cebas Visual Technology Inc. delivers more choices than anyone else for 3ds Max. By integrating industry standard physics solvers, such as; the Bullet Physics Library alongside its own proprietary systems, thinkingParticles 5 becomes the first tool to deliver 3 physics solvers in one product. This gives users the choice and flexibility to work with any or all of the 3 individual physics solvers at the same time in the same scene.

thinkingParticles 5 is compatible with 3dsMax versions 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010.

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What's New in thinkingParticles 5

With every major release of thinkingParticles new features are introduced, extending its power and flexibility by a magnitude compared to its predecessor. Release 5 represents a milestone in advancing the feature set.

Like every new cebas software release, the feature set is mainly user driven and most of its new functionality was born out of the need for advanced technical effects that were required by several major blockbuster movie productions.

The generated list below is of all the visible as well as hidden changes that were carefully integrated in thinkingParticles 5.
Both versions combined, users can expect to get all of thinkingParticles 4 exciting and ground-breaking features and even more from release 5! 

Interoperability : Realflow and Krakatoa

Movie production is an immense task, which involves many individuals and collaborated efforts during the making-of process. Nowadays, movies are known for their advanced and sophisticated technicalities - making visual effects an increasingly challenging job to perfect. As a result, a single special effect now requires a multitude of software products to be involved in its creation and development.

• ImportFile Node

The  new ImportFile node in thinkingParticles offers now file compatibility with Next Limit's Realflow *.bin files and Krakatoa *.prt files - products widely used in the industry for their specific strengths. Both *.bin file types (Mesh and Particle) can be directly loaded and displayed in thinkingParticles - better yet - written out particle or mesh simulations can be fully used and interacted with!

The following new dynamics simulation Nodes are now part of the new release:

• BulletVehicle

This new Node enables the creation and simulation of  all vehicle based physics within thinkingParticles, leveraging all the power of procedural particle effects.

• BTVehicleData

Following the main credo of "You can turn On/Off mother nature at will" - this BTVehicleDatat node is the perfect example for procedurally adjusting vehicle parameters at any given time within a simulation. 

In addition, this operator can also be used to query vehicle status as well as modifying some interesting physics simulation-related variables.

• BTRope

This Node is the first soft-body physics object developed for thinkingParticles. The Node is used to create an actual rope mesh in a fully procedural way that mimics the actual physical behavior of a rope or cable. It is based on two points in space where a spline is drawn between those points. Rope physics simulations are based on a soft body solver, so it can stretch and spring back.

• BTRopeData

This Node is a matching thinkingParticles operator used to access or modify the underlying data of any Rope object in the scene. It allows a fully procedural access to the Rope properties at any time in a simulation.

• BTJoint

 BTJoint is used to procedurally create joints between particles. The new Bullet Physics Engine in thinkingParticles comes with a rich set of joint types covering nearly every imaginable real world or out of this world scenario! Not to mention: all of this can be done and controlled at any time, in a variety of procedural ways.

• BTJointCounter

Iterating through an existing set of joints is essential for the fine control of dynamic effects the user usually expects of such a system. By implementing the BTJointCounter node, the artist's desire for controlling physics-based joints is more than fulfilled.

• BTJointData

BTJointData is a powerful Node that can be used to either get information about a joint or set it. This operator is used to set a joint's ability to break as well as its breaking velocity and rotation thresholds. It can also set the ability to define or redefine joint types and particle To/From connections and track when a joint is broken.

All this in a fully procedural way!
 
Rich set of new thinkingParticles 5 Tools

Every new thinkingParticles release is like Christmas - It comes with a whole bunch of surprises and new toys to play with! We unwrap some of them next :

• EggTimer

thinkingParticles offers advanced Non Linear Animation features (NLA) allowing control time-based effects in a completely different approach from how it is usually done in 3ds Max.

The EggTimer helper Node behaves exactly like an alarm clock and a timer combined - it runs for a certain (pre-set) amount of time and then stops and flags a signal. This can be used in a variety of ways to control other connected Nodes.

• Math 

Procedural effects are all about detailed control. This new Node allows users to do a variety of mathematical operations on any 2 input values and present the final result in its output port.  

• Matrix

A node many users wish it existed; now... it does! This node offers raw Matrix of mathematical operations in various combinations. It is best used with the newly added Math operator

• Comment

A few weeks in, who can remember what idea someone had in a dynamics setup? Anyone?! This helper node does!
It stores a text that can be used to describe a wire setup, a scene or anything else important enough to be stored along with a DynamicSet.

• Path  

Handling of paths from within thinkingParticles has been enhanced with the addition of the Path Node. The new node is meant to serve as a "path feeder" for operators able to work with splines. Paths are either defined by a spline object or a mesh with an active edge selection. 

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