2010

Table Of Contents
Adjust nParticle Liquid Simulation attributes to create particles that look
and behave like water.
Cache your nParticle simulation.
Convert a liquid simulation to an nParticle output mesh.
Assign mia_material_x mental ray shaders to your nParticle output mesh.
Render a single frame of your nParticle simulation using mental ray for
Maya renderer.
Lesson setup
To ensure this lesson works as described, open the scene file named
Liquid_Simulation_1.mb. This file is in the GettingStarted directory that
you set as your Maya project:
GettingStarted/nParticles/Liquid_Simulation_1.mb
This scene includes textured polygon models including a desk, water pitcher,
and water glass. The water pitcher mesh is animated to lift off the desk, tip to
pour water into the glass, then set back down on the desktop.
Creating a Water style nParticle object
In the first step of creating your liquid simulation, you fill a polygon water
pitcher with Water style nParticles. To do this, you use the Fill Object option.
To create a Water style nParticle object
1 Select nParticles > Create nParticles > Water.
Selecting a Water style nParticle object presets some nParticleShape
attributes including turning on Liquid Simulation attributes, turning off
nParticle Self Collisions, and setting the Particle Render Type to Blobby
Surface.
2 In the Outliner, select geo_pitcher, which is contained in the grp_Pitcher
object.
This is the geometry that you will fill with Water style nParticles.
3 Select nParticles > Create nParticles > Fill Object >
.
The Particle Fill Options window appears.
954 | Chapter 19 nParticles