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Particle Flow FAQ 121
CanIusemorethanoneobjectasinstanced
geometry?
Yes. With the ShapeInstanceoperator(page
2–178), you can use groups, hierarchies, and
objects consisting of multiple elements, with each
members of the combined object constituting a
separate par t icle. T hese objects can b e emitted in a
specific order, or in a random order. For example,
you c an use a text object, with t he letters emitted
in the order in which they appear in the text.
How can I exclude particles from certain light
sources?
To prevent part icles from being affected by a light
source, use the light’s Exclude function, found on
the G eneral Parameters rollout (Modify panel),
to specify any events containing particles to be
excluded. Specifying the PF Source XX object
(default name) has no effect; you must specify all
objects listed as PF Source XX->Event XX.
Par ticle View
How do I o p en Par ticle View w ith out clicking
Particle View button o n th e command panel?
Press the 6 key. It might be necessary
to first turn on the Keyboard Shortcut Override
To g g le.
Do I need multiple Particle Views to manage
more than one particle system?
No: All par ticle systems appear in Particle View.
You can scroll and zoom the event display to see
the different systems.
Can I selec tively disable or "turn off" portions 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 lig ht-bulb icon to turn it off, or use the
right-click menu, or use Edit menu’s Turn On and
Turn Off commands. Also, if you press
Esc while
Particle Flow is calculating, the software gives you
the opportunity of turning off the entire particle
system, thus im mediately returning control of the
software to you. You can then analyze the system
to determine the area of slowdown, 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. I f you merge an action without its events,
the software places it i n an event named “Action
Recovery.”
Animation
How do I animate action parameters?
Use the same Auto Key (page 2–278) method as
w ith animating any other parameter in 3ds Max.
Note: Avoid animating Particle Flow parameters
with Set Key mode or with
Shi f t +right-click.
Also, to see animation keys for actions in t he track
bar,makesuretheParticleFlowsourceiconis
selected.
How can I synchronize an anim ated bitmap
texture to particle age?
Use the Material Dynamic operator (page 2–191)
in conjunction with the Bitmap 2D map (page
2–1631). You’ll find a procedure that describes the
method in detail here (page 2–191).
Do I still need to bind my Particle Flow particles
to space warps?
No; you use the Collision test (page 2–212),
Collision Spawn test (page 2–215),orForce operator
(page 2–204) to affect particle motion with
3ds Max space warps. The ability to do this on a