face count.
Number of Sha pes—Shows number of different
particleshapes.Thisnumberisalways1unless
the reference geometry is multi-shape and the
appropriate check boxes in the Separate Particles
Forgroupareon,inwhichcasethisdisplaysthe
number of resulting different shapes.
Scale (% )—Specifies a uniform scaling factor for all
particles. Range=0 to 100000. Default=on, 100.
Thecenterofscalingformulti-shapeobject
memberstreatedindividuallydependsonhowthe
objects are combined. For grouped and linked
objects, the scaling is done about the objects’ pivot
points. For object elements, t he scaling center is
the geometric center of each object; that is, the
averaged location of all the vertices.
This value cannot b e animated. To animate
particle size, use the
Scale operator (page 1–421) .
Variation (%)—Sp ecifies a r andomized percentage
of scaling variation. Use the Uniqueness setting
to change the randomization. Range=0 to 100.
Default=0.
Thisvaluecannotbeanimated.Toanimatescaling
variation, use the
Scale operator (page 2–152)
operator .
Acquire M apping—When on, all mapping data
from the reference object is transferred to particles.
Default=on.
Acquire Ma terial—When on, material data from
the reference object is transferred to particles.
Default=on.
If the reference object is a group, with different
materials applied to the group members, the
software creates a new Multi/Sub-Object material
containing all of the materials and uses it as the
part icle material.
Tip: Becausematerialsare“sticky”inParticleFlow,
if you tur n off Acquire Material after specifying
a reference object with an attached material, the
material remains applied to the particles. To
avoid applying the instanced shape’s material to
theparticles,turnoffAcquireMaterialbefore
specifying the reference object.