2009

if you press Esc while Particle Flow is calculating, the software gives you the
opportunity of turning off the entire particle system, thus immediately
returning control of the software to you. You can then analyze the system to
determine the area of slowdown, optimize or simplify the particle flow, and
then recalculate the animation.
I sometimes see events named “Action Recovery” in Particle View.
Where did they 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 “Action Recovery.”
Animation
How do I animate action parameters?
Use the same
Auto Key on page 3083 method as with animating any other
parameter in 3ds Max.
NOTE Avoid animating Particle Flow parameters with Set Key mode or with
Shift+right-click. Also, to see animation keys for actions in the track bar, make sure
the Particle Flow source icon is selected.
How can I synchronize an animated bitmap texture to particle age?
Use the
Material Dynamic operator on page 2925 in conjunction with the Bitmap
2D map
on page 5795. You'll find a procedure that describes the method in
detail
here on page ?.
Do I still need to bind my Particle Flow particles to space warps?
No; you use the
Collision test on page 2960, Collision Spawn test on page 2964,
or
Force operator on page 2946 to affect particle motion with 3ds Max space
warps. The ability to do this on a global and local (per-event) basis gives you
much greater control over how space warps affect the particles than with
previous systems.
How do I make particles follow a path?
You can use the
Speed By Icon operator on page 2876 or the Find Target test on
page 2970, assigning the icon or target to a spline path. You'll find illustrative
procedures in both topics.
2806 | Chapter 14 Space Warps and Particle Systems