8/6/2019 27084311 Part 4 Adding a Visual Effect

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33May 2001

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Part 4: Adding a visual effectNow we’ve built our character and brought him to life, what could be better than to blowhim up? Using a particle system we’ll explore max’s effects capabilities…

In the Particle Generation rollout, set EmitStart to 40 and Life to 61. To make the original

character disappear, go to frame 40 and turn onAnimate. Select body_mesh, right-click and chooseProperties, setting the Visibility spinner to 0. OK thisdialog and turn off Animate. Now right-click the key

at frame 0 under the time slider.

Choose Number of Chunks and set theMinimum to 200. In the Basic Parameters

rollout, choose Mesh for the Viewport DisplayGroup. In the Particle Type rollout, under MaterialMapping and Source, check Get Materials From,and then click the Get Material From button. In the

Rotation and Collision rollout, set Spin Time to 60.

Open part4.max from the CD. In the Create>Geometry panel, choose Particle Systems from

the drop-down menu and choose PArray. Click anddrag a PArray gizmo in any viewport. In the BasicParameters rollout, click Pick Object and clickbody_mesh. Right-click the rollout, pick ParticleType, and in this rollout choose Object Fragments

with a thickness of 3.

Particle systems

It’s not just snow, rain and smoke

that particle systems can be used

for. Their strength at animating

large amounts of objects

procedurally – meaning that no

keyframing is necessary – is also

applicable to explosions, such ashere, as well as natural effects.

In and Out values

The different ways in which an

animation can be interpreted

between its keyframes is

controlled through In and Out

interpolations. Easy Ease In

and Out are used a great deal 

to ensure smooth natural 

transitions, but here we wanted

the visibility to snap from one

value to another – using Step

achieves this effect.

Create a plane in the front viewport, centredon our character’s head, of Length and Width

500, rename it plane_explode, and press M to bringup the Material Editor. Set the Glossiness to 0 andclick the blank button to the right of the Diffusecolour swatch. Select Bitmap and hit OK. Now selecthercules.avi from the CD and click Open.

Move to frame 50, right-click the Camera01viewport label and from Views, pick

ActiveShade. On the Modify panel, click the light’scolour swatch and change its RGB to an orangeyyellow of 195, 112, 61, watching ActiveShadeupdate until you are happy with the colour.

Now choose body_mesh: Visibility and changethe Out interpolation to Step. Scrubbing

through the timeline now shows the character disappearing as it explodes. At frame 0, from Createpanel>Lights choose Omni and click in the Top viewto create one, right in the centre of the character’shead. Now in the Front view move it up to thecentre of the head.

Making sure the Reference Co-ordinateSystem is set to Local, move the plane in the

Top view to the middle of the character’s head.Right-click the plane and choose Properties,unchecking the Cast Shadows and Receive Shadowsboxes. Right-click in the Camera01 viewport and hitF9 to see how the effect is beginning to take shape.

In the Time rollout, set the Start Frame to

40 and the End Condition to Hold. Click theGo Forward to Sibling button in the Material Editor toolbar, and do the same for the Diffuse map.Now close the Material Editor, right-click in theActiveShade window, pick Close, and from theTools menu pick Align to View, making sure Alignto Z is selected before pressing OK.

On the Material Editor toolbar, click the Go toParent button, then the Show Map in Viewport

button and drag the material from the sample slot tothe plane. Now, in the Maps rollout click the buttonlabelled None to the right of Opacity. Select Bitmapagain, this time loading the herculesm.avi.

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