9

reactor is a toolset that allows animators and artists
to control and simulate complex physical scenes
in 3ds Max. reactor supports integrated rigid
and soft body dynamics, cloth simulation, and
fluid simulation. It can simulate constraints and
joints for articulated bodies. It can also simulate
physical behaviors such as wind and motors. You
can use al l of these features to create rich dynamic
environments.
Once you have created an object in 3ds Max,
you can assign physica l properties such as mass,
friction, and elasticity to it with reactor. Objects
can be fixed, free, attached to springs, or attached
together using a variety of constraints. By
assigning physical characteristics to objects like
this, you can model real-world scenarios and then
sim ulate them to produce physically accurate,
keyframed animations.
After you set up your reactor scene, you can
prev iew it quickly using the real-time simulation
display window. This al lows you to test and play
with a scene interactively. You can alter positions
ofallphysicalobjectsinthescene,dramatically
reducing the design time. You can then tra nsfer
the scene back into 3ds Max with a single mouse
click while retaining all the properties needed for
the animation.
reactor frees you from having to hand-animate
time-consuming secondary effects, like exploding
buildings or draping curtains. reactor also
supports a ll standard 3ds Max functionality such
as keyfr ames and skinning, so you can u se both
conventional and physical animation in the same
scene. Convenient utilities, such as automatic
keyframe reduction, let you tweak and alter the
physical ly generated parts of an animation after it
has b een created.
The remainder of this chapter describes each of
reactor’s features in detail. Also, the included
tutorials step you through creating some typical
reactorscenes.Together,wehopethesewillhelp
you to get the most from reactor.
If you would like to find out more about dynamics
simulation, see Introducing Dynamics Simulation
(page 2–707).
Getting Sta rted
This section shows you where to find the various
reactor options in 3ds Max, as well as i ntroducing
you to reactor’s helper icons. You’ll see how to use
each of the options in the relevant section of this
guide.
reactor