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Tutorials LightWave 3D FX Linker Qua Jan 26, 2011 2:19 am
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| by 'Deuce' |
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| Download source files here. |
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| This is a real quick and dirty tutorial for linking geometry to ParticleFX particles using FX_Linker. We want to shoot boxes out and have them randomly rotate.  Ok,first off, let's make a box to use for our particle animation. In modeler, choose the box tool, and drag out a box that will look like a very thin brick, or a letter that you would snail-mail as shown. Save this as "Box" -- ohhh, the creativity shows.  Ok,so now in Layout, we need to add a particle emitter. My favorite and preferred way to work with ParticleFX is by way of the FX_Browser. Find this under the "Scene" tab at the top, and under "Dynamics" about halfway down the left hand side. Depending on your screen resolution, it may or may not be under a "more" popup.  Justclick on it and it will give you a floating control panel for everything having to do with Particle_FX.  Ok,so we need to add a HVEmitter, and pop up it's properties.  Justfollow along, this is going to be a simple setup. Make the Birth Rate 10, this will make 10 particles per second born, and set the particle limit to 90.  Clickon the "Particle" tab. Set the particle resistance to ".2" and the life time(frame) to 150.  Clickon the "Motion" tab. Set the "Z" vector to 3m, and explosion to .8  Ok.Set the end of our scene to 150 instead of 30, and hit the play button. You'll see particles flying down the Z-axis.  Now,for the meat of our tutorial. Load in the box that we made in modeler. Remember it's name? Box. Riiiiiiiight.  Ok,my box is a little big, so I'll just scale it down and keyframe it at "0".  Nowthen. Right under where you found "FX_Browser" is "FX_Linker". Launch this.  Thisgives you the main control panel for "FX_Linker". I'll explain the controls at the end, because we're just interested in getting done and seeing how easy it is.  Firstoff, make sure that your particles are the "HVEmitter" and replace object is "Box". This is just telling it "I want to replace the paritcles in HVEmitter with Box". Rotation is what state is the particle going to be when emitted. We'd like to have it random instead of "Non" which is "none". So make this drop-list "random".  ThePre behavior is where you can tell it, before you are born, I want to see you or not. So, let's have them invisible until they are born, so make this drop-list "size dissolve".  Now,copy -- we want to clone our box 89 times. Remember, we set the number of particles to be 90, and we have one already, so cloning it 89 times will give us our total of 90. Setting our Random Rotation Min and Max will give it a working range to setup the angles at which they are rotated. Set all Min to 0, and all Max to 45. This will give the range from 0 to 45 degrees rotation. Random Spin Min and Max is how much to spin during it's life. I've set these to Min 10 and Max 80. Nice amount without getting to heavy handed. That's all there is to it. Click on "OK" and your scene will be setup.  Pressplay and watch the fun!!  NOTES: Thereare a few things to know about this. This linking is a one way trip. If you want to change anything about the rotations, or anything dealing with the box, you will have to select all the objects that were cloned, save one, and then clear out it's rotations (use the graph editor, much easier) and get rid of the motion plugin. Select the box, then hit "M" to bring up the motion panel and delete the 'FX_Link' plugin to clear everything. Thefollowing is a copy/paste from the manual about the controls in the FX_Linker control panel. The Rotation drop-list determines which rotation method the particle will have when emitted. The default value, Non, has no rotation added. The Random option gives the item a random starting rotation. Align to Path(h) and Align to Path(hp) will rotate the item according to the particle’s path. Time shift moves the start of the item’s sizing/rotation motion according to the settings in the drop-list. The Non value doesn’t alter the timing of the item’s motion, it plays as it was originally keyframed. TheStart Shift and End Shift options move the item’s motion to the beginning or end of the particle’s life. The Start Adjust (distance) and End Adjust (distance) settings will alter the frame rate of the motion according to the value in the Distance/Sec field. As the particle travels a certain distance, a percentage of the motion is animated. The Pre and Post Behavior settings indicate what the item’s rotation/scaling state will be when the motion isn’t being animated. This represents the time before the particle is born and after it dies. TheStay behavior will hold the first frame of the motion for the Pre Behavior and the last frame with the Post Behavior. The Original setting returns the object to its original state in either the beginning or ending of the animation. The Size Dissolve setting will dissolve the item in either the beginning or ending of the particles life. So in the Pre Behavior, while the particle is waiting to be generated, it’s not visible. Then for the Post Behavior, after the particle dies, it becomes invisible. Size effect applies the particle size to the object. The object’s normal layout size becomes a factor where 0 = 0% and 1 = 100%. You can animate an overall size of particles using normal layout sizing functions. Make key will make a keyframe of the related particle motion on every frame—take care using this option because created keyframes don’t go away when you uncheck this option. You sometimes need Make key because the movement of the linked object is only apparent. Internally, the object is still at its keyframed position. I hope this has been helpful, and you now understand how to use FX_Linker. Thanks for your attention. If you'd like to contact Deuce, send email to: [Tens de ter uma conta e sessão iniciada para poderes visualizar este link] |
