3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [467]
FIGURE 43.7
Scenes can be validated before exporting to look for potential problems.
Tutorial: Dropping a plate of donuts
All the great books have an element of tragedy, so consider a policeman carrying a dozen donuts on a plate when he stumbles and drops the plate. Donuts everywhere, how tragic! This animation sequence would be difficult or at least time-consuming if it were not for MassFX.
To use MassFX to animate a falling plate of donuts, follow these steps:
1. Open the Falling plate of donuts.max file from the Chap 43 directory on the CD.
This file includes a simple plate of donuts created from primitives.
2. Open the MassFX toolbar. Then select all the donuts and the plate, and click the Set Selected to Dynamic Rigid Body button.
3. Because the floor object is aligned to the ground plane, just make sure that the Use Ground Plane and the Gravity Enabled options are enabled in the World panel of the MassFX Tools dialog box.
4. Click the Start Simulation button in the MassFX toolbar.
5. After the simulation is complete and looks fine, click the Bake All button in the Tools panel of the MassFX Tools dialog box, and the keys for the animation are added to the Track Bar.
6. When it completes, press the Play Animation button (or press the / key) to see the results.
Figure 43.8 shows the upturned plate of donuts. Oh, the tragedy, the horror, the creamy fillings.
FIGURE 43.8
Animating these falling donuts was easy with MassFX.
Summary
This chapter covered the basics of animating a dynamic simulation using MassFX. In this chapter, you accomplished the following:
• Understanding the principles of dynamics
• Accessing the MassFX tools
• Defining object types and properties
• Setting the collision mesh type
• Setting initial motion
• Working with constraints
• Baking animation keys
The next chapter covers the dynamic abilities of Max's hair and cloth systems.
Chapter 44: Animating Hair and Cloth
IN THIS CHAPTER
Enabling hair dynamics
Simulating cloth dynamics
The specialized hair and cloth systems can create believable, realistic hair, but the real benefit to making hair and cloth come alive is found in the dynamic abilities of both.
In this chapter, you'll look at the dynamic abilities of both the hair and cloth systems. Using these systems, you can simulate hair blown by the wind and cloth that drapes over and around underlying objects.
Cross-Reference
Creating and defining both the Hair and Cloth systems is covered in Chapter 29, “Adding and Styling Hair and Fur, and Using Cloth.” •
Using Hair Dynamics
Being able to style hair is great, but have you ever left the barbershop and had the wind do its own styling job on your hair? The Dynamics rollout for Hair and Fur lets you define specific forces and let the hair fall where it may.
Tip
Be conservative with the forces that are applied to a hair system. Too many forces or too extreme forces can easily destroy any styling that you've created. •
Making hair live
The Dynamics rollout is available only if the Hair and Fur (WSM) modifier has been applied to an object. At the top of the Dynamics rollout are three modes: None, Live, and Precomputed. If you select the Live mode, then the hair around the growth object immediately becomes subject to gravity and other forces in real time, causing the hair to droop about the growth object. Moreover, if you move the object within the viewport, the hair flows about the object as if you were moving a real object with hair attached. Figure 44.1 shows a simple mouse with hair attached. The image on the left shows the hair particles with the None mode enabled, and the image on the right shows the hair after the Live mode is enabled. Notice how the hair particles fall around the mouse object.
FIGURE 44.1
The Live dynamic mode makes the hair react in