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Hey...
call me crazy but I find scripting particles one of the most fun task I do. Of
course, I wouldn't mind a better particle engine as long as I can still have fun
while scripting particles. ;-)
-----Original
Message-----
From: owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM
[mailto:owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM]On Behalf Of Morten
Bartholdy
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 5:50 AM
To:
XSI(at)Softimage.COM
Subject: Re: Particle obstacle
friction???
Vince, if you enjoy scripting (XSI) particles I
suggest you contact a physician immediately ;) - and call your mom
too!!
I got it working, thanks Sebastien, and yes I
learned something which expanded my particle capabilities here - and
Mathieu, I can't agree more - this i s a very usefull list. I try and help
keep it that way by giving advice whereever I can too.
Morten Bartholdy
3D & VFX
Artist
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 7:51
PM
Subject: Re: Particle obstacle
friction???
Point taken. You know, there's a rightful debate around
artistic vs. scripting workflows in our industry that goes far beyond this
thread. Programming is taking more and more space and I can easily
understand the frustration of having to script your own features when your
skills are more aimed toward the artistic aspect of the process. For some
reason I got used to it to a point where I actually enjoy scripting
particles even though I sincerly consider myselft more ish than td ;-)
I know from experience that the
collision problem you have also happens in Maya. After all those years it's
still there and the only trick most people use to go around that annoyance
is to clamp the velocity. Sometimes, scaling up the whole scene will help
making it less noticable.
Let's wait and see how things like this can be
done more easily once we finally put our hands on the new particle
system.
In the meantime, I'm glad you got your script to work and maybe
the next time your client/sup asks you to turn those particles' colour to
blue when they hit the ground then you'll know what to do because it's not
beyond you anymore :-)
cheers
On 9/28/06, Morten
Bartholdy <xsi(at)colorshopvfx.dk> wrote:
I fully undeerstand what you are saying
Vince. My point is, the simpler stuff should be under the hood, driven by
buttons like particle speed, collision and rotations are. I don't think it
is too much to ask to have collisiopns and frictions affect rotations and
activated by a tick box or slider. For future revisions I would definately
prefer a system which is robust and very widely capable, but requires
a bit of TD'ing to do complex stuff, though simple stuff like this
ought not require creation of general events and insertion of code, even
if one line can do it.
I have used particles quite a lot (without
having to script) and know my way around most of the stuff, but still run
in to problems like this, where the only answer is to do some or even very
little scripting to get it done, and I still don't have time to take from
production and sit down and learn scripting.
- Morten
-----
Original Message -----
Sent:
Wednesday, September 27, 2006 6:13 PM
Subject:
Re: Particle obstacle friction???
Hope you didn't get me wrong, I'm not saying the
procedure should be trivial for the first time, I understand scripting
is not appealing for eveyone.
However we're likely to deal with
problems like this all the time and because of the procedural nature of
particle animation, it'd be impossible to have an interface designed for
each particular task.
If I was you I'd give a try at what Sebastien
wrote, it's step-by-step. I haven't tested it though, I can't tell if
it'll work but if the logic makes sense to you -I'm sure it does-,
you'll get to solve any problem.
Otherwise, your expectations
regarding XSI's new particle system might too high.
On 9/27/06, Morten Bartholdy <xsi(at)colorshopvfx.dk> wrote:
Vince, this is just because you have your
head well around the P-system already and TDish stuff appears to be
second nature to you. To me, being a generalist having to do all sorts
of tasks, it would be wonderful to be able to script even simple stuff
like this, but I never have the time to sit down and find out how. I
need the software to be designed to make simle things like this easy,
meaning built in button functionality - not scripting, however
simple.
- Morten
-----
Original Message -----
Sent:
Wednesday, September 27, 2006 4:30 PM
Subject:
Re: Particle obstacle friction???
Better? Chances are that even if they do, you'll have
to deal with the same logic challenges.
Give it a try, it can't
be easier to do with nodes anyways ;-)
On 9/27/06, Morten Bartholdy <
xsi(at)colorshopvfx.dk > wrote:
Thanks Mac, I understand what you are
saying but I am afraid that is beyond me. I wish Softimage would
release a better P system soon...
- Morten
-----
Original Message -----
Sent:
Wednesday, September 27, 2006 3:08 PM
Subject:
RE: Particle obstacle friction???
I might
have a solution but it involves a little
scripting…
Don't
have time to check it out right now but use the user parameter
option in the ptype ppg. Essentially create a custom user
parameter call it particle_hit_floor. Once the particle hits the
floor set the value of the user parameter, example:
particle_hit_floor =30 and store the particle rotation values.
Now you can have a loop that runs and sets the rotation to the
stored values if the particle_hit_floor param = 30. or something
like that…
MAC
Now if only there
also was a mechanism built in to make them stop rotating when
they lie still (one that doesn't require scripting that
is).
----- Original
Message -----
Sent: Wednesday,
September 27, 2006 2:39 PM
Subject: Re: Particle
obstacle friction???
How stupid of me
to not htink of adding friction to the particles
too...
Now everything
works just fine - thanks Peter!
----- Original
Message -----
Sent: Wednesday,
September 27, 2006 1:48 PM
Subject: Re: Particle
obstacle friction???
just to mak
sure: you need friction on both the obstacle and the
particles (ptype > environment > below all the
forces.)
usually I put
friction to 1 on the obstacle and then tweak the ptype
friction to get what I want.
also try "use
particle size for collision" to see which works
best for your case.
no need to mess
with accuracy or collision type, or
rbd's
----- Original
Message -----
Sent: Wednesday,
September 27, 2006 1:17 PM
Subject: Particle
obstacle friction???
I have done a
particle animation where particles hit the ground and are
supposed to bounce a bit and then stop. I
have increased coliision friction to almost 100% but
the particles still slide along the ground after impact.
Any ideas on how to get it working? Upping the collision
accuracy, B-plane, b-box or actual shape - doesn't
matter.
I know, last
resort is to plot and edit fcurves after impact but that
kind of sucks. I have even considered RBD but would like
to know if I can get the particle solution working before
spending the extra time?
Morten
Bartholdy
3D & VFX Artist
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