Cebas > ThinkingParticles2.0

 

for 3dsMax 6| 3dsMax 7

ThinkingParticles™ Release 2.0 is a full-blown rule-based particle system for 3ds max 6 and 3ds max 7. With its true Non Linear Animation (NLA) approach from right within 3ds max, it breaks new grounds in 3ds max animation technology.

The real power of ThinkingParticles comes from its unlimited combination of conditions and operators to define the behavior of each single particle in a particle system. Like C++ opens up an unlimited world for a software developer, ThinkingParticles offers the same unlimited power to the 3ds max artist.

 
What's the real deal about ThinkingParticles 2.0?
ThinkingParticles offers its particle system functionality through a kind of programming approach. Unlike programming, however, you won't have to write a single line of code! A powerful visual "Wire Setup Interface" enables any 3ds max artist to define the rules and conditions that control the particle behavior. Because it's a "program" that controls the particles and the behavior, you will find that there is no limit to the things that can be done! Nearly every particle effect can be created or controlled through a set of operators and conditions.

 
I heard about EVENT-driven Particle Systems.
Is this what ThinkingParticles is? The difference between event-driven particles and rule-based particles can be summed up quite simply. An event-driven particle system usually works based on "triggers" or events that must happen to activate an effect. This implies some kind of key frame related effects while ThinkingParticles is totally independent of any timing and key framing! ThinkingParticles offers true Non Linear Animation technology. Rules and conditions control the particle effects and not timers or events that happen at certain key frames in an animation. A particle system created with ThinkingParticles will always work regardless of the timing or number of frames that may change in an animation.

Here's an example why ThinkingParticles is superior to other particle solutions. Imagine that you have to create a 3d space scene and you need to animate a space ship flying through an asteroid field. This field is full of everything from the most enormous rocks to the most intricate pieces of debris, with all of it hovering around. Now imagine that your boss says, "The spaceship should avoid the big rocks but the smaller ones are allowed to collide and bounce off the hull of the spaceship." This would be an animator's nightmare. An event-driven particle system would fail to handle this kind of task because you would need to define a path through the asteroid field and then you would need to look for the exact key frames where things should happen. But what happens when you need to change the path of the ship or the amount of rocks or the balance between the big and small rocks?

ThinkingParticles makes it easy to solve such a situation with ease. Two rules will solve the rock collision and avoid problems. Conceptually, the rules would look something like this:

If SPACE SHIP GETS NEAR (VALUE) A ROCK

CHECK IF

BIG (VALUE) ROCK THEN AVOID IT (move around)
SMALL (VALUE) ROCK IGNORE AND DO COLLISION

END

Of course, the above is not the real code fragment. In ThinkingParticles you do not need to type any code at all. This is only the logic flow diagram of the ThinkingParticles operators and conditions. As you can see, there is no TIME related variable in it so this will always work. Regardless of any path or amount of frames. Whenever the space ship gets near a rock the rules control its behavior.

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