Archive for August 2013

Home Archive for August 2013

01.1 Before Simulating Dust Fumes through Fume FX, we have to re-cache the whole simulation. So in order to do that we have to remove the older Cached Simulation first by selecting the 'Cache Unset' option from the right click menu of the 'Main' Dynamic set. And now we are ready to cache the simulation by selecting 'Cache Record' option from 'Main' Dynamic Set's right click menu.

Fig 01.1

01.2 We will now generate Dust Fumes according to the Dust particles being generated from the box. So for that we will create the 'Fume FX' container around the particles from the 'Geometry' tab of 'Create Panel'.

Fig 01.2

01.3 Place the container covering most of the flying pieces of card-board box by viewing it from all the view-ports. We will now link this container with the dust particles through 'Particle Source'.

Fig 01.3

02.1 Create a 'Particle Source' helper from the 'Fume FX' roll-out under the 'Helpers' tab. Inside its parameters click on 'Pick Object' and select the 'TP' icon inside the view-port, in-order to get the selection window showing the groups of Thinking Particle system. Select the 'Dust' group from the 'Select Thinking Particles Group' window and hit OK.

Fig 02.1

02.2 Access the Fume FX User Interface by selecting the Container and hitting 'Open Fume FX UI' icon. Inside the General Parameters bring down the 'Spacing' Parameter to '1.0'. Also change the 'Default' output path for the Fume FX simulation to a local folder on our drive.

Fig 02.2

02.3 Switch to 'Sim' tab and bring down the 'Maximum Iterations' to '80' which will decrease the quality of Fume a bit and will also make the simulation render a bit faster. Increase the 'Velocity Damping' to '0.01' and 'Vorticity' to '0.6' in-order to get some more resistance.

Fig 02.3

03.1 Bring down the 'Scale' inside the 'Turbulence Noise' parameters to '9.0 inch' in-order to generate some tight noise inside the Fume. In order to make the Fume simulation a bit slower increase the 'Frames' and 'Detail' to '12' and '5' respectively. Change the 'Z' parameter of 'Blocking Sides' to '-Z' which will create a floor for the fume FX by forbidding it to go towards the - Z Direction.

Fig 03.1

03.2 Deselect the 'Simulate Fuel' option in order to get rid of the fuel effect inside the Fume simulation. Inside the 'Smoke' parameter increase the 'Dissipation Min. Density' to '3' and 'Dissipation Strength' to '20'. We don't want to make the Fume to rise too much, therefore we will decrease the 'Temperature Buoyancy' inside the 'Temperature' Parameter to '0.3'.

Fig 03.2

04.1 Now we will make the main lights of the scene to light up the Fume FX. First of all we will 'unhide' the 'VraySun001' light from the right click menu inside the view-port. Switch to 'Illum' tab and select 'VraySun001' from the view-port through the 'Pick Light' option inside the 'Illumination Parameters'.

Fig 04.1

04.2 Switch to 'Obj/Src' tab and bring in the source object by selecting the 'Particle Source' helper inside the scene from the 'Pick Object' option. Increase the 'Radius' inside the 'Radius' parameter to '4.0' and 'Variation' to '25.0'. Also increase the 'Variation' of 'Velocity Multiplier' to '35.0'.

Fig 04.2

04.3 Inside the 'Rend' tab turn on the 'Cast Shadows' and 'Receive Shadows' for Smoke inside the 'Smoke' parameters. In order to get some ash dust look out of the Fume change the color of Smoke to Grey by selecting 'Keyless Mode' from the right click menu of the color. Also bring up the 'Opacity' parameter to '5.0'.

Fig 04.3

05.1 Now we can start solving our Fume FX Dust simulation by hitting 'Start Default Simulation' button on the Fume FX UI. We can also preview the simulation simultaneously by clicking on 'Open Preview Window' button.

Fig 05.1

05.2 We will now refine the simulation by updating few things. Switch to 'Sim' tab and decrease the 'Time Scale' parameter to '0.9' in order to slow down the speed of the smoke. Under the 'Temperature' section bring down the 'Temperature Buoyancy' further down to '0.25'. Also bring up the value of 'Dissipation Strength' to '20.0' and 'Dissipation Min Dens' to 3.0 from the 'Smoke' section.

Fig 05.2

05.3 Select 'Use GPU' option from the Preview panel on the Fume FX UI for a faster preview. Also select 'Shadows' from the View panel of 'Fume Fx Output Preview' window for shadows inside the preview window. In the end select 'Make Preview' option from the Preview panel, in order to save the preview of the simulation.

Fig 05.3

01.1 We will continue by adding in a new group with the name of 'Box Front Back' while renaming the old 'Box' Group as 'Box Ryt Lft'. Remove the 'Frnt' and 'Back' geometry from the 'Box Ryt Lft' group and add them to the 'Box Front Back' group. Inside the 'Obj.To Particle' parameters select 'Box Ryt Lft' as the group from drop down menu and select 'Object to Particle' as the track. Also check 'Instance Shape' and hit 'Hide' in the end. This will enable us to apply materials on these two groups separately as the box model had two separate UVW Unwraps for Front and Back parts and for Left and Right parts.

Fig 01.1

01.2 Add in a new Dynamic Set with the name of 'Materials' inside 'Main' Dynamic Set and add in all the groups from right click menu one by one 'Groups > Shape Collision', 'Groups > Floor', 'Groups > Box Ryt Lft', 'Groups > Front Back'. Now we will add in 4 different 'Shape Material' Material Operators inside the Material Dynamic Set from right click menu by selecting 'Operators > Material > Shape Material'.

Fig 01.2

01.3 Link each one of those Shape Materials to the Group Nodes. Select the Shape Material node linked to the 'Box Front Back' group and inside the Shape Material parameters click 'Materials' button. Select the 'Material # 24 (VrayMtl)' from the Material/Map Browser. Similarly select the 'Material # 23 (VrayMtl)' for 'Box Ryt Lft' group, 'Material # 18 (VrayMtl)' for 'Floor' group and 'Material # 24 (VrayMtl)' for 'Shape Collision' Group.

Fig 01.3

02.1 Select the 'Fragment' inside 'Activation' Master Dynamic and bring down the 'Smoothing Angle' to 125.0 in order to get some more pieces or fragments out of the Cardboard Box. Also decrease the 'Radius' to 50%.

Fig 02.1

02.2 Select the 'Active' Sub Group from the 'Shape Collision' Group and bring down the 'Dynamic Friction' and 'Static Friction' to 30.0 each. Bring up the 'Elasticity' to 35.0.

Fig 02.2

03.1 Create a copy of 'Volume Breaker' Dynamic Set inside the 'Main' Dynamic Set by selecting it and dragging it while pressing the Shift Key. Rename it as 'Volume Breaker Debris'. Also create a new group with the same name i.e. 'Volume Breaker Debris'.

Fig 03.1

03.2 Select 'Active' inside the 'Volume Breaker Debris' Dynamic Set and change the 'Group' to 'Volume Breaker'. Similarly select 'VolumeBreak' inside the 'Volume Breaker Debris' Dynamic Set and change the 'Group' to 'Volume Breaker Debris'. Increase the 'Activate' option inside 'VolumeBreak' parameter to 70%. Also increase the Raster and Density values to 15% and 3000 respectively.

Fig 03.2

03.3 In the end set the 'Frames' value parameter of 'H Timer' for 'Volume Breaker Debris' Dynamic Set to 8 and for 'Volume Breaker' Dynamic Set to 6, in order to get finer pieces. We will now cache the simulation by selecting the 'Cache Record' option from the right click menu of 'Main' Dynamic Set, after removing the current cached simulation from the memory through 'Cache Unset' option of right click menu.

Fig 03.3

04.1 Create a new Dynamic Set with the name of 'Dust' under Master Dynamic Set. We will create Dust from the 'Active' group, hence we will bring in 'Active' group from the right click menu 'Groups > Active'. Append a 'Position Born' Operator Generator from the right click menu 'Operators > Generator > Position Born', to the 'Particle' parameter.

Fig 04.1

04.2 We will also create a new group wit h the name of 'Dust'. Change the group color to brown so that it will be easier to differentiate inside the view-port. Select Master Dynamic and select 'Dots' as the display from the drop-down menu.

Fig 04.2

04.3 Select the 'Position Born' operator and Decrease the 'Life Span' to '15' while increasing the 'Speed' to '35' and 'Variation' to '20'. Turn on the 'Particles / Sec' option from the 'Position Burn' parameters.

Fig 04.3

01.1 We will start adding forces by creating a separate dynamic set for each one of them, inside the 'Main' dynamic set. Rename this new Dynamic set as Gravity. Bring in the 'Shape Collision' Group inside it and Append a 'Force' Dynamic Operator to the Particles parameters from the right click menu 'Operators > Dynamics > Force'.

Fig 01.1

01.2 Now in order to give directions to the force we will create a 'Point3' Standard Helper from the right click menu, 'Helper > Standard > Point3'. Append the Vector parameter of 'Point3' Standard Helper to the Position parameter of 'Force' Dynamic Operator.

Fig 01.2

01.3 We are going to use the 'Force' Dynamic Operator as the gravitational pull and therefore we will bring down the Z-Value to -1.0. Increase the strength of the force operator to 10.0'.

Fig 01.3

02.1 Bring in another Dynamic Set with the name of 'Wind' inside the 'Main' dynamic set. Bring in the 'Shape Collision' Group inside it and Append a 'Std Force' Dynamic Operator to the Particles parameters from the right click menu 'Operators > Dynamics > StdForce'.

Fig 02.1

02.2 We will now create a 'Wind' force from the Forces roll-out under the Space Warp section of Create panel. Place it right opposite to the 'Omni' light and rotate it facing towards the cardboard box. Change the value of Strength to 0.15, Turbulence to 2.5, Frequency to 0.7 and Scale to 0.4.

Fig 02.2

02.3 Connect this 'Wind' force to the thinking particles through 'Bind to Space Warp'. This will bring the Wind force into the 'Deactive' List of 'StdForce' parameters. Click 'Activate' button in order to send the same into 'Active' list.

Fig 02.3

02.4 Now we will bring the 'Float' Standard Helper that will act as a master controller for multiplying the value of Wind. Right click and select Helpers > Standard > Float and link its 'Value' parameter to the 'Multiplier' parameter of 'StdForce'. Increase the Float 'Value' to 4.0.

Fig 02.4

03.1 Add another Dynamic Set into the 'Main' with the name of 'Shape Collision'. Add a Shape Collision operator into the dynamic set from the right click menu 'Operators > Shape Collision > SC'. Choose the 'Shape Collision' group from the 'Group' selection drop-down menu. And choose 'Floor' group as the deflector.

Fig 03.1

03.2 Before Caching up the scene increase the intensity of 'Omni' light to 0.1 in order to increase the region of effect. We are now ready to cache the scene by right clicking on the 'Main' Dynamic Set and choosing 'Cache Record'.

Fig 03.2

03.3 Now if we playback the simulation we will notice the parts of the box flying into the wind. The parts of the cardboard box right now are moving a bit too fast, so in order to slow their pace a bit we will decrease the 'Dynamic Friction' and 'Static Friction' of the 'Active' group to 70.0 each. Also bring down the 'Dynamic Friction' and 'Static Friction' values of 'Shape Collision' Dynamic group to 30.0 each.

Fig 03.3

03.4 Select the 'Fragment' Dynamic Set under the 'Activation' Dynamic Set and enable 'Smooth and Distance' option while increasing the 'Smoothing Angle' and 'Radius' to 180 and 100% respectively.

Fig 03.4

04.1 Now we will continue by adding in another Dynamic Set inside the 'Main' Dynamic Set with the name of 'Volume Breaker'. Add in the 'Active' group inside it from the right click menu and selecting 'Groups > Active'.

Fig 04.1

04.2 Also add in a 'VolumeBreak' Operator inside the set from the right click menu, 'Operators > Volume Breaker > VolumeBreak'. As we want to give some randomness to the size of the cardboard box pieces we will not connect it directly to the Active group.

Fig 04.2

05.1 We will add in a 'Time Counter' Black Box to the Dynamic Set again through the right click menu, 'Black Boxes > M3D_Helpers > Time Counter'. We will get a huge bunch of nodes in the dynamic set, but don't worry as we are going to get rid of some of them which we don't require.

Fig 05.1

05.2 Alt + Right Click on 'H Get Direction' 'H Particle Data' and both the 'H Float' nodes in order to get rid of them. Spread the nodes up properly in order to understand the node connections.

Fig 05.2

05.3 'H Fade In' will helps us in activating the 'O VolumeBreak' Node. Select the 'H Fade In' node and dive inside the 'track view' of 'Value' parameter by right clicking on it and selecting, 'Show in Track View'. The Bezier curve inside it contains 3 nodes which is Deactivating the whole function after activating it for some time. So in order to keep the whole function active we have to delete the last node and change the value of second node from 0.993 to 1.0.

Fig 05.3

06.1 Click on the Green Input of 'O VolumeBreak' Node and select 'ON', to get the 'ON' function inside its input. Link this 'ON' function with the 'Value' function of 'H Fade In' node in order to activate Volume Breaker. Also connect the 'Particle' input of 'O VolumeBreak' Node to the 'Particle' output of 'H Timer' node.

Fig 06.1

06.2 Bring in a 'Threshold' Standard Condition inside the Dynamic Set from the right click menu 'Conditions > Standard > Threshold. Activate the 'Velocity' Output of the 'O Active' group and pipe it into the 'Value' input of 'Threshold' node.

Fig 06.2

06.3 Inside 'Threshold' parameters increase the 'Threshold 1' value to 5.0 and link its 'Out' value to the 'Start' value of 'H Timer' node. Connect the 'Particle' values of 'O Active' and 'H Timer' nodes. Decrease the value of 'Frames' inside the 'H Timer' parameters to 10, as lots of frames means lots and lots of geometries which can slow down the processor.

Fig 06.3

07.1 Select the 'O VolumeBreak' node and select 'Volume Breaker' group from the 'Group' drop down menu. Increase the 'Activate' value parameter to 55% and decrease the 'Raster' value parameter to 12%. Increase the 'Density' value parameter to 5000.

Fig 07.1

07.2 We can also give some randomness to the function by changing the 'Value 1' and 'Value 2' parameters of 'H Random' node to 12.0 and 50.0 respectively.

Fig 07.2

08.1 Add in a new Dynamic Set into the 'Main' Dynamic Set and rename it as 'Spin'. Bring in the 'Shape Collision' group from the right click menu 'Groups > Shape Collisions'. Also add in a 'Spin' Dynamic Operator from the right click menu 'Operators > Dynamics > Spin.

Fig 08.1

08.2 Connect the 'Particle' value parameters of both 'Shape Collision' group and 'Spin' operator. Change the 'Attack Time' value parameter to 5 and 'Spin Time' to 1.0 s. Place the 'Spin' dynamic set above the 'Shape Collision' dynamic set.

Fig 08.2

08.3 Right click on the 'Main' dynamic set and select 'Cache Unset' in order to wipe away the previous Cache information. Now select the 'Cache Record' from the right click menu of the 'Main' dynamic set and save the Cache information in the form of .tps file format from the popped up browser window.

Fig 08.3

08.4 Change the 'Color' of the 'Volume Breaker' group to Blue in order to get a better visualization between them. Play back the simulation in order to see the debris in 'Blue' along with the 'Red' parts of the cardboard.

Fig 08.4

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Simulating Dust with Fume FX

Adding Smaller Debris and Dust

Adding Forces and Debris