3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [439]
4. Open the Material Editor (by pressing the M key), and drag a light blue–colored material to the particle system icon.
Figure 41.2 shows the results of this tutorial.
FIGURE 41.2
Rain created with the Spray particle system
Tutorial: Creating a snowstorm
Creating a snowstorm is very similar to what you did in the preceding tutorial. To create a snowstorm, use the Snow particle system with the same number of particles and apply a white material to the particle system.
To create a scene with snow using the Snow particle system, follow these steps:
1. Open the Snowman in snowstorm.max file from the Chap 41 directory on the CD.
This file includes a snowman created using primitive objects.
2. Select the Create⇒Particles⇒Snow menu command, and drag the icon in the Top viewport to cover the entire scene. Position the icon above the objects, and make sure that the vector is pointing down toward the scene objects.
3. Open the Modify panel, and in the Parameters rollout, set the Render Count to 1000 and the Flake Size to 6, and use the Six Point Render option. Set the Start and Life values to 0 and 100, respectively.
4. Open the Material Editor (by pressing the M key), and drag a white-colored material with some self-illumination added to the particle system gizmo.
Figure 41.3 shows the results of this tutorial.
FIGURE 41.3
A simple snowstorm created with the Snow particle system
Using the Super Spray Particle System
If you think of the Spray particle system as a light summer rain shower, then the Super Spray particle system is like a fire hose. The Super Spray particle system is considerably more complex than its Spray and Snow counterparts. With this complexity comes a host of features that make this one of the most robust effects creation tools in Max.
Unlike the Spray and Snow particle systems, the Super Spray particle system includes several rollouts.
Super Spray Basic Parameters rollout
The Super Spray particle system emits all particles from the center of the emitter icon. The emitter icon is a simple cylinder and an arrow that points in the direction in which the particles will travel. In the Basic Parameters rollout, shown in Figure 41.4, the Off Axis value sets how far away from the icon's arrow the stream of particles will travel. A value of 0 lines up the particle stream with the icon's arrow, and a value of 180 emits particles in the opposite direction. The Spread value can range from 0 to 180 degrees and fans the particles equally about the specified axis. The Off Plane value spins the particles about its center axis, and the Spread value sets the distance from this center axis that particles can be created. If all these values are left at 0, then the particle system emits a single, straight stream of particles, and if all values are 180, then particles go in all directions from the center of the emitter icon.
FIGURE 41.4
The Basic Parameters rollout lets you specify where and how the particles appear in the viewports.
The icon size can be set or the icon can be hidden in the viewport. You also can set the particles to be displayed in the viewport as Dots, Ticks, Meshes, or Bounding Boxes. The Percentage value is the number of the total particles that are visible in the viewport and should be kept low to ensure rapid viewport updates.
Particle Generation rollout
The Particle Generation rollout, shown in Figure 41.5, is where you set the number of particles to include in a system as either a Rate or Total value. The Rate value is the number of particles per frame that are generated. The Total value is the number of particles generated over the total number of frames. Use the Rate value if you want the animation to have a steady stream of particles throughout the animation; use the Total value if you want to set the total number of particles that will appear throughout the entire range of frames.
FIGURE 41.5
The Particle Generation rollout lets you control the particle motion.
In the Particle Motion group, the Speed value determines the initial speed and direction