PFlow Trajectory displayed with Splines by Anselm v. Seherr-Thoß aka PsychoSilence, Germany


What is Particle Flow - Particle Flow is a extremely versatile and powerful particle system for 3ds Max. It employs an event-driven model, using a special dialog called Particle View. In Particle View, you combine individual operators that describe particle properties such as shape, speed, direction, and rotation over a period of time into groups called events. Each operator provides a set of parameters, many of which you can animate to change particle behavior during the event. As the event transpires, Particle Flow continually evaluates each operator in the list and updates the particle system accordingly.


This tutorial deals with Particle Flow in 3D Studio MAX in conneciton with a little MAX Scripting. You will need 3D Studio Max (Version 5.1 upwards), the ParticleFlow Toolbox #1 (Demo) and a MaxScript.

The Demo version of ParticleFlow Toolbox #1 is downloadable at: http://www.orbaz.com/download/

Annotation: The basic MaxScript was written by Charley Carlat (http://www.charleycarlat.com).



Step 1: First of all create a Particle System in ParticleView (Graph Editor > Particle >View, or Shortcut “6”)



Step 2: From the "Depot" in the lower third of the window just drag a Standard Flow in the window. (Just in case your Depot isn´t showing click “Display” and check “Depot”)



Step 3: Now it´s time to say “good bye” to all nodes we don´t need to succeed so click on the Position Icon 01 and hit delete. Do same with the Shape 01. And we can turn off the Render node because we don´t have any particle shape anymore.

The Birth Operator controls the density of our spline cage. So type in the number of particles you want in your scene. The Emit Start and Stop should be 0 so the amount is 100% from frame 1 on.


Step 4: We need the particles to know from where they have to start so drag a Position Object into the Event 01 node and add the geometry of your choice.

If you scrub through the timeline you will notice that the particles now emit from your geometry.