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Creating a Space Warp

Space Warps are found in the Create⇒Space Warps menu, which opens the Space Warps category (the icon is three wavy lines) in the Create panel. From the subcategory drop-down list, you can select from several different subcategories. Each subcategory has buttons to enable several different Space Warps, or you can select them using the Create⇒Space Warps menu command. To create a Space Warp, click a button or select a menu option and then click and drag in a viewport.

When a Space Warp is created, a gizmo is placed in the scene. This gizmo can be transformed as other objects can: by using the standard transformation buttons. The size and position of the Space Warp gizmo often affect its results. After a Space Warp is created, it affects only the objects to which it is bound.

Binding a Space Warp to an object

A Space Warp's influence is felt only by its bound objects, so you can selectively apply gravity only to certain objects. The Bind to Space Warp button is on the main toolbar next to the Unlink button. After clicking the Bind to Space Warp button, drag from the Space Warp to the object to which you want to link it or vice versa.

All Space Warp bindings appear in the Modifier Stack. You can use the Edit Modifier Stack dialog box to copy and paste Space Warps between objects.

Some Space Warps can be bound only to certain types of objects. Each Space Warp has a Supports Objects of Type rollout that lists the supported objects. If you're having trouble binding a Space Warp to an object, check this rollout to see whether the object is supported.

Understanding Space Warp Types

Just as many different types of forces exist in nature, many different Space Warp types exist. These appear in several different subcategories, based on their function. The subcategories are Forces, Deflectors, Geometric/Deformable, Modifier-Based, and Particles & Dynamics.

Note

The Particles & Dynamics subcategory includes a Vector Field button that is used with biped crowds, discussed in Bonus Chapter 8, “Creating Character Crowds.” •

Force Space Warps

The Forces subcategory of Space Warps is mainly used with particle systems and dynamic simulations. Space Warps in this subcategory include Motor, Vortex, Path Follow, Displace, Wind, Push, Drag, PBomb, and Gravity. Figure 42.1 shows the gizmos for these Space Warps.

Motor

The Motor Space Warp applies a rotational torque to objects. This force accelerates objects radially instead of linearly. The Basic Torque value is a measurement of torque in newton-meters, foot-pounds, or inch-pounds.

The On Time and Off Time options set the frames where the force is applied and disabled, respectively. Many of the Space Warps have these same values.

FIGURE 42.1

The Force Space Warps: Motor, Vortex, Path Follow, Displace, Wind, Push, Drag, PBomb, and Gravity

The Feedback On option causes the force to change as the object's speed changes. When this option is off, the force stays constant. You can also set Target Revolution units in revolutions per hour (RPH), revolutions per minute (RPM), or revolutions per second (RPS), which is the speed at which the force begins to change if the Feedback option is enabled. The Reversible option causes the force to change directions if the Target Speed is reached, and the Gain value is how quickly the force adjusts.

The motor force can also be adjusted with Periodic Variations, which cause the motor force to increase and then decrease in a regular pattern. You can define two different sets of Periodic Variation parameters: Period 1, Amplitude 1, Phase 1; and Period 2, Amplitude 2, Phase 2.

For particle systems, you can enable and set a Range value. The Motor Space Warp doesn't affect particles outside this distance. At the bottom of the Parameters rollout, you can set the size of the gizmo icon. You can find this same value for all Space Warps.

Figure 42.2 shows the Motor Space Warp twisting the particles being emitted from the Super Spray particle